Harnessed Passions (55 page)

The future looked bright and filled with
years of little pitter patters around the stables, and not those of
foals. Then the thoughts of everything that had been plaguing the
ranch came rushing back to her. One way or the other she knew
Daniel would be the one who put an end to the events and the
rumors; all of them. His love for Julia was too great to allow
anything further to happen to her, and Louise was sure he was on
the path of learning all there was to know about the instigator.
She felt confident in his abilities to sort out the nasty details
and only hoped he could do it before anything else happened to her
daughter.

The brown shingles of the mansion's roof
came into view even before the sounds of horses in the distance
could be heard. Harold gazed out across the fields watching two men
on horseback rounding up the long legged thoroughbreds and, head
them toward the corrals. The sun was beginning to sink low behind
the tree tops, as bright orange and pink hues splashed against the
clear blue, painting the evening sky in a majestic splendor of
color. It was going to be warm tomorrow, he thought to himself, but
then Kentucky usually was during the summer months.

Harold hitched his horse to the post outside
the fence surrounding the large old structure. He tethered the
reins and gathered his leather case before walking up the steps.
The chance of Daniel being inside was near impossible, since he
knew his friend spent most of his time out at the stables; yet it
was the best place to start looking. He knocked softly on the
screen door and peaked into the hall beyond. The door had been left
open for the cool breeze of evening to pass through; several lamps
burned in the foyer, casting shadows against the walls.

A few moments passed by before the heavy
steps of boots could be heard coming down the stairs. A woman's
soft laughter floated through the silence caused Harold to smile.
He knocked again, this time taking note of the volume of his
announcement echoing through the house.

"Harold," Daniel said in greeting as he
stepped down the winding stairs and pulled the screen door open.
The two men shook hands and Daniel stepped aside allowing his
partner to enter. Julia smiled; a soft blush coloring her cheeks.
She was certain the twinkle in the man's honey brown eyes told of
how guilty she appeared.

"I wasn't expecting to see you so soon,"
Daniel continued, escorting his wife and best friend into the
family room.

"I wasn't sure you'd be here," Harold
confessed with a wink to the man next to him. "I assumed you'd be
out at the stables. Didn't you say you planned on mating some of
the mares today?" Daniel chuckled glancing at Julia as they sat on
the small divan.

"I did," two words spoken, warned Harold to
drop the subject before he embarrassed both himself and the young
couple.

"How's Margie?" Julia asked, trying to
control the color rising in her face.

"She's fine; she was disappointed that she
couldn't join me, though. She's busy with her bridge club today. By
the way, she'd kill me if I forgot to ask you. Margie would like to
know, if you'd be interested in joining the old biddies...er, I
mean the women? They meet once a week at one of the member's houses
and have a day of cards and gossip."

"Tell Margie thank you, but I don't know how
to play bridge and I detest gossip. Poker is more to my liking
anyhow."

"Poker?" the two exclaimed in unison as
their laughter erupted in a mutual tone of amusement. Julia’s eyes
sparkled like flames on the hearth, yet gave nothing away of her
inner humor she was hiding. She sat staring at the two until they
calmed down enough to continue speaking.

"I'm sorry Princess," Daniel chuckled,
wiping a tear from his eye. "But you shouldn't tease like that.
There's no way a woman could possibly understand the complex rules
of poker."

"Is that a fact? You wouldn't care to put
your money where your mouth is, would you Mr. Browning?"

"You're not serious?" Harold added in turn,
his eyes examining the woman with building interest and
amazement.

"Oh Harold she's just joking. She doesn't
know the first thing about the game."

"I wouldn't be so certain if I were you,"
Julia rose from the divan and went to the secretary in the corner,
removing a deck of her father's playing cards. She moved the small
table from beside the fireplace, positioning it between them and
sat back on the end of the small sofa.

"Five card stud, one eyed jacks wild and
just for fun, let's say opening bid is a dollar, shall we?" Daniel
and Harold exchanged glances before their attention was drawn to
the woman's hands. She removed the small ribbon binding the cards
together and began to shuffle them with the fingers of a seasoned
professional.

"I don't believe this," Harold nearly
choked, as she dealt the cards around with lightning speed. He
looked to Daniel who stared at his wife in wide eyed shock. "What
do we do now?"

"Put up or shut up," Julia answered in turn
of her husband. Daniel growled softly as he reached into his pocket
and tossed a silver dollar on the table top.

"I'm calling your bluff my darling wife," he
told her, picking up the cards she had dealt to him. Harold
chuckled and tossed a dollar to the table in turn, as did
Julia.

"This I gotta see," the man snickered and
began to position his cards in order.

Two hours and nearly fifty dollars later
Julia rose from the table and collected her winnings giving a
sheepish smile to the losers.

"If you two will excuse me I'm going to go
put this in a safe place."

"I’ve got to know," Harold said with a deep
stretch. "Where did you ever learn to play poker like that? You
were ruthless."

"Actually the mayor of Boston taught me,"
she answered with a wicked grin. "My uncle is a big fan of cards
and I helped him entertain on occasion; usually when my aunt was
having babies or stuck entertaining the women."

"Well, I think you're incredible," Harold
sniffed back the crow he had been forced to eat, straightening his
tie back into place.

"Why thank you Mr. Leonard," she smiled
again, glancing across to Daniel. "You seem to be the biggest loser
tonight, my love. I believe this I.O.U. is yours? How exactly do
you plan on paying me the twenty dollars when I have every nickel
you had on you?"

"Would you accept restitution in trade?"
Daniel winked at the woman, reveling in the rise of color to her
creamy complexion.

"That would depend. Do you think you're
worth twenty dollars?" Daniel growled, slapping her backside with
his hand and laughed at the woman's squeal as she hurried from the
room and up the winding staircase.

"Your wife is full of surprises, my dear Mr.
Browning," Harold announced, as Daniel returned the table to its
normal resting place before sitting back across from him.

"I couldn't agree with you more, but I'm
sure you didn't come out here just to lose your shirt playing poker
with her. Although I'd be interested to learn what Margie has to
say about it? What's up?"

"I found out a few things concerning our
discussion in town the other day and figured you'd want to know."
Daniel stood and walked to the door closing it securely before he
turned back to his friend.

"What did you find out?"

"I went to Graves County and talked with the
doctor, Stewart mentioned. He didn't really seem to recall Heather
Farnsworth or the man she was with, but his nurse did. She said the
man was very handsome, but they didn't give any names, at least
nothing more than Heather and get this - Michael."

"Michael? Who the hell's Michael?"

"Beats the hell out of me; I don't recall
there being a Michael around here, but then I didn't keep a close
eye on the local traffic, either."

"Damn; now we're nowhere again. This Michael
could be able to shed a little light on this mystery, but we don't
even know who the hell he is."

"No, but I do have a description. The nurse
said she remembered him or rather his arm, distinctly. She said he
had a long scare that went from his elbow to his wrist. That should
at least set him apart."

"But if we don't know anything else, how can
we find him? We can't exactly go around asking every man in town to
roll up his sleeve."

"I did my best pal," Harold said quietly,
knowing he really didn't find out anything, but figured Daniel
would want to know nevertheless.

"I know Harold, thanks. It's just so damn
frustrating. What about Sharon Farnsworth, did you find out
anything there?"

"Not much. Some of the town folks remembered
her vividly from when she lived here before. It seems she had a
reputation with the male residences of Mayfield, if you know what I
mean."

"So I've heard. I've been told she had a
list of lovers the size of a Metropolis mile."

"According to the men I spoke with, and a
number of the women as well, our Miss Farnsworth was very popular.
According to them, it was rare when she wouldn't be in one bed or
the other, and she started at a very early age. Fifteen if the
stories can be believed. From what I've been told, she didn't care
if the man was married or single, or even if he was old and fat.
She seems to have an affliction when it comes to the male gender,
so guard yourself. There were several men in town who spoke of her
in the present text, so I'd say she's back to her old habits. Also,
I found out her claims for moving at the time was to attend
college. I've put in a wire to Princeton University where she said
to have been enrolled, but so far I haven't heard anything back
from them. Also I wired her brother, Peter. He should be able to
shed a little light on his sister's activities."

"What about Dourn? Did you check out this
place in New York he was supposed to have come from?"

"Yes, and they never heard of him, yet the
description does match a man they had working for them a while
back. He was a loner and spent very little time doing anything,
other than working. They said he was fired, although they didn't
say what the reasons were."

"So, now what?"

"Why don't you talk with Dourn? You may be
able to find out something more about the night Julia was at the
pond."

"I've tried, but every time I go searching
for him he's nowhere to be found. He's been very good at avoiding
me. The only one he talks to is Overton. I suppose it wouldn't hurt
to go down to the stables and see if he happens to be around
anyway."

"Daniel, if you want I'll go with you when
you confront him. The reason he was fired in New York may help
clear up some of this mess."

"You're welcome to join me, but it'll have
to wait until after supper. I don't want Julia getting suspicious.
She's gone through enough and I don't want anything else to happen
that could cause her trouble."

"Agreed," the man assured his friend.
Neither said anything more, they were both wrapped up in their own
affairs to really concern themselves with conversation. One way or
the other, they had to get to the bottom of all of this and
hopefully before anything more serious happened.

The sun had long ago set and the sky was
filled with a million twinkling stars. The moon was nearly full and
the light it offered made the walk down to the stables pleasant.
Harold and Daniel excused themselves as soon as they had finished
dessert. Daniel explained how Harold wanted to see the new stables
and ordered Julia to remain at the house. He insisted she wouldn't
want to be there when Harold lit up his cigars and Julia quite
agreed.

Dourn was sitting just inside the door of
the stables, chewing on a long twig of straw. His feet were perched
high on a bale of hay, his eyes closed to the sights of the
evening.

“
There he is, the little
bugger,” Daniel growled but was stopped short with a hand to his
shoulder. Harold frowned as he looked at the man reclining
comfortably.

“
That’s Dourn?” he asked
suspiciously.

"Yes that's him, why? You sound as though
you know him."

"I do and so do you.
Remember about five years ago, right after you arrived here? We
were at the saloon and a drunk started calling you
fancy breeches
?" Daniel
remembered the incident clearly, once his friend reminded him of
it. He looked back to the man in the door way of the new barn, his
face vividly clear in Daniel's mind and painfully
familiar.

"That was Dourn," he remarked, more as a
statement than a question.

"Not exactly; his name is Overton. He's the
son of your foreman and he used to work here at Turner Stables
until Victor fired him."

"What the hell's his game?"

"Let's go find out," the two men continued
down the path to the stables, still unnoticed by the man lingering
in near slumber.

"Overton!" Daniel growled. The man jumped
up, the straw between his teeth fell to the ground and he nearly
tripped on the bale of hay he had been relaxing against.

"Y’sir," the man said, than began to stutter
at his sudden acknowledgment. "I mean...er...he ain't here...yeah,
that's right...Pa, er...Rally, that is, Mr. Overton...he's...well
he's..."

"Forget it Overton, the jig's up. I want an
explanation and I want it now. What the hell are you doing here and
why did you lie about who you were?"

"That were my idea, Mr. Brownin'," Rally
said, forcing the man to turn a narrowed glare to the man. "I's
tol' the boy, ta lie."

"Why? You could have told me the truth,
Rally."

"I's sorry Mr. Brownin', it's just that the
boy were in trouble up north and I didn't think ya'd hire him on
knowin' why."

"What did you do?" Harold asked, addressing
the man who was slowly regaining his composure.