Page 13 of Charlotte's Reckoning
Convinced Emmett was Satan himself, the stinging slap to her exposed backside confirmed it. “Stay still unless you want to fall and break your fool neck. That would be a pity before we get paid. As for the boys, it’s been a while for them. But you might as wellgetused to it. A purdy piece like you will be in demand at Heloise’s place.”
Rowie gazed at the ground moving swiftly below her. They were in the lead. If she were to fall, the other horses would likely trample her. Would that be so terrible?
With her husband dead and nowhere to turn, Eldridge Housegone, along with the stables—the most cherished part of her father’s legacy—and now, taken against her will and abused with more looming, what did she have left to live for?
Emmett’s fingers found the seam of her split drawers and delved inside. Any stranger’s touch would make her skin crawl.Thatitwasher husband’s murderer made itthatmuch worse. Her stomach heaved again; this time, she got him and his horse.
Cursing vehemently, he reined in hard and shoved Rowie from his lap. With her body as limp as a rag doll, he dragged her across the ground.
“Johnson,”he snarled, dropping her at the horse’s hooves, causing it to snort and stamp nervously. “You deal with her spewing. I’m done.”
Her new captorwassmart enough not to dangle her upside down. Seated upright in front of him, it didn’t happen again.Utterlyexhausted, she didn’t staythatway for long. Rowie slumped in his arms, head lolling and bobbingas they rode on. Sheknewtheywereheadedwest because the sun sank behind the mountains ahead of them, but after it set, she couldn’t mark the passing of time and didn’tknowhow far they traveled.
Onlyhalf conscious when they stopped, shehadto be carried inside, cradled, not slung like a sack over a shoulder—another wise decision on Johnson’s part. Raucous music played in the distance. She struggled toseewhere theywerewith only onegoodeye and her hair obscuring her face. Shecouldtell by the change in his stridethatJohnson climbed stairs, at least two flights, with him getting winded toward the top.
Sheheardmen laughing, women giggling, loud moaning, and bedsprings squeaking. Morbid curiosity made her turn tolook.
“Quit squirming, or I’ll drop you,”the young man warned.
“Bring her in here,”a woman said, and, a few seconds later, he dumped her onto a bed.
“What do you think?”She recognized Emmett’s voice and tried to sit up, but rough hands pushed her back down.
“That she smells like a sewer,” the woman quipped.
“She’ll wash,”he replied, sweeping her hair out of her face. “Evenfilthy, youcan tellshe’s a beauty.”
Fingers caught her chin and angled her face to the side. “She’s bruised beyond what cosmetics will cover. I’ll have to wait until the swelling goes down before putting her to work if I take her at all.”
“You can’t let a prize like hergetaway,”Emmett coaxed, yet, to Rowie, he still sounded like a venomous serpent. “She’s small but feisty and won’t beeasilytamed. Your customers who like a challenge will love her.”
“Her hair is extraordinary,”the woman mused as she picked up a handful of auburn waves and rubbed it between her fingers. “We’ll have to change the color though.”
“The hell you say,”he exclaimed. “What for?”
“I’ve been at this a long time. Blonde and brown sell. Never red.”
“What about the other?”
“That is easily dealt with as well,”the woman replied.
Blinking up at her through the grit from the salt of her tears and the dirt and sweat from the trail, she couldn’tseemuch other than a mass of blonde curls piled atop her head and a mouth the color of cherries.
“My mama taught me better than tobuy apig in a poke,” she stated in a business-like fashion. “I’ll need to see the rest before I can decide. Strip her down to her skin.”
Rowie would have believed it all a horrible nightmare if not for the sound of cloth ripping as her captors rolled her from side to side and tore off her clothes.
“Please, help me,”she croaked through dry, cracked lips. “They robbed the train Iwason and shot my husband.Then, they abducted me against my will. Call the police.”
“Would I be stupid enough to bring you here ifthatmattered to them?”Emmett asked in a caustic tone.
“He’s right,”the woman agreed as she sat on the edge of the bed beside her. “If a man has money to spend, we don’t ask how he came by it. We only have onehard-and-fastrule. Guns and knives are checked at the door.”She shook her head while making a tsking noise with her tongue. “It’s next to impossible to get bloodstains out of brocade upholstery.”
Finding her amusing, the vile bastard chuckled. The grating sound sent a chill over her skinthat, like his touch,she’dnever forget.
“Asfor your claim of an abduction.”The madam pursed her red lips in distaste. “Thatis such a harsh word. I prefer to think of it as an unforeseen opportunity requiring a bit of artful persuasion.”
Rapidlyblinking, Rowie’s vision cleared somewhat, and the woman came into better focus. Judging by the lines around her eyes and mouth, shewasolder, at least in her mid-forties.
