Authors: Linda Bridey
Tags: #Romance, #Historical, #Victorian, #Western, #Historical Romance, #Westerns
Mitch sat with his feet up on his desk with his hat down over his eyes. He dozed lightly, ready in case someone came through the door. He’d not gotten much sleep after Sammi had left his house but he really didn’t regret it. Memories of her smooth skin against his hands and her soft mouth against his interrupted his nap and he finally gave up.
He decided to take a tour around town to make sure all was well. Beulah followed him. He’d chastised her for never waking up the night before when Sammi had snuck into his house. The dog hadn’t seemed too worried about it, though. She trotted after him and waited while he mounted Rico. As he turned the corner at the square, he saw Sammi riding in his direction.
She saw him and brought Macbeth over to stand beside Rico. “Howdy, Sheriff. How’d you sleep last night?”
He gave her an ironic look. “How do you think I slept?”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t sleep too well myself,” Sammi said.
Mitch nodded. “Yeah, it does. What were you doing?”
“I visited Jamie out at the Samuels’ place. They’re an interesting bunch,” she said.
Mitch laughed. “That they are. They’re good people. So what are you doing now?”
“Depends on what you’re doing,” Sammi said.
“I’m doing a quick patrol. Ride with me,” Mitch said.
“Ok,” she said and turned Macbeth around so he was headed in the same direction. “I like your dog,” she said as she looked at Beulah.
“Thanks. She’s not much of a watch dog, but she can follow a scent like nobody’s business,” Mitch said as they started out. Then he said, “I have to say that last night was the nicest home invasion I’ve ever had.”
Sammi’s mouth twitched. “Oh, so then that’s the first time that a woman has entered the premises without permission?”
“That’s correct. So if you don’t make it a habit to trespass, why did you do it in my case?” Mitch asked.
Sammi said, “Because you’re a big, delicious-looking man.”
Mitch laughed. “I’ve never thought of myself that way, but I like that you think it.”
“Oh, come on, Mitch. Surely you’ve had your share of women interested in you,” Sammi said. “I mean, look at you. You’re tall and you have muscles in all the right places. Plus, you’re a great kisser. What red-blooded female wouldn’t be attracted to you,” Sammi said.
“Yeah, I’ve had some women interested in me. They’re not what I’m lookin’ for. It’s like you said; my job is demanding and often I have to work even if it interferes with my personal plans. It can be hard to maintain a relationship if a woman doesn’t understand that. You’ve already shown me that you can amuse yourself. I don’t worry that you’d be sitting around waiting for me to come home and getting mad when I don’t get there in time for dinner,” Mitch said.
“Exactly. I’d eat and let you fix something when you got home,” Sammi said. “Or I’d come find you and we could eat whenever you were done. Or I could help you.”
“You don’t give up, do you?” Mitch said.
“Nope. So hypothetically, if I were the only one around who could help with something, would you temporarily deputize me?” Sammi asked.
“Absolutely,” Mitch said without hesitation. “Although, I wouldn’t wait until you were the last person because I have a hunch you can outshoot a lot of guys.”
Sammi said, “I’m glad to hear that. I’m happy working for Jake, though.” She rode a little closer to him and leaned over. “Especially since what happened last night couldn’t happen if you were my boss.”
Mitch looked down at her and Sammi was trapped by the desire she saw in his eyes.
“That’s right. And let’s just say that at some point, I wouldn’t mind that happening again,” he said.
“Why, Sheriff Taylor, you say the nicest things,” Sammi teased and batted her eyes at him.
“Sheriff Taylor!” a woman called out.
Sammi watched Mitch’s shoulders slump and heard him let out a heavy sigh. She saw a plump, older woman waving to him. Mitch rode over to her and said, “Afternoon, Mrs. Samuels. How can I help you?”
Pricilla looked up at Mitch and said, “That cat of Bertha Wagner’s has been digging in my flower bed again. This is the third time this week I found cat dirt when I was weeding.”
“Pricilla, I understand why you’re frustrated, but there’s nothing I can do about a cat. I’ve tried to explain that to you before,” Mitch said patiently.
“But you’re the sheriff now,” Pricilla said.
“Yes, that’s true, but you’ve been dealing with this cat longer than I’ve been sheriff. I’ve asked Bertha to try to keep her cat at home, but sometimes it sneaks out,” Mitch said. “I can’t control that and it’s not against the law for cats to be out and about.”
Sammi saw Mitch’s hand tighten on his reins when Pricilla opened her mouth to argue.
“Hey, lady,” Sammi said and held up her gun. “You see this? It’s a gun. If you keep having problems with the cat, just shoot it. Of course, you have to make sure that you’ve got the right cat. I understand that Pastor John has one and I wouldn’t recommend shooting a pastor’s cat. You do that, and you won’t be entering the pearly gates, that’s for sure.”
Pricilla’s mouth opened but nothing came out. She looked from Mitch to Sammi and then just took off down the street, muttering about unsavory women.
Mitch took off in the opposite direction at a trot and Sammi followed him. She thought he was angry with her until he pulled Rico over and started laughing. Sammi laughed with him. People looked at them as they passed but neither of them cared.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” Mitch said when he caught his breath. “I’ve never seen Pricilla speechless before. I guess I shoulda done that a long time ago, but I tried to be nice.”
Sammi said, “Well, unfortunately nice doesn’t always get the job done.”
“You mean like last night at the saloon?” Mitch asked.
“Yeah. I’d tried to be nice and make Paul see reason, but when people are half-way drunk, their good sense just isn’t always there. But even if you’re drunk, usually if a gun is pointed at you, it sobers you up,” Sammi said. “And if not, a bullet to the foot does.”
Mitch said, “It sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
Sammi looked at him. “I know that sounds harsh, but it’s different for you, Mitch. I doubt that you’ve had a two-hundred pound man pawing at you. I have. I tried everything I could to convince him to leave me alone, but he was determined. I didn’t want to get violent, but a shot in his foot was what saved me. Ever since then, I just found that being intimidating right off is the best way to avoid getting hurt later on.”
Mitch said, “Jesus. You’ve really had a rough time of it, haven’t you?”
“I didn’t have a pa or anyone like that to protect me, so I had to protect myself,” Sammi said. She shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
As he looked Sammi, Mitch began to see that underneath all of the bravado she showed the rest of the world a scared sixteen-year-old girl still existed inside of her. That she had survived alone in a world where many atrocities against women were committed every day was a testament to her incredible strength.
“You might be used to it, but you shouldn’t have to be,” Mitch said.
Sammi said, “I know. So are you looking for a deputy, since I’m taken?”
Mitch let the other subject go and dealt with her question. “Yeah, but I don’t know who yet. I know it’s only a few days since Travis passed away, but I can’t let it go much longer. I pretty much know everyone around here and I can’t think of anyone who would be qualified or steady enough to do the job.”
“Maybe your next advertisement should be for a deputy,” Sammi said.
“I think you’re right about that,” Mitch said.
“Oh. About that? Marcus figured out that I answered your ad. I’m sure it won’t be long until other people know about it since his whole family does now,” Sammi said.
Mitch shrugged. “I don’t care, do you?”
“Nope. I’ll just have to be extra careful about sneaking into your house,” Sammi whispered.
Mitch kept a straight face but his eyes smiled at her.
“I would like to see it in the daylight so I can get a proper look at it,” Sammi said in a serious tone of voice.
“I think we can arrange that,” Mitch said.
Another horse rode up on the other side of Mitch. “Afternoon, Sheriff,” Joe said. “Sammi.”
“Hi, Joe,” Mitch said. “I need you to do me a favor.”
“Name it. Never let it be said that I don’t help out law enforcement,” Joe said.
“Joe, you’re half the reason law enforcement is needed around here,” Mitch said.
Joe was offended. “What are you talking about? I am not.”
“Need I remind you of how many arguments you’ve started because of hustling people at poker?” Mitch said.
“You probably do need to remind be because I was probably too drunk to remember most of them,” Joe said, which made Sammi laugh.
Mitch said, “You’re lucky I like you. You owe me for all of the times I saved your bacon. Now, come with me and Sammi to my house.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to show it to her and I need someone to go with us. And, I want to talk to you about something. I can kill two birds with one stone,” Mitch said.
“Why do you need someone to go with- oh! I get it. Sure,” Joe said.
The outside of Mitch’s house was in pretty good shape, but the inside was another matter. As they went in the front door, Sammi saw the extent of the disrepair. There had been water damage to some of the walls and a lot of the floorboards were warped. The rooms were huge. Sammi liked all of the open space. She’d known that the foyer was large, but in the dark she hadn’t been able to fully appreciate the size of the other rooms.
The staircase was elegant and the banister ornate. As they moved from the parlor through the dining room and into the kitchen, Sammi had no trouble picturing living there. For all of the damage, she could envision what it would be like when they were finished with it.
“Good God, Mitch,” Joe said. “I didn’t know this place was this big inside. I mean, you can see that it’s a sizeable house, but I didn’t know it ran this far back from the street.”
“Yeah, plus there’s a carriage house out back,” Mitch said.
“A carriage house?” Sammi said. “Wow. Who did this place belong to?”
“A wealthy family from Virginia who came out here. They had some bad financial luck and moved back to Virginia,” Mitch said. “It stood empty for a long time. The roof got bad and let in all kinds of water and such.”
“It’s beautiful,” Sammi said.
Mitch looked at her in surprise. “You think it’s beautiful?”
“Yeah. Look at that staircase. When that’s sanded down, the rickety steps replaced and the wood refinished, it’s going to be elegant. If we put marble down instead of wood in the foyer, it’ll really create a contrast with the wooden floors. I know some of them are warped, but they can be replaced. The walls are a pain in the ass to deal with, but redoing them will be worth it. Gotta make sure that there’s no more water damage behind those panels,” Sammi said.
It was obvious to both men that there was no need to answer. She rattled off all kinds of needed repairs and ideas.
Joe laughed at the dazed expression on Mitch’s face. “Yeah. Women are like that. They don’t even have to live in a place to want to change it. Get used to it, Mitch.”
Sammi moved off into the kitchen. She was still talking to herself.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Joe asked.
“Listen, we’ve got problems here in town,” Mitch said.
Joe gave him a quizzical look. “What kind of problems?”
“We need a different mayor,” Mitch said.
“Why? I mean, Jessie’s not exactly perfect, but he’s the only one that seems to want to do the job,” Joe said.
“Yeah, I know. Here’s the issue. I’m the only lawman in town now. I need a deputy,” Mitch said.
Joe pointed towards the kitchen.