Page 47 of Charlotte's Reckoning
“I swear, Fen, I’ll guard my words, but I need the security of that deed.” Her voice hitched at the end, and even though she despised showing weakness, her eyes burned with unshed tears.
She’d told him of her time at Heloise’s and how she had ended up at Elise’s.Sherefused togoback to the fear and the threats and the abuse. Of an uncertain future, not knowing if she would eat or havearoof overherhead from one day to the next.
It was that same fear he’d used just now to control her—the bastard. Sensing her vulnerability, which was his goal all along, Fen’s face softened, and he took her into his arms.
“I can be a real son of a bitch sometimes,”he murmured into her hair,as closetoan apologyas he ever got. “You can count on me to take care of this, Charlotte. You can even come with me if you’d like.”
“I…uh…”
Leaning back, he frowned at her. “You can’t hide in this saloon forever.”
“I’m not hiding,”she denied. “But you don’t know what it’s like. People don’t stare at you or say cruel things to your face. They don’t pull their skirts aside as if they might contract a deadly disease, or cross the street so they don’t have to breathe the same tainted air.”
“They don’t exactly invite me in for tea,”he drawled.
“Do they cross themselves or cover their children’s eyes as the whore of Babylon passes?”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Someone did that to you?”
“Several someones,”she answered, shrugging and feigning indifference. The slights stung, a fact that Fen, who knew her well, wouldn’t miss.
With his anger gone, he drew her close and kissed thetop of herhead. “After all this time, looks like you’d be used to theslings and arrows.”
“I am, but I try not to make myself a target.”
Shebit herlip, nervous about the prospect. But this was important, and Fenton would be by her side.
After some time, she bravely declared, “I’ll go.”
“That’s great!”he said, grinning. Then, with a wink, he declared, “I’m not afraid to fight fire with fire. I’ll gladly return any verbal projectiles hurled at us in the same uncharitable fashion.”
Lordy mercy, he was handsome; a captivating smile played on his lips, and his presence commanded attention. But their encounter, a heated clash filled with hurtful words, wasn’t their first and certainly wouldn’t be the last. His demeanor could shift instantly, his smooth, honeyed words turning cruel, his smile twisting into a menacing sneer. It was enough to make her dizzy, and the reason she had ended the physical side of their relationship. That, and his aversion to fidelity.
Fen couldn’t keep his eyes, hands, and other body parts to himself, treating the ladies of the Red Eye as if they were his personal harem. The problem being, the women worked for her, and she demanded their respect as much as he demanded hers.
One evening, only a few months after opening, she’d been handling a problem upstairs. When she arrived in the front parlor, he was flirting outrageously with the pretty new saloon girl, who haddark-auburn hair, breasts to fill his palm, and a curvy backside. Although she was taller and rounder than Charlotte, their resemblance was undeniable. Itmadeher wonder, wouldany redhead with breasts do?
The woman’s calculating expression told her things needed to change. She couldn’t have her employees plotting against her. While she would nevermanage her house like Heloise, order needed to be maintained and her position respected. To achieve that, she had to distinguish herself from Fen’s harem by leaving his bed—permanently.
While he held some affection for her, she didn’t delude herself that it was more than a level of comfort after spending so much time in her bed or thatFenton Sneed wasanything other than a man with an itch in need of scratching.
That night, she drew a firm line in the sand, much to the sultan’s displeasure. A decade later, she stood behind her decision, and partners they remained. They still sparred—today was the worst—but business was booming, as he’d predicted.
Shouts and glass breaking had Fen’s scowl returning as the first fight of the evening broke out.
“Consarnit, Coburn,”he roared as he stomped down the four steps to the main floor. “I just bought those glasses. And what in fuck’s name are you doing back in here, Odie Lockett? Just last week, I banned you for three months for fighting.”
Charlotte watched him step between the fighting men and break up the brawl, as he’d done almost every night for ten years. He shoved one toward the bar to pay up beforegetting the hell outand booted out the other. It wasn’t a euphemism, either. Fen put the sole of his hand-tooled black leather boot to the rear of Odie’s britches and sent him sailing through the swinging doors.
She teetered between hating and loving Fenton Sneed from one moment to the next. Even though he could make her madder than a wet hen, her deep gratitude toward him was constant. He’d not only given her a future—such as it was—but security. Gunfights didn’t happen every day, but close to it, and flying bullets didn’t discriminate between men and women.
With the chaos effectively managed, shedescended the stairsto attend to her customers. Her job was to ensure they had what they wanted: whiskey, a game of cards, a dance with a beautiful woman, and, more often than not, a trip upstairs with her.
Although as skilled at her job as Fen was at his, each gray hair she plucked from her head reminded her that her time as theIncomparableMiss Charlottewas finite. Years of saving, starting with mere pennies, had yielded a small nest egg. Before her youth and beauty faded, she needed to grow it more, enough to buy a secluded plot of land to live out her days in peace. Whether fate, the cruel trickster, would grant her even a small measure of contentment remained to be seen.
***
Three hours into the evening, Charlotte stepped out onto the front porch for a breath of fresh air. She also wantedto check onPrudence, who’d gone after a shy young man who’d bolted minutes into his first visit.
