The Duchess And The Desperado

“I can’t imagine where the welcoming committee must be,” fretted Lord Halston. “I telegraphed the time of your arrival, and I was promised no less than the mayor and the territorial governor on hand to welcome you to Denver. But perhaps they await us inside the depot,” he said, motioning toward the large, two-stoned brick building behind them.

“Then go and fetch them, uncle,” Sarah said serenely, turning and heading for the rear of the train. “I intend to see Trafalgar properly unloaded.”

“But, your grace, your groom will see to that,” her dresser fussed. “Come inside, do. Look, there’s another of those noisy monsters pulling in, and it’ll blow soot all over your clothing!”

The second train’s whistle shrieked, splitting the air as it wheezed to a stop a little behind and on a track parallel to the one that had just brought the duchess and her party from St. Louis Just as Celia had predicted, the locomotive’s huge smokestack belched a cloud of smoke.

Sarah paid no heed to the down-drifting particles of soot, however. The train had almost immediately begun disgorging its human contents, and as she passed the open space between one car and another, her attention was caught by a particular passenger who was just stepping down from the other train onto the ground.

With just a few yards between them, she could see him well enough. He was tall and lean and wore a wide-brimmed hat, denim trousers, boots and duster coat. A saddle was slung over one shoulder; he carried a pair of saddlebags in the other hand. His hair was a shade of brown so dark it could pass for black except in bright sunlight, and he needed both a haircut and a shave. He might be handsome once properly groomed—though very different from Thierry, of course—but at present he just looked dangerous, Sarah decided, watching as he narrowed his eyes in the direction of the station house, then started striding toward the rear of the train he had just left.

A sudden wind blew the side of his unbuttoned duster backward, exposing a pistol riding in a holster on his hip. The presence of the pistol confirmed the air of danger he carried with him. A desperado, thought Sarah, remembering the lurid covers of the cheap novels she’d seen on sale not only in America but in London, too. Perhaps he was an outlaw! But no, surely outlaws did not travel on trains like normal, lawabiding folk. He was probably just an ordinary cowboy, she told herself. Standards of grooming were not the same here as at home. But she was not convinced.

As if aware that he was being watched, however, he paused and looked between the two cars, right at her. Sarah was close enough to see a pair of green eyes studying her from the top of her modish hat to the tips of her buttoned kid boots.

He must have approved of what he saw, for a slow smile spread over his beard-shadowed, lean face and warmed the green of his eyes. He let the band of leather that connected the two saddlebags slide back on his forearm, which enabled him to touch the brim of his hat in a manner of greeting. Then he resumed walking and was lost to her sight.

Sarah felt heat rising up past the pleated edge of her cloak. She’d been looking at him—staring, in fact—and the cowboy had caught her at it and stared right back! Why, his grin had been cheekier than a Cockney beggar’s!

She’d been stared at before, especially since coming to the United States, but somehow his bold, direct gaze had affected her differently. For the life of her, though, she could not say why she found his look energizing rather than merely annoying.

In any case, Sarah reminded herself sternly, she must not waste time gaping at the locals. She needed to ensure the safety of her mare. Walking down to the front of the car that she knew held Trafalgar, she was in time to see the door slide back and her groom emerge, bending to extend the wooden ramp down onto the ground.

“Ben! How did she weather the journey?” Sarah called out.

“Well enough, your grace, though she didn’t fancy that other train pulling in next to this one,” Ben Huddleston, her wiry old groom, informed her. “Been tossin’ and plungin’ about these last few minutes, she has.”

Sarah could hear the thudding of hooves as Trafalgar protested against the boxcar’s walls. “Well, bring her out. She’ll settle down once she gets out of confinement, I’m certain.”

Ben doffed the tweed cap he was never without. “Yes, your grace.” He disappeared back into the depths of the boxcar, and Sarah could hear the groom speaking soothingly to the high-spirited thoroughbred, and the mare’s snorting, stamping retort.

Sarah smiled. Trafalgar had always been a fractious traveler, and the groom’s advice had been to leave the hunter at home in Herefordshire. “The sea voyage alone will shatter her nerves, Duchess, not to mention all the roamin’ around that barbarous country. Why not breed her, your grace? By the time you come home, the foal could be weaned and you’ll be back chasm’ the fox on your mare again.”

“Are you more worried about the mare’s nerves or yours, Ben?” she had teased him. “I wouldn’t think it fair to impose on Trafalgar the very thing I’m trying to escape myself,” she had added lightly, and laughed as the implication of her last remark had brought a blush to Ben’s cheeks. “Well, it’s true. My uncle is pressuring me to marry and so is the queen, but having just reached my majority, I can’t imagine why I should settle down meekly and marry whoever the queen thinks suitable for me! I want my favorite mare with me, and so she shall come. She’ll do fine, you’ll see.”

What the Duchess of Malvern wanted, she got, and the tall bay thoroughbred had been brought along. If anyone’s nerves had been shattered in the course of the ocean voyage and the “roamin’ around” the United States of America, it had been Ben’s, not Trafalgar’s.

As she waited for her mare, Sarah glanced down the track, but she could no longer see the dangerous-looking American. Too bad, she thought wryly. He had probably never seen such a fine horse as Trafalgar in his life, and she had imagined his eyes widening as he glimpsed her with her handsome hunter. She had been sure he would be impressed.

C’est la guerre, as Thierry would have said. Why did she feel any need to impress such a man, anyway? She was the Duchess of Malvern, and she had the world at her feet. Once she was reunited with her dashing Thierry, she would indeed have everything!

Then, plunging, whinnying and trying to rear, Trafalgar was led down the wooden ramp by Ben, who had blindfolded the horse. Even so, he had his hands full making sure the mare neither careened off the side of the ramp nor did him an injury, and Sarah rushed forward, heedless of the groom’s protestations that she’d get her traveling costume dirty.

“I don’t know why you bother blindfolding her, Ben,” she chided as she whipped the dark cloth from underneath the bay’s halter and took the lead rope from her groom. “She’s not a whit easier to handle—easy there, girl! Easy... See, you’re out of that nasty boxcar and onto solid ground, and I’ll see that you rest in a big loose stall tonight with plenty of grain to eat....” It never mattered what she said, only that she kept talking to the skittish thoroughbred.

But this time, even her soothing voice didn’t seem to be working its usual magic

Just then a shot rang out from somewhere in the milling throng on the station platform, a shot that whistled right over Sarah’s head and embedded itself in the wood of the boxcar. The mare went wild with terror, rearing and nearly yanking Sarah’s arm out of its socket. The screams and shouts of the crowd blended with the frightened whinnying of the thoroughbred as it plunged and kicked. Then, as Sarah struggled to keep hold of the lead rope, another shot rang out, kicking up the dust right in front of the toe of her right boot. The surprise of the second shot made Sarah loosen her grip on the rope—only for a second, but it was enough. Trafalgar gave a mighty toss of her head, yanking the rope out of Sarah’s hand, wheeled and went galloping down the tracks, with Ben in hot pursuit.

A weight hit Sarah from behind, knocking her flat a heartbeat before a third shot whistled by her. She heard the wood of the boxcar splinter with the impact of the third bullet. For a fleeting moment she had the ridiculous notion that one of the mountains had somehow moved and fallen on her...and then a voice drawled, “Lady, don’t you have the sense to hit the dirt or take cover when you’re bein’ shot at?” and she realized that it was the dangerous-looking American who had tackled her and knocked her into the dirt, covering her with his body.

Sarah thrashed beneath him, trying to free herself. “How dare you? Get off me, sir!” she demanded. “My mare—I have to catch my mare!” Out of the corner of her eye she could see a blur of movement. People were fleeing the station platform in panicked droves, while others had likewise flattened themselves on the ground.

“Forget your mare for the time bein’, lady!” he ordered, dragging her to her feet with one hand, holding his drawn pistol with the other. “We’re going to take cover until we’re certain the shootin’s stopped.” He pulled her along with him until they had reached the other side of the boxcar.

“Stay there,” he said, flattening her against the side of the car with his forearm while he inched around to where he could see the station platform again.

“But I have to see that—”

“Stay there,” he ordered over his shoulder. Then, after a silent minute of scanning the crowd, he said, without looking back at her, “Everyone’s runnin’ to and fro like chickens with their heads cut off. I couldn’t see where the shots came from, and now I don’t see anyone with a gun.” He turned back to her. “Why would anyone want to shoot at you, lady? Who are you?”

She heard Alconbury and Lord Halston calling her, but ignored their cries for the moment. “You think someone was shooting at me?” she asked incredulously. “My good man, I hardly think anyone would have a reason to shoot at me. I’m but newly arrived in your city, a British subject—” Standing just inches from him, she had no difficulty seeing him clearly, and she saw him raise an eyebrow.

“There’s folks that’d argue about my goodness,” he drawled, his green eyes mocking. “I thought you didn’t sound American. So who are you, and what’re you doing in Colorado Territory, and why is someone shooting at you?”

She resented his interrogation. “I’m not accustomed to introducing myself to a stranger, sir.”

The green eyes narrowed. “I just saved your life, and you want to stand on ceremony?”

She realized he might well be right. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid that being frightened makes me a trifle cross. I spoke more sharply than I intended,” Sarah apologized. “I think you did save my life, and I’m very grateful. My secretary will see that you’re suitably rewarded, Mr.—”

He hesitated for a moment, then growled, “Morgan Calhoun, and there’s no need to be talkin’ about any reward. It was just the right thing to do.” His expression softened somewhat. “I reckon you’re entitled to feel a mite cross at bein’ shot at, too. Most females would have had hysterics. Oh, and I’m sorry about dirtyin’ your fine clothes, ma’am....”

Sarah managed a tremulous smile. “No apologies are necessary on that score, certainly. I’d rather be a bit soiled and alive than an immaculate corpse.”

Morgan Calhoun grinned at that, but still seemed to be waiting for something, and after a moment she realized what it was.

“Oh! How remiss of me! My name is Sarah Challoner,” she said, and was about to add her title when Donald Alconbury, Lord Halston and Celia ran panting around the side of the boxcar.

“Your grace! Are you...all right? Were you wounded?” demanded her secretary.

“Who is this ruffian?” Lord Halston asked, pointing at Calhoun. “Unhand the Duchess of Malvern immediately, fellow!”

Morgan Calhoun stared at Sarah. “A duchess? You’re a duchess?”

She nodded. “The Duchess of Malvern, actually. Yes, Donald, don’t worry, I’m quite all right, thanks to Mr. Calhoun, here.”

Morgan looked back at Lord Halston, then down at his own hands, one of which still held his drawn pistol; the other held nothing. “I don’t reckon I need to ‘unhand’ what I’m not touchin’ at the moment, fellow,” he retorted, bolstering the pistol. “Who’s he?” he asked Sarah, indicating the indignant Lord Halston with a nod of his head.

“Lord Halston, may I present Morgan Calhoun,” Sarah said. “Mr. Calhoun, my uncle, Lord Halston. Please stop glaring at Mr. Calhoun, uncle—instead, he deserves our thanks. Had he not thrown me to the ground, that last shot might well have put a period to my existence. And who was shooting at me, anyway?”

Frederick, Lord Halston, muttered something that may have been an apology, then said, “None of these incompetent idiots seems to have a clue who fired the shots, though one woman said they seemed to be coming from one of the upper-story windows in the station, and the train officials went up to check. I think we should make arrangements to leave immediately, your grace. Obviously someone in this barbaric settlement—” he wrinkled his nose as he looked around “—means you harm.”

Sarah ignored his suggestion. She pointed down the track, where her groom led her trembling bay mare. “Oh, good, Ben’s caught her. Bravo, Ben!” she called.

“Duchess, I don’t know what in thunder you’re doin’ here, but Lord Whatsis may have a good idea about leavin’,” interjected Morgan Calhoun. “Somebody’s obviously taken exception to your arrival.”

Sarah heard Halston’s growl of indignation at the ridiculous name, then she turned back to the American. “Nonsense. We’ve only just arrived, and I have no intention of getting back on a smelly, noisy, dirty train—or any other form of conveyance. I’m here on a goodwill tour on behalf of Her Majesty the queen, you see, and people are expecting me. Departure today is out of the question.”