Mail-order Man

by Martha Hix

Genres: Action & Adventure Romance; Historical Romance

Synopsis

A STEAMY STORY OF DECEPTION AND DESIRE...AS TWO LOVERS DISCOVER THAT AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE CAN SIZZLE WITH MORE HEAT THAN A TEXAS NIGHT! She was a pampered Mississippi belle who had never known a single day of hardship in all her twenty-three years. But now Skylla St. Clair was desperate. Why else would she have advertised in the newspaper... for a husband? And here he was, galloping onto her newly inherited Texas ranch--a handsome, sweet-talking rogue Skylla couldn't trust--or resist. The ex-Rebel soldier and con man took pride in his deceiving art. Now, in the booming post-war West, Braxton Hale intended to make the biggest killing of all. He would play the groom the lovely lady wanted...right before he stole her land and high-tailed it to the richer horizons of California. But that was before Braxton held the sweet, sensuous Skylla in his arms--and discovered a woman he desired far more than gold...

Release date: July 1, 1994

Publisher: Zebra Books

Print pages: 293

Sample

“We’re in luck.”

That would be a switch. Braxton Hale, prone in his hammock, scowled between bars at the swaggering, footloose youth who shared the Hale surname. Brax centered on an issue more important than that vague announcement of good fortune. “Where the hell have you been? It’s been three days since I’ve seen the whites of your eyes. Dammit, boy, I figured you got knocked in the head. Or thrown in the Mississippi.”

Geoff tucked a periodical beneath his armpit, the frays of his sleeve fanning the newsprint. “That guard you cheated in three-card monte wouldn’t let me in.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

For a swig of lunch Brax picked up a bottle of whiskey that he’d swindled from the captain of the guards. Something brown and ugly skittered over the lip. Brax muttered a curse, then flicked a roach to the wall of the dank humid cell. The war had reduced better men than Brax Hale, late of the defeated Army of Northern Virginia, to worse acts than drinking after an insect, but he wasn’t that desperate for lunch.

“Don’t you want to know the luck?” Geoff Hale asked.

“Not particularly.” Too long, luck had been nothing but snake eyes for the Mississippi cavalryman drafted into the medical corps and the clever half-caste boy, now seventeen, who’d followed him to war. “Did you get that sack of flour to your mother?”

“Bella got the flour.” Hurt in his light brown eyes, his voice elevating, Geoff said, “Doggone it, Bubba, I’ve been getting us help, and you aren’t even interested.”

Brax glanced at the door separating this cellblock from the antechamber where Blue Bellies stood guard. “Keep it down, or they’ll hear you.” Beginning to get infected with Geoff’s enthusiasm, though, he whispered, “What’s the luck?”

“You were wrong. Your friend Petry isn’t dead.”

“That’s what you call luck? Who gives a damn?” The sissy lawyer was never more than an acquaintance. Until March of 1861.

“Massa Petry’s got a lively law practice.” Geoff leaned into the iron bars. “Yankees like him. Especially the brass.”

“That lard-assed weasel is the sort to cozy up to the enemy.” His mind working, Brax ran his tongue over his pearly whites. “But I could use a lawyer to get me free. And to look into the debt Titus St. Clair died owing me.”

“Sure wish I’d been with you in Texas when you were cowboying for the major.” Geoff snickered. “I wish I’d seen how he let the Indians ride onto his ranch, then let them steal a whole casket of topaz from under his big ole red nose.”

“The bastard did let the Comanches get to him. But you’re wrong. I wasn’t around for his comeuppance. Dammit.”

Brax hated Titus St. Clair. Hated him with a vengeance, even though the major was three years in his grave. Some types of hatred never die, and Brax held such an animosity for the supposed friend who’d employed him awhile in Texas, then coerced him into Confederate service . . . only to let him down. Hard.

“I am going to call in that marker,” he promised.

“But the major changed his gold to Confederate money.”

“I know there’s no cash recourse. Petry could write the courts in Mason County, see about restitution, say an exchange of my marker for the deed to the Nickel Dime Ranch.”

“Speaking of the Nickel Dime—”

“Hell’s bells, though, Geoffie! It could take years for a deal like that to go through. Even one year is the same as a life sentence to a man itching for California.” Brax sat up in the hammock, planting his worn-out Wellingtons on the floor and his elbows on the knees of his threadbare britches. “What we need is an easy way to get paid.”

“That’s what I was coming to. Bub—”

“Hey, youse guys.” Clearly, the speaker addressed his fellow guards. “Want I should bring you some blackberry cobbler?”

Hunger twisting his gut, Brax called out, “Why, yes, kind sir, my man and I would be mighty pleased to enjoy a couple of bowls of it.” Despite Geoff’s warning extension of his hand, he added, “If y’all can see your way clear for a pot of coffee, we—”

“I ain’t talking to no dirty Reb gyp-master that cheated my buddy, so shut up!”

“My apologies.” Brax shot the bird toward the doorway. “You being a city boy, I doubt you know what chiggers do on blackberry bushes. Say, how are those chigger bites of yours?”

The Blue Belly slammed the solid door, unwittingly giving the black and white Hales the favor of privacy.

“I wonder what he’ll have for lunch,” Geoff said, wistful.

It seemed like forever since Brax had sat down to a real meal along the lines of ham and hominy, turnip greens, pecan pie, and gallons of cool, cool tea laced with sprigs of just-picked mint. “Wouldn’t a nice big bowl of strawberry shortcake taste good right now?”

“Strawberry shortcake?” Gone was the wistfulness. Geoff’s voice flowed mellifluously, contrary to his age. “Before long the two of us, and Bella, too, will eat the richest and sweetest of pound cakes fresh from the oven, topped with the biggest and juiciest strawberries west of the Mississippi.”

“Couldn’t happen too soon for me.” Brax stared at the condensation dripping through the patterned mildew on the wall. “Tell me you’ve talked to Petry and he’s parlaying with the provost marshal.”

“Let me read you something.” Geoff fished for the periodical, anchored it between thumb and forefinger, then set to the unfurling. “ ‘Husband needed. Strong back and good sense of humor required, as ranch work in Texas is expected. Talent with firearms a must. If you are not of excellent morals and attitude, or if you are over thirty, do not apply. Comeliness not a requisite but helpful. Ref—’ ”

“Oh, I see,” Brax cut in. “You’re wanting a bride.”

“Not me. You.”

“I was right all along. You did get knocked in the head.”

“I’ve never been more sane, I assure you. You’ve got three of the requirements. Strong back. Talent with firearms. Comeliness.” Geoff scrunched up an eye to peer into the cell. “Leastwise the ladies used to think you were nice looking.”

“Used to?”

“Ain’t no mo’,” Geoff replied in a voice that had served the two of them in a few schemes. “Massa, you best stay away from da looking glass. You so skinny you’s only gots one side.”

“That’s not funny. Besides, I’m a year over thirty. And I’m of ignoble character. I don’t qualify.”

“Stuff like that never stopped you before.”

True. Brax considered the advertisement, painting a grim picture of the writing between the lines. Giving Texas its due, though, it had primitive beauty and prospects for riches untold, the latter appealing to the hardworking set. Of which Brax would no longer count himself.

He imparted a stern glare. “Do you have any idea what that ‘strong back and good sense of humor required’ malarkey means? Some woman is wanting a slave in husbandly chaps. Count me out. I’ve done all the hard work I intend to do.”

“Let me finish reading the—”

“No. Not no—hell no!” Patience. He’s just a kid, and he means well. “Fetch Virgil.”

“Soon as I finish this.” Geoff snapped the newspaper open again. “ ‘References demanded. Travel expenses paid. Con—’ ”

“I like the travel-expenses-paid angle.”

“ ‘Contact Virgil Petry, Esquire, for interview.’ ”

“Petry, eh?” The glint in the younger man’s eyes told Brax he really did have something figured out. “Go on.”

Geoff didn’t. He reached between the bars for sour mash, tilting the bottle up before Brax could warn him off, then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Mammy, Pappy, and Jeff Davis’s hound dawg Sammy—lawdy, dat stuff shore am good.”

“Cut the field-hand patter. I don’t like you swilling liquor, either. It’s bad on an empty stomach.”

Beyond his knowledge of medicine, Brax had bossing rights, even though Geoff had been free since the age of two. It was a matter of family, the youth and his mother being the same as kin. Don’t be hard on him. He’s known enough hell. And he and good-hearted Bella are all you’ve got left.

Brax Hale, at his pappy’s knee, had learned to live by the credo, Do unto others before they do unto to you, but those two were exceptions to the rule.

“Did Petry suggest you read me that piece?” Brax asked.

“No. But he is anxious to get his client married off. He said so himself.”

Undoubtedly. “What about the woman wanting a man? Do you reckon she’s like Petry’s new chums, from up North?”

“Nope. I hear she’s from as far south as you can get in Mississippi. She’s a Biloxi belle. You know the kind. All salt air and boiled crabs and ‘Rastus, faster with that fan.’ ”

“I guarantee she’s miserable in Texas.” Brax snickered. “But why isn’t she advertising for hired help?”

“The frontier’s out of cowboys. The war, you know.”

“That’ll change.”

“True. But that rancher-lady is green enough to hand you her place. She’s our golden opportunity. You can make a marriage, and we can get us a home and a fresh start in Texas.”

Brax smashed a mosquito that buzzed his leg. “It’s California or bust for us.”

“Count on ‘bust.’ ” Geoff drew himself up, tatters and all. “You’re looking to do hard time, we don’t have two bits. And me and Bella, well, we’re just two more darkies.”

Geoff’s frustration and resentment gave Brax pause. How true those words. The coloreds were suffering as much as, if not more than, the defeated whites in the ruins of Dixie. Being on the western edge of the Confederacy, and having hosted few battles, Texas had the best shot at recovery.

Then again . . . “I’d do anything for you, Geoffie. But I won’t chain myself to a marriage just because you think life’ll get easier. Besides, once we get where the money has value for more than outhouse duty, you and I can run a few grifts.”

“Who said anything about forever after? Once you marry her, the ranch becomes yours. Sell out. Then take off with the proceeds. Cal-i-for-ni-a, here we come. Bye-bye, Miss—”

“And who’d buy it?”

“Carpetbaggers.”

Squinting, Brax smoothed his upper lip with a thumb and a forefinger. “Not a bad idea.”

Regardless, he had doubts about the mail-order-man deal, and knew how to make Geoff think twice. “Let’s go for it. Once we get there, when the Rastus-and-the-fan lady wants the cows rounded up and the Injuns gunned down, you can pack the pistols.”

The youth froze. Recovered, he replied, “I doan know ’bout dat, massa. You know dis boy too dumb fo work.”

“I doubt the lady would let you nap while her man’s riding the range.” Brax chewed down on a grin. “You know, I think the honeyed aroma of fresh cow patties will round out your education nicely. Did I tell you they have rattlesnakes ten feet long out there?”

“S-snakes?”

“By the thousands. Scorpions by the millions.” Brax nodded. “Yes, I do think my marriage is our ticket to the good life.” He pointed at Geoff. “You do the work and the gunning.” He jabbed that fingertip against his own chest. “I’ll keep the lady’s bed warm. Why, I may never want to traipse off to the poker dens of San Francisco—if she’s good-looking, and her biscuits aren’t as hard as the boot heel of Missouri.”

In just one of war’s cruelties, it had been since Richmond, early ’64, that Brax had known the pleasure of a woman, so he couldn’t help wondering about the advertiser. He imagined shiny dark hair and big brown eyes lighting a porcelain doll’s face. “How did Petry describe her?”

Having changed his mind about the prospect of frontier life, Geoff replied, “Said she’s hard up, that’s what he said. Sounds pretty bad. Bad as bad can be. She’s desperate for a man. No telling what kind of mess you’d be getting us in to. Why, she might be one of those black widows ready to kill her mate.”

“Stop exaggerating. And don’t judge things you don’t know anything about. Southern men are dead, by and large, and the women need anything they can come up with to get men.” A pause. “Is she a widow?”

“Uh-uh. She izzzz . . . Isn’t.”

“Is she young or old? And what’s her given name?”

The lesson unlearned, Geoff kept the ball of exaggeration rolling. “Young. Very young. Probably not a day older than fourteen. And it’s Skylla.”

“Sky-lah. Different. Not bad.” Brax smiled. “Sure would be nice to see a woman with meat on her bones. You reckon she’s fat or skinny?”

“Skinny. She’s gotta be. Probably ugly, too. Teeth all rotted in her head, big old moles with hairs growing out of them. Probably dips snuff and dribbles it in the biscuit dough.”

“Typical for fourteen.”

Geoff cleared his throat. “There’s something else. The lawyer’s pretty little washerwoman said the heiress and her pappy and stepmammy were in cahoots with the occupiers of Biloxi. Vigilantes hanged Ambrose St. Clair on the lawn of his oceanfront property and ransacked the mansion itself, but they let the women go. Provided they got out of town and stayed out. So Miss and Mrs. St. Clair took refuge inland, but beat for Texas at the first opportunity. On a U.S. Navy ironclad. I know you hate Blue Belly lovers . . .”

Brax abandoned the hammock, taking a giant step over to the bars. “What is—? What did you call them?”

“Blue Belly lovers.”

“Not that. What’s their name?”

“St. Clair. Like I told you a while ago, it’s St. Clair.”

Brax threw back his head of golden hair. Hot damn-my luck’s just changed! “You didn’t say anything about any St. Clair except for Titus. But everything’s tying up, all neat and sweet. I’ve heard of Ambrose. He’s the major’s brother.”

Geoff shrugged, unconvincing in his nonchalance.

“You’re afraid I’ll take the deal, and make you work.”

As weary as Brax from the long walk from Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia to the ruins of Vicksburg, Geoff exhaled. “You’re right. I’m not wanting to face hard work. But you got me wrong, Bubba. I did mean to say Skylla St. Clair is the major’s niece and heir. His only heir.”

“Titus did mention a niece.” After the first rambling report, dispensed in the early days of his stay at the ranch, Brax had shut his ears. Now he wished he’d paid more attention. Being a head taller than his partner, he bent to eyeball Geoff. “Did you ask Petry if those women have cash on the barrelhead to pay off the marker?”

“I did. They don’t. Massa Petry says he put up the traveling money. Mrs. St. Clair fell on hard times after Biloxi, and Miss St. Clair doesn’t have two nickels to rub together.”

“She’s got the ranch.”

“It’s probably all run down and grown over.”

Brax shook his head. “You know better than that. You heard Titus say he left his foreman to take care of the place. Oren Singleterry will have it in fine fettle.”

“Bubba, forget it.”

“No way.” Arms akimbo, he boomed, “My brilliant pal, thank you for pointing out how I can get the law on my side. Thank you very much. I aim to get us the Nickel Dime.”

If some oily swain beat him to the tinhorn bride, Brax might never get that ranch—much less a grubstake for California or his revenge upon the ghost of Major Titus St. Clair.

“Geoff, find out how much it’ll cost to send Bella by ship to San Francisco. Then fetch Virgil. Tell that fop of a mouthpiece to sashay on over here.”

Mr. Reluctance did not hop to attention.

“So this is the way it is, eh?” Brax dug a gold piece from his pocket. “Let’s flip for it.”

“Nawsir. Not on your life. I know about that trick coin. The only luck it’ll bring is yours.”

“My luck is yours.” Brax returned the coin to its place. “Be warned, Geoffrey Hale. I will get my money. You’re either with me or you’re not. What’s it going to be?”

“You won’t work me too hard, will you?”

An hour after sending Geoff on his unmerry way, Brax found himself face to face with the roly-poly Virgil Petry.

The attorney shifted his weight from one new shoe to the other. “I’m not comfortable recommending you to Miss St. Clair.”

“Does this have anything to do with your failure to pay me a call in the hoosegow—of your own volition?” Brax watched Petry’s Adam’s apple go north, then south. “Whatcha got against me, Virg? I seem to recall a day in March of 1861. I’d been back from Texas a few months. I tried to save my mother’s life . . . but I saved yours instead.”

Petry removed his silk top hat to run a nervous hand on thinning hair thoroughly glazed with pomade. “You pulled me from the path of a runaway team.”

“I did. And you did what?”

“Said thank you.”

“Now, Virg, I recall a more enthusiastic response. Like, typical Virgil behavior. Crying, blubbering, slobbering gratitude. I believe I recall the words ‘hero nonpareil’ and a promise to be forever beholden. I’m collecting on the forever-beholden part. Do whatever you must to recommend me to Skylla St. Clair.”

“I-I . . . I just can’t do that.”

Brax reached through the bars to grab a fistful of Petry’s collar. Twisting it, he ground out, “By God, you can. I mean to marry the woman, and you will help me.”

His face grown purple from lack of oxygen, the lawyer managed to nod in agreement. Brax let go of the silk cravat and starched linen. Petry fell back against the corridor wall, gasping. Enjoying the space now between him and the cell’s bars, the little man quibbled, “But I’m not at liberty to help you. I’m grateful for my life, but I’m not Miss St. Clair’s solicitor. I represent Mrs. Claudine St. Clair, her stepmother.”

Brax itched to finish choking him. “Don’t play games with me, Virgil. Your name is in the advertisement. Tell me what the heiress looks like.”

“I’ve never even met the young lady. Mrs. St. Clair and I have communicated by correspondence.”

“What’s the matter? Is the heiress illiterate?” Suspicious, Brax steadied his eyes on the lawyer. “Does Skylla St. Clair know her relative is trying to find her a workhorse?”

“She knows. Claudine wrote to save her stepdaughter the indelicacy of appearing overeager.”

That made sense. Southern belles did have their standards. What sort of Biloxi belle did she resemble? Brax decided the looks of the deed took precedence over her physical appearance, though he did hope she didn’t resemble a warthog. After all, celibacy stank.

“I want her. Get busy, Virg.”

“But you’re a Lothario, not to mention that nasty business of two weeks ago.”

“The latter being when I beat the shit out of two Blue Bellies after they laughed about Hale womenfolk dying ‘with their noses to the ground’ in the Siege of 1863.”

“I suppose you were upset over Larkin, too.”

“I’ve had three years to mourn my brother.” His death still hurt. There was little in Brax’s life to celebrate.

“And then there’s the matter of your father.”

Brax went cold. His muscles locked. Willing himself not to appear too disturbed, he said, “Ah, dear dad. Dr. John Hale, who sold the Hale holdings downriver, then abandoned his family to their own devices.”

In 1850, Elizabeth Hale and her children, along with Bella and her son, migrated up the Mississippi from Natchez, settling here. From the start, they were shunned by Vicksburgers, even the relatives they had counted on. Once Brax reached puberty, though, a goodly number of ladies sought him out. But those were bygone days. “I’m not responsible for my father’s actions.”

“Claudine is from here. Likely, she’ll know about you.”

“I’m not marrying Claudine. Get busy, Virgil. I want out of jail, quick like, so I can be on my way to Texas.”

“Well, I, well, I . . . I mean Claudine—”

“What’s the matter with you? What kind of lawyer can’t string two words together? Why are you scared of the woman?”

Petry licked his bulbous lips. “Claudine doesn’t scare me. She’s a friend of long standing. She used to be Claudine Twill. You know, the Twills of River Bend. She’s their daughter. You remember her, I’m sure.”

Brax knew some highfalutin Twills, but he didn’t recall any Claudine. One thing cleared up, though. Virgil Petry had been, or was, close with a particular Twill, closer than two dogs huddled together in the Klondike.

A wicked chuckle accompanied this thought. Brax now knew how to blackmail the weasel. “Speaking of human frailties . . .”

A quarter-hour later the lawyer was all too willing to recommend Braxton Hale to the post of prospective husband. Two days later Brax and the black Hales boarded the steamship Jackie Jo. Onward to the good life.

Gunfire banged from the cookhouse, aimed at a quartet of thieving, and now retreating, Comanches. It masked their savage whoops and the roar of Indian ponies’ hooves striking the hard dry earth. The rifle butt bruising her thin shoulder, Skylla St. Clair fired yet another futile bullet.

Suddenly the stick that held the flap-window aloft flew away from its mooring. The heavy wooden closure slammed down. It caught the rifle barrel. The butt kicked up to catch Skylla’s chin. She screeched in pain and fell hard on the earthen floor.

The events of this sweltering morning in July were enough to reduce a woman to a bucket of tears. One of the other two females in the enormous cookhouse was already so reduced, but Skylla wouldn’t let herself cry.

“It’s over.” She got to unsteady feet, brushed the skirt of her widow’s weeds, and forced a smile at her fearless adopted sister, who blew on the pistol barrel she’d leveled at the marauders. Skylla walked to the whiskey still, then lent a hand to her cowering stepmother. “You can quit crying. Stalking Wolf is gone.” For now. “We’ll be okay.”

“Will we?” Claudine lifted trembling fingers to her thick red hair. “That evil Indian and his awful band are stealing us blind. I told you, you should’ve let me at the Spencer.”

Skylla wouldn’t point out that her stepmother could barely hit a grazing longhorn, not to mention Claudine’s debilitating fear at the first sign of Indian attack. While Skylla, too, had been tempted to hide, and while her aim was nothing to brag about, she’d never entertained the idea of handing the rifle to Claudine.

Kathy Ann lowered the pistol. “I nicked an Injun.”

“Better you had killed him,” Claudine said.

“Better he didn’t kill me.” The fifteen-year-old’s gaze cruised over the cupboards. “What’s for breakfast?”

Claudine’s face went as red as her hair. “Is that all you can think of! You’re already big as a moose. God, what was I doing when I allowed my late husband Mr. Lewis to adopt his misbegotten! You are too dreadful for words.”

“Claudi—don’t.” Skylla turned to her stepsister. Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. “Lovey, she doesn’t mean it.”

Kathy Ann rushed from the cookhouse.

“Claudi, try to be more prudent with your words.” Skylla had learned to be cautious with hers.

The redhead chewed the bottom lip of her Cupid’s bow mouth. “Every mother wants her child to behave. She would try the patience of a saint.”

“All she asked for is something to eat. We all get hungry.” Forcing the accusation from her tone, Skylla said, “Kathy Ann was your third husband’s daughter, and you did agree to adopt her.”

“She’s had half her life to recover from the upbringing of that prostitute mother of hers. You’d think she would’ve straightened up by now.”

“If you wouldn’t be harsh with her, she might respond.”

“You’ve never been harsh, and what good has it done?”

This was no time to extend the debate over childrearing. Skylla stared at the door Kathy Ann had exited, and thought about what else awaited outside. “I’ll cook her a special treat for lunch. That should make her feel better. For now, though, we’d best survey Stalking Wolf’s damages.”

Leaving the cookhouse and glimpsing her late uncle’s two-story granite home, Skylla felt older than her twenty-three years. A rope dangled from a rung of the porch railing. The Comanches had stolen the piglet that had been tied there. A quick look at the henhouse yard gave evidence that the chickens were also gone.

Skylla feared Stalking Wolf was on the verge of stealing her dream—making something of her legacy.

As had the foreman who’d made off with the ranch’s string of horses not long before the three St. Clair women arrived in late January, Stalking Wolf undermined Skylla’s efforts to get the ranch on its feet.

The Nickel Dime had once been a prosperous spread. Uncle Titus had made a fortune herding cattle to the market in New Orleans. As well, he’d gotten a king’s ransom in gemstones from the creek, only to lose them to thieving Comanches. That was before he’d left for the war, taking the cream of his cowboys with him and impressing friends and acquaintances along the route to Virginia into Confederate service.

Her eccentric uncle had then perished at Second Manassas, a battle Northerners called Second Bull Run.

His fortune gone, he left a ranch stocked with unbranded longhorn cattle. Skylla knew nothing about prospecting for topaz, nor did she have the reference books necessary to learn the skill, and she was ignorant about longhorns. Not that there was any local market for them, anyway. Even seeking to hire help had been a lesson in frustration and aggravation.

She took note of the positives. “The Comanches didn’t trample my garden this time,” she said to Claudine, who lagged behind. “And we’ve still got a horse.”

“Monroe is on his last legs.”

“He’s better. . .