Lawfully Played (Texas Lawkeeper Romance) Page 2

  “I must leave Fort Worth, once my business here is finished, to join my wife in Springville. It’s a small town not too far from here.” He paused and then looked at Tess carefully. “This is just a thought, and please do tell me to keep my thoughts to myself if this is in any way insulting to you.”

  Tess slowly nodded, as uncertainty clouded her eyes. She wasn’t sure she should listen, but she was desperate for a solution. Every option had to be considered.

  “We have a new home, and it’s too much for my Agatha to manage alone. Would you, perhaps, consider coming with me when I leave town, to become our housekeeper?”

  “I couldn’t be so presumptuous,” Tess said, taken aback yet again at the generosity of this stranger.

  “Yes, you could,” he insisted. “It would be doing Agatha and I the greatest of favors, and would help you, too. I don’t know why I didn’t suggest it earlier. Please, say you’ll at least consider it? And I have a friend, a lawyer. He might be able to help you to find out if there has been any kind of wrongdoing in regards to your dear papa’s estate.”

  Tess bit her lip. It was indeed a very kind proposition, though an unexpected one. But she barely knew this man, and she certainly knew nothing of his wife. What if Agatha Roper objected to her husband bringing a new, young housekeeper home with him? But, in truth, what other options did she have?

  “Mr. Roper, I shall think on it and will give you an answer tomorrow.” Though she answered with caution, she was almost sure she’d be joining this gentle and sweet man on the stagecoach out of town at the end of the week.

  One

  “Now, just you sashay over to the table and keep them glasses full to the brim,” Tommy drawled. His large body was sprawled inelegantly in a rocker set upon the porch of the boarding house that was serving as their home.

  Tess recoiled at the stench of stale whiskey on his breath and watched in disgust as he spat a huge wad of chewing tobacco into the spittoon beside him. It was hard to reconcile this creature with the kindly gentleman she had first met in Fort Worth.

  “I can’t just be at your beck and call,” she said, fastening her bonnet. “There’re other people to serve, and Mr. Langdon has been so kind to me. I can’t risk losing my position.”

  “And who got you the job at the Longhorn Saloon in the first place, Missy?” Tommy asked. “After all, your lies is what’s gotten us here. You told me your daddy wouldn’t have made bad decisions with his money. That led me to believe you had a fortune that just needed a bit of wrangling to get hold of.”

  “It’s hardly my fault that it turned out that Mr. Hornsley managed to convince Papa to change his will. I’m still sure that since Papa’s money was all left to Hubert Hornsley, there was some kind of mischief going on. A good lawyer would have been able to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing. Not that my receiving my inheritance as I should have would’ve meant I’d give you a penny of it.” Tess stomped her foot in anger as she stated her position still another time. The ground had been covered numerous times, yet Tommy wouldn’t listen to the truth.

  “You’d have done just that if you know what’s good for you, and you know it,” Tommy said, his eyes narrowing and his fists clenching, ready for a fight.

  Tess blanched. She shouldn’t have been so outspoken. Tommy Roper had a temper, and he didn’t mind one bit taking it out on her when things didn’t go his way. She’d received a black eye when Tommy had found out there was no money to be had from her parents’ estate. Somehow, Mr. Hornsley had managed to convince Papa to will everything to him. Tess was still convinced Hornsley had taken part on some kind of double-dealing to make it so.

  For some reason, even though she’d told Tommy the truth about her financial dilemma, he believed Tess had been mistaken. He’d decided it was worth his time to make her believe he cared, so she’d trust him. Then he could get his grimy hands on what he believed to be a fortune. He’d gotten things wrong.

  Yet, despite finding out that Tommy Roper was not the man she had believed him to be, Tess knew she owed him a debt of gratitude. Despite his lies and his moods, she was grateful to him for his assistance in getting her out of Fort Worth and finding her a position in Springville. No matter how unsuitable working in a saloon was for a girl of her upbringing, she needed the job and the money it brought. But Tommy seemed to think that her gratitude should be never-ending.

  Since their arrival in the small town of Springville, Thomas Roper had disappeared, and Tommy Roper had emerged from the elegantly tailored suits as a gambler, a drinker, and a trickster. He was far more dangerous, more prone to anger, and believed the world owed him everything. There was no sign of his wife.

  The man as he was today, clad in chaps and a grubby shirt, would never have convinced her to leave Fort Worth with him. She would have preferred to have taken her chances on the streets. And that’s just what she would have done.

  But, in all honesty, Tess knew that she still had no other options open to her. She was reliant upon Tommy’s goodwill. Tess was afraid she wouldn’t be able to bite her tongue and leave unsaid the things she wished to yell and scream into his drunken, spiteful face.

  She turned to walk off the porch, but Tommy grabbed her wrist, hauling her back to face him. He squeezed it so tightly she wanted to squeal. But she wouldn’t let him see he had her cowed.

  “You do as you’re told, Miss Bonner,” he said with mock politeness. “There’s a lot riding on this card game tonight, and I won’t have you getting in the way of my plans.” He chuckled and looked her up and down, his eyes lingering over her curves. “In fact, you are a real big part of my plans, darlin’.”

  She nodded, wondering what he meant but not daring to ask. She knew that when she did as he wanted, then he would be sweetness and light, at least for a while. He let her go, and she walked away from the rickety boarding house as quickly as she could. As she turned the corner onto Main Street and out of sight of the boarding house, she rubbed her aching wrist. Ironically, it was the same one she had sprained the day she had met Tommy. It still twinged from time to time and was a constant reminder of the trusting girl she had been.

  Now there was another red mark and the beginnings of another nasty bruise. Both stood out prominently against the paleness of her skin. She pulled her sleeve down and hoped nobody at the saloon would notice. It was a rare day when any of the girls who worked there showed up without some kind of evidence of the roughness of the menfolk that frequented the Longhorn Saloon. Though that was the case, she didn’t want to seem like one of them.

  In her admittedly limited experience, Springville was a tough little town, full of men like Tommy out to swindle their way to a fortune, rather than do an honest day’s work. But it was also home to ranchers who worked hard, lawyers and bankers like her papa.

  The few women she had met in the saloon were as hard as the rugged terrain surrounding the town. They had to be. But Tess saw the evidence of those more educated, more refined people walking up and down Main Street, too, frequenting the shops and attending services on Sundays in the tiny chapel. They rode in smart gigs and drove carriages with matching horses in the shafts. Their fine clothes marked them out and, like the upper classes in any town, they kept to themselves, barely noticing those considered beneath them.

  Tess had grown up in the east, and even when Papa was only a lowly clerk, life had been easy for her. When they moved to Fort Worth, Tess and her mama had both been taken aback by how wild it had seemed in comparison to their home in Boston. Yet, despite that, things had been more than comfortable. Papa’s position at the bank had provided the family with a lovely townhouse, and they had moved in the best society Texas had to offer. She had been like the stylish folk who rode past the saloon in their carriages, once.

  It did not do to dwell on the past, though, so Tess picked up her pace and made her way to the Longhorn Saloon. She stepped up onto the deck outside and looked up at the vast set of bull’s horns above the door. She didn’t know why, but they always made her feel ill at ease.

  She pushed through the swinging doors and gasped as the stench of the previous night’s drinking, smoking, and gambling hit her nostrils. She wondered if she would ever get used to it, and she doubted she would. A handful of the chairs were stacked neatly on top of the tables, but more were strewn haphazardly around the floor, some upturned. She hitched up her skirts, revealing neat leather boots, one of the last remaining reminders of the good life that was now long behind her. The floor was sticky as she walked across it.

  “Mornin’, darlin’,” Mr. Langdon drawled, looking up from where he was reading the newspaper at the bar. He indicated the mop and bucket leaning against the wall. “I went down to the general store and got more soap, like you asked.”

  “Thank you,” Tess said meekly, picking up the package on the bar beside him. “I’ll have everything spick and span before the first customers arrive.”

  “I know you will, sweetheart,” Mr. Langdon said. “You’re a good girl. Heaven knows what you’re doing with that worthless drifter Roper, but I’m mighty glad you are. Otherwise I’d not have me the best little helper in all of Texas.”

  He winked at her, and Tess tried not to be offended by how familiar he was. No man had ever spoken to her in the way most of the men of Springville did, but she was slowly getting used to it. She had to. There was no other choice for now.

  She pulled an apron down from the hook behind the bar and tied it securely. It was graying a little from long use, but it covered most of her dress. She didn’t know how long she’d have to make her small selection of clothing last. She’d once been used to purchasing a new gown every month, but now what she had would need to be mended over and over until they fell apart. She’d thought that possibly she might be able to resew them to
try to keep up with the current fashions.

  Tess had struggled to do the work required at first, to keep the saloon clean and to serve the customers. The early days here had been blighted by blisters on both her hands and feet, and a never-ending backache that had made sleep almost impossible. But she’d been proud enough to not want anyone to think her weak. Tess had undertaken every task with gusto, throwing herself into it as much as she’d ever done anything. She knew Mr. Langdon meant it when he praised her work and that she deserved every one of his compliments.

  Making her way to the pump at the rear of the saloon, she picked up a pail and filled it with water, returning to the kitchen where she poured it into a large copper pot set over the fire. She put the kettle on to the stove, too. While she waited for it to boil, she bustled around fetching what she needed to make Mr. Langdon and herself a cup of tea. She laid out a tray with a cup and saucer, leaving one to the side for herself, and then added a plate, a knife, and a small pot of honey to the tray. She put a cracked and stained teapot by the fire to warm for a few minutes, then heaped dried tea leaves into it from the large jar in the pantry.

  The kettle began to rock and rattle as the water came to the boil, and she took a cloth and folded it carefully, pulling the kettle off the stove and pouring its contents into the teapot. There was a small amount left, and she poured that into the copper pot. It would be useful soon enough.

  She stirred the contents of the teapot slowly, waiting until it turned a warm golden brown. As soon as it was ready, she poured it into the two cups before too much leaked out of the cracks. She quickly wiped down the liquid that had spilled and added a slice of bread and butter to the tray. She put it beside Mr. Langdon, on the bar. He grinned at her, before returning his attention to his newspaper.

  Returning to the kitchen, Tess took a moment to savor her own cup of tea, before she ladled some of the contents of the copper into the pail again. It steamed satisfactorily, and with a heavy sigh, she lifted it up and made her way back into the bar. She set all the tables and chairs upright, stacked the chairs on top of the tables, then swept and mopped the floor.

  She vaguely wondered if Clarissa, her family’s old maid, would have believed her capable of being so thorough. Thoughts of her old life came and went as she swished the mop around, stopping from time to time to get down on her knees and scrub with a hard brush and the carbolic soap at the more stubborn grime.

  Humming to herself as she worked, Tess tried not to think about the instructions Tommy had given her that morning. She wanted nothing to do with his gambling or his outlandish moneymaking schemes.

  She just wanted to find a way to live a quiet life. On her own, away from Tommy. She wanted to go to church and to become a real part of this community, maybe even find a husband someday. But Tommy saw only grand horizons for himself. No humdrum life for him, working to earn a wage. No living in some little cottage with a gentle and kindly wife raising his children. Tommy Roper believed the world owed him, and he seemed determined to make it pay.

  Tess just wished she had more courage so she could break away from him. No decent man would ever want her for his wife now. No man would ever see past the great shadow Tommy cast. She would be forever tainted by this association. Yet she did owe him something, didn’t she?

  He’d rescued her from a life of poverty and homelessness in Fort Worth after her parents’ accident. True he had lied to get her to join him, but he had found her the position here in the saloon. Was he really asking too much of her when he asked her to lower her necklines and be a little flirtatious with the other men when Tommy was playing cards with them?

  “Hey, watch where you’re headed with that,” a laughing voice said, breaking into her reverie. Tess saw a pair of nicely shined boots, with sparkling silver spurs, right where she was about to scrub. She looked up into the laughing blue eyes of the most handsome man she’d ever seen. He removed his Stetson and gave her a mock bow. “Ma’am.”

  “I’m sorry. I have so much to do,” she explained, feeling strangely flustered, clambering to her feet so she didn’t feel at quite so much of a disadvantage. It didn’t help; she still felt utterly adrift. “I simply didn’t see or hear you come in.” Tess fidgeted with her hair, tucking the stray strand that had escaped her bun behind her ears, and smoothing down the drab, gray apron. Oh gracious! She wished she could’ve met this young man at any other time than this.

  “I can see,” he chuckled, displaying a mouth full of unusually white teeth. “Sheriff Zachery Maitland, pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am.” He had the most delicious voice, smooth and deep. It sent a slight shiver running all through her.

  “And I’m Tess Bonner.” Tess held out her hand. Zach looked at it for a moment. Then she suddenly remembered that she was dripping wet and covered in soap suds, and was about to hastily pull it back when he took it and shook it firmly. “Aren’t you a little young to be the sheriff?” she asked, then felt monumentally silly for asking such a thing.

  “Youngest in the great state of Texas, ma’am. The good folk of the town voted me in, and I’m right thankful for it. I guess they believe I have a level head sitting on these young shoulders of mine.”

  “They saw a man they thought they could intimidate,” Mr. Langdon said with a guffaw. “But they soon learned not to put so much store by appearances, Tess. This young’un’s as tough as any of ’em, and got more brains than any of ’em.” Tess wondered if he was being serious. “Ain’t she pretty when her eyebrows go all furrowed like that. I see that look all day on her. Always thinking, this one,” he added, turning to Sheriff Maitland.

  The sheriff looked a little uncomfortable. “I’m sure she is,” he said, “and I am sure she is pretty whatever look she might be wearing.” Tess blushed at the compliment, but couldn’t help feeling he didn’t really mean it. She was surprised at how much the realization hurt. “Bill, now, I’m here on business today, not for my own pleasure. So, may we talk privately?”

  “Come to my office,” Mr. Langdon said. “I’ve got half an hour before we open the doors to the devoted drinkers of Springville.”

  Tess smiled as Sheriff Maitland clicked his heels together. She wondered if he’d been a military man at some point considering his sharp movement.

  He nodded to her politely. “I shall bid you farewell. It was nice meeting you, Miss Bonner.”

  “And you, Sheriff Maitland,” Tess said, turning away from them to get back on with her work.

  The two men disappeared into the rear of the building, and Tess finished her chores and got the bar ready. Content that all was as it should be, she took the pail of dirty water and went back into the yard, where she threw it over the small vegetable patch Mr. Langdon liked to dig around in when he could.

  She rinsed the pail at the water pump and refilled it before going inside. She paused outside the door of Mr. Langdon’s office, listening out for the caramel-rich tones of the handsome sheriff’s voice.

  “I need to know if you’re going to help me crack down on some of these gambling outfits, Bill,” Sheriff Maitland said, his voice full of concern. “I know the games bring in trade for you, so I understand why you’d be reluctant to help, but they aren’t just running card games any more. I hear there’s plans for adding women to the mix, too. You know that’s not the sort of activity we want here in Springville.”

  “I’m with you, Sheriff,” Mr. Langdon said, surprising Tess slightly. He’d always seemed to not be particularly bothered about who frequented his saloon, so long as he was making money. He seemed to overlook bad behavior from Tommy, for starters. “I want this town to be prosperous, but not like that.”

  “I’ll need you to let me know about anyone you think might be trouble,” said the sheriff.

  “There’s one I can tell you of right now,” Mr. Langdon said. “But it might hurt young Tess out there for me to spill all the details about him.”

  “I’m sure that between the two of us we can make sure she’s kept safe from any harm.” Sheriff Maitland’s voice was full of confidence.