CHAPTER 30
Denny wore a light blue dress with white lace at the neckline and hem. When Brad saw her before they left the Sugarloaf, he said with a surprised expression, “You’re not wearin’ a six-gun.”
“Well, that would look kind of silly, wouldn’t it, to have a gun belt strapped around a dress like this?”
“I suppose so. I’m just not used to seein’ you without a gun somewhere close by.”
Denny just smiled. She couldn’t very well pull up her dress and show the boy the two-shot, over-under,. 32 caliber derringer in a holster fastened to her thigh. She had positioned the holster so that it shouldn’t interfere with her dancing that evening.
Sally, wearing a darker blue gown with long sleeves, looked beautiful, too, and Smoke had donned a brown Western-cut suit for the occasion. Denny tried not to be sentimental, but when she saw them coming arm in arm out of the ranch house onto the porch, she was touched by how wonderful they looked together. That was the sort of marriage she wanted to wind up in . . . when she met the right man and the time was right. That man wasn’t going to be Steve Markham, she was confident of that.
It didn’t occur to her until they were on their way into town that the same thought regarding Brice Rogers hadn’t crossed her mind.
The Sugarloaf had a two-seat buggy for special occasions. Smoke handled the reins with Sally beside him on the front seat. Denny and Brad rode in the back. Brad pulled at his shirt collar just as much as he had at the wedding.
“You’d better quit messing with that,” Denny told him as the buggy rolled toward town.
“Aw, I just hate havin’ anything around my neck. It makes me feel like I’m bein’ choked.”
“You can stand it just for this evening.”
“I don’t know why I have to go in the first place,” Brad muttered. “I’m not gonna dance with any ol’ girl. I could’ve stayed at the ranch with Pearlie.”
“There’ll be punch,” Denny reminded him. “And the kids usually play some games outside.”
His mood brightened a little as he shrugged. “Well, maybe it won’t be too bad.”
“Besides, Pearlie’s going to the social, too. I heard Cal say that Pearlie planned to get slicked up and dance with all the widows.”
Brad made a face. “Why would anybody want to do that ?”
“You’ll figure it out one of these days,” Denny told him.
“I reckon I’d just as soon not,” Brad declared emphatically.
Up front, Sally laughed, looked back over her shoulder at them, and said, “Don’t worry, Bradley, you have plenty of time to figure out that and everything else.”
When they reached Big Rock, Smoke parked the buggy in front of Longmont’s. They would have to walk farther but wouldn’t have to deal as much with the crowd already gathering along the street. Smoke got out first and helped Sally down, then Denny and Brad climbed out of the buggy on opposite sides.
“I told Steve Markham I’d meet him here, and then we’d walk to the town hall together,” Denny said.
Sally began, “I’m still not sure—”
But Smoke interrupted her and said, “Brad, you come with Sally and me. We’ll go get some of that punch I keep hearing about.” He looked at Denny and added, “See you down there.”
“In a little while, I imagine,” she said with a nod.
Her mother gave her a skeptical look, then linked arms with Smoke and took Brad’s hand.
“I could wait and come with Denny and Steve,” the boy suggested.
“You don’t want to hang around with those two all evening,” said Smoke. “You’ll have more fun if you come along with us.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Brad rolled his eyes. “They’ll just act all moony around each other!”
Smoke broke out in a laugh at that. “I’ve known Denny a lot longer than you, son. One thing I’ve never seen her do is act moony over some fella!”
“Thanks for that, anyway,” Denny muttered.
The other three headed down the boardwalk toward the town hall four blocks away. Denny waited in front of Longmont’s, knowing the group of ranch hands from the Sugarloaf wouldn’t be long in arriving. As she stood there, she could feel the excitement and anticipation growing in Big Rock. This gathering would be one of the highlights of the summer, along with the big Fourth of July celebration the next month.
“Ah, Denise, the very sight of you is balm to a man’s weary eyes!”
She turned and saw that Louis Longmont had emerged from the doors of his restaurant and saloon. He was elegantly dressed, as always, and would have looked equally at home on the streets of New York, Boston, or San Francisco. He smiled at her and went on. “Smoke and Sally have already gone on to the social?”
“That’s right. I’m waiting for someone I told to meet me here.”
“Deputy Marshal Rogers? He was by here earlier . . .”
So Brice was in town this evening after all. Denny told herself that didn’t matter and shook her head. “No, I’m going to the social with Steve Markham, one of the men from the Sugarloaf.”
Louis arched one eyebrow for a second, then said, “I hope you have a very pleasant evening.”
“I intend to,” Denny said firmly.
He smiled again and moved on, clearly heading for the town hall himself. Denny watched him go, then turned as she heard the sound of horses approaching.
About two dozen members of the Sugarloaf’s crew had ridden into Big Rock for the social. They were all dressed in their best clothes, which in most cases meant their cleanest, least-patched range garb, often ornamented with brightly colored bandannas around their throats.
Cal and Pearlie were in the lead, and as foreman and retired foreman, they owned actual suits. They, along with the rest of the cowboys, were bathed and barbered and shaved, and Denny could almost smell the waves of bay rum coming off them from where she was on the boardwalk.
Steve Markham was close behind Cal and Pearlie. He had on boots and jeans, of course, but he had dug a white shirt and a black vest and a string tie out of his gear. His hat was brushed free of dirt and dust, and the brim was curled just right. A big grin spread across his face when he spotted Denny watching him ride closer.
Markham moved his horse forward and said to Cal, “I’ll see you boys later. The little lady I’m goin’ to the social with is waitin’ for me right here.”
Cal reined to a stop in the street in front of Longmont’s and leaned his hands on the saddle horn as he asked, “Miss Denny, is this big ape telling the truth? You’re really going to the social with him?”
“No, he’s going with me,” Denny replied with a smile. “This is the one where the ladies do the asking, remember?”
“Well, I suppose if you say so.” Cal turned to give Markham a hard look. “You’re going to be on your best behavior tonight, aren’t you?”
“Don’t reckon I’d dare be otherwise, when everybody around the whole ranch is hell on wheels, includin’ the lady her own self.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Pearlie added.
Denny laughed. “Pearlie, you look positively dashing tonight.”
Pearlie swept his hat off his head and bowed low in the saddle. “Thank you, Miss Denny. You’re mighty easy on the eyes, too.”
With that, the Sugarloaf hands rode on up the street toward the town hall while Markham dismounted and tied his horse at the hitch rack in front of Longmont’s.
“Good evenin’,” he said as he stepped up onto the boardwalk and took off his hat. “I don’t figure on lettin’ that old codger outdo me on the compliments. You look plumb beautiful, Denny.”
“And you’re surprisingly respectable.”
“Thanks. I put some effort into it.” He clapped his hat back on his head and extended his arm. “Ready to go?”
Denny linked her arm with his, and they started walking toward the town hall.
After a moment, Markham went on. “I reckon I know why you wanted to meet down here and walk the rest of the way.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“You wanted to be sure everybody got a good look at the handsome fella you’re with. And that’s all right. I don’t mind you showin’ me off. I reckon I understand.”
Denny laughed. “So that’s it. I’m glad you explained it to me.”
Even though his attitude amused her, she wondered if there was any truth to what he said. Did she really want people to see the two of them walking to the social together?
Or . . . one person in particular?
The front and back doors and all the windows in the Big Rock town hall were open to allow the evening breeze to flow through. That let plenty of light spill out around the building to guide the steps of the people flocking toward it in the twilight. It was Saturday night, and people had come from all over the valley to attend the town social.
A number of them greeted Denny as she and Markham approached the town hall. In the year since she and her brother had returned permanently to the Sugarloaf, she had met quite a few people in the valley and was friendly with most of them, although she hadn’t made any close friends, due to her own reserved nature. She didn’t get close to people easily, but when she did, she was deeply devoted to them.
Several girls she was acquainted with giggled and wanted to know who her beau was. Denny smiled and introduced him, and Markham responded gallantly, taking his hat off and bowing and stopping just short of kissing the backs of some hands. Denny was familiar with that sort of behavior, having seen it from aristocrats all over Europe while she and Louis were living in England.
The thought of how some of those so-called aristocrats and noblemen acted made an angry frown cross her face for a moment, but she put those memories firmly out of her mind.
Arriving at the large, whitewashed town hall, they went up the steps to the entrance, which was crowded with people at the moment. A loud buzz of conversation and laughter came from inside. The music and dancing hadn’t gotten underway yet, but they would probably start before too much longer.
Denny spoke to several more people while she and Markham waited to go in, and then the logjam in the doorway cleared and they strolled into the building. Denny looked around the packed room for her parents and Brad.
An opening suddenly formed around them as people stepped back, and although the noise continued in the room in general, in their particular vicinity the voices suddenly trailed off in startled silence. With Markham beside her, Denny stopped short, not sure what was going on but heeding the instincts that told her something wasn’t quite right.
The next moment, she understood why she had sensed that. A man stepped out of the crowd, and if she and Markham hadn’t stopped already, he would have forced them to, the way he planted himself resolutely right in their path.
That same grim resolution was on Brice Rogers’s face as he said, “Denny, I want to talk to you.”