“Whew,” Sam breathed, “just the thought of them laying their dirty hands on little Irma makes my blood begin to boil.”
“Yeah, me too,” Longarm said, feeling a sudden urge to leave the pair alone.
That afternoon Longarm met Caroline in the aisle, and was going to just say hello and pass on by, but the lady blocked his path. She actually looked upset. “Custis, are you avoiding me?”
“No.”
“Lucille and I haven’t seen Irma in two days.”
“She’s found another man,” Longarm admitted. “I’ve been jilted for a feed store owner.”
“Really?” Caroline brightened at this news.
“Really.”
“Is he nice? Handsome? Tell me about him over supper tonight.”
“All right,” Longarm said, “but will Mrs. Addie appreciate my company?”
“She’ll probably elect to have her meal brought to her compartment.” Caroline looked deeply into his eyes. “Would that greatly disappoint you?”
“Can’t say that it would.”
“We can also talk about going out to see those wild horses you told me were to be found near Reno.”
“Caroline, I’ve got a job to do first.”
Her smile faded. “A dangerous one?”
“Yes”, he admitted, “and very important.”
“Will it take long?”
“A week or two. Maybe even longer.”
Caroline took a deep breath, and it was then that he noticed her eyes were misty. “And I suppose that there is the … the possibility that you might … get … killed?”
Longarm heard the choke in her voice and was deeply moved. He took Lady Caroline in his arms and said, “I’ll be all right. If you can wait, we’ll go mustang hunting up around Pyramid Lake. It’s a beautiful, ancient lake, and I know some Paiute Indians who will show us the country and take us right to where we can see plenty of wild horses.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m going to wait for you, Custis.”
“What about your aunt?”
“I’ve given that some thought too. I’m going to tell her to go on to San Francisco.”
“She’d leave you?”
“I’ll make sure that she does,” Caroline said. “She treats me like a helpless child and I’m not really helpless at all. I want to become stronger. Like Irma. And to do that, I have to be allowed the freedom to take risks.”
There was almost a pleading in Caroline’s voice when she looked up at Longarm and said, “Doesn’t that make sense?”
“Perfect sense,” he assured her. “But what will you do in Reno for a couple of weeks or possibly even longer?”
“I’ve thought about that too. I may get a …” Caroline had to clear her voice. “I may actually get a job.”
“A job?”
“Not a hard one,” she quickly assured him. “A very proper job, of course.”
“Of course,” Longarm said with a grin.
“Would you take a little time and help me find one? Or perhaps you could just recommend me to someone.”
“What can you do?”
That stumped Caroline, and Longarm could see sudden alarm fire into her eyes. “Never mind,” he said quickly. “We can talk about all this over supper tonight. I’m sure that there is something that you can do to earn money.
“Good,” she answered, looking relieved. “I’m afraid that I really have had a protected upbringing. It was not well received by my family when I announced that I was coming to America to see the Wild West.”
“I’m sure it was not.”
“They raised a terrible howl. They told me that I’d be scalped by Indians … and worse.”
“What could be worse?”
“Well,” she said, blushing, “you know.”
“Oh, yes. I guess that would be worse than scalping.”
“Custis, can you please tell me tonight exactly what you must do in Reno?”
