The Sheriff

The physician exhaled heavily. “The Cavalry Blue,” he repeated, his brows knitted. “Arielle Colfax’s old diggings.”

“Yes, my dear great-aunt. You knew her?”

“Yes, I did. I knew Arielle, albeit briefly, and her husband, Benjamin. He was a geologist who came out West with Freemont.” Dr. Ledet shook his head. “Miss VanNam, I hate to tell you this, but the Cavalry Blue has been boarded up for years. Ever since your aunt left Fortune.” He paused, then as gently as possible said, “My dear, there’s never been a single ounce of gold brought out of that mine.”

Kate smiled, undeterred. “That’s excellent, Dr. Ledet.”

“It is?”

“Why, yes. Obviously all the gold is still inside, just waiting for me to bring it out.”

Charmed by her childlike exuberance, the elderly doctor had no wish to burst her bubble. That would happen soon enough. He said, “Could well be, child. Could well be.”

Kate kept glancing out at the changing scenery. The banks bordering the ever narrowing river had become lofty cliffs forested with tall, fragrant pines. She was enchanted.

And all the while she conversed with her congenial companion. Kate learned that the doctor was a childless widower who had left his San Francisco practice after Mary, his cherished wife of thirty-three years, contracted scarlet fever from one of his patients. She had died three days later.

Dr. Ledet had been in Fortune for the past six years, and Kate had plenty of questions about the community she planned to call home. He had all the answers and was glad to share them. Enjoying his captive audience, Milton Ledet regaled Kate with tales of the wild and woolly town where he practiced medicine. He knew just about everyone who lived in Fortune and had a story to tell about most of them.

Kate was fascinated by the colorful yarns, which made the time pass quickly. As morning turned to afternoon, Kate noticed that the air thinned so dramatically she was having a little difficulty breathing.

She heard the physician say calmly, “Take a deep, slow breath, Miss VanNam.”

Kate nodded and obeyed.

“They say it’s the air the angels breathe,” he stated. “We’re getting close to Fortune.” He rubbed his chin. “Now where was I?”

He continued by telling her that at one time or another, he had cared for just about every citizen in town.

The steamer rounded a bend in the narrowing fork of the river and the buildings of Fortune loomed just ahead.

Laughing, Dr. Ledet said, “All but one, that is. The sheriff.”

“The sheriff has never been sick or injured?”

“No doubt he has, but he’s never sought my services,” said the doctor. “He patches himself up and goes on with business. He’s one tough son of a gun, begging your pardon for my crude language, Miss VanNam. He was hired by the Committee of Vigilance—of which I myself am a senior member—to keep the peace, and Travis McCloud rules Fortune with fast fists and faster guns,” he declared, his eyes twinkling. “Step out of line and you have to deal with the fearless Marshal McCloud.” He paused, then smiled at Kate.

Feeling as if she were expected to comment, but not knowing what to say, she said, “And this courageous sheriff, is he from San Francisco or…?”

“No, no. McCloud’s a native Virginian. Came from an aristocratic Tidewater family.” The steamer was sliding slowly toward Fortune’s levee. “McCloud was educated to be a physician like me, but he—”

“He’s a murderer!” muttered the man in irons from across the aisle. He was then roughly urged to his feet. “Killed a man back in—”

“Move it!” ordered the armed, sandy-haired guard, prodding the prisoner up the narrow aisle.

Kate gasped at the startling accusation. She immediately turned questioning eyes on her companion. “Can that be?”

The steamer’s whistle blasted loudly in the thin mountain air, silencing her.

“We’re here,” Doc Ledet announced as the vessel came to a stop, its hull slapping gently up against the wooden dock. Smiling, he pointed and said, “There’s our sheriff now.”

Curious, Kate looked out the porthole.

A tall, broad-shouldered man in a black hat with the brim pulled low over his eyes stepped up to the lowering gangway. He wore a white, long-sleeved shirt, black leather vest and black trousers. A gun belt with a brace of Colt revolvers rode low on his slim hips.

As Kate stared, he lifted a hand and with the tip of his long index finger, he pushed up the brim of his hat, releasing a shock of coal black hair onto his high forehead. The move afforded Kate a good look at his face.

She quickly sucked in her breath.

Fortune’s fearless sheriff was a ruggedly handsome man with smooth olive skin, soaring cheekbones, a straight nose, sensual lips and eyes of a color she couldn’t quite determine, shaded as they were by long, curling lashes.

“That’s him, sure enough,” said the physician. “Marshal Travis McCloud. He’s here to take possession of that foul-mouthed prisoner that came up on the steamer with us.”

Kate continued staring at the imposing sheriff. There was a strong masculinity about him in the set of his lean, hard body, the way his broad shoulders moved. He came forward to meet his skinny, sandy-haired deputy and the man in irons as they stepped down from the gangplank.

“I’ll take over, Jiggs,” Kate heard the marshal say in a surprisingly soft voice with a slight Southern accent.

“He…the sheriff looks…he looks mean,” Kate murmured over her shoulder, unable to take her eyes off the most compelling man she had ever seen.

“I doubt he’ll be mean to you, Miss VanNam,” the doctor said, adding with a chuckle, “that is, unless you misbehave. Then he’ll have to throw you in jail.”

“I’ll be very careful,” she answered with a laugh, but felt a shiver skip her up spine at the prospect.

“Here, let me help you with that,” said Dr. Ledet when Kate lifted her heavy valise and started down the gangway.

“No, thank you.” She turned down his kind offer of assistance. “I can manage. It’s been a genuine pleasure visiting with you, Doctor.”

The man beamed. “I look forward to seeing you again soon, although not as a patient. You take care of yourself and stay well. You need anything, Kate, you let me know. My office is two doors down from the Eldorado Hotel. You can’t miss it.”

Kate smiled, nodded and left him. She carried her belongings from the riverfront to Main Street. The hotel that the doctor had mentioned was the first one she saw. Kate entered the Eldorado, checked into a third-floor room, glanced around and immediately focused on the big double bed.

She smiled and hurried to examine the mattress and bedding, turning back the covers and admiring the clean white sheets. She sighed with pleasure. The two things she wanted most in life were hers to be had in this hotel room.

A bath and a bed.

Soon Kate, fresh from her hot, relaxing bath, climbed into that soft, clean bed and smiled.

She fell asleep at sundown.

Four

At sundown Fortune came alive.

Thirsty miners hit the town’s many saloons the minute they laid down their picks and shovels. Tired and dirty, the men swarmed into the bars, eager for their first bracing shot of rotgut whiskey.

In Fortune’s most favored saloon, the Golden Nugget, the long polished bar, faro wheels and poker tables filled up as the sun slipped fully behind the western mountain peaks. Loud piano music resounded up and down the busy streets as the shrill feminine laughter of painted women in gaudy gowns mingled with the voices of lusty miners.

The man who single-handedly saw to it that trouble stayed away from his town was presently at the Golden Nugget.