Corralling Callie Read online

  Jude rested a hand on his hip and allowed her a moment to catch her breath before he addressed her. “You’ve got the wrong coach, miss. I’m only transporting four today. Another stagecoach will travel the line in two weeks. That must be yours.”

  The girl straightened and shook her head emphatically. “No, sir, this is definitely my coach. I specifically asked for you as the whip. I know your coach has the best reaches.”

  She referred to the leather strap braces underneath, which gave the coach a swinging motion, unlike the old-fashioned spring suspension, which jostled passengers up and down. He knew that the reaches were top-of-the-line, but most people didn’t know one type of reach from the other. Jude found it interesting that she did. He frowned thoughtfully and held out his hand, palm up. “Let me see your ticket then.”

  The girl reached into a suede pouch at her side and pulled out a thick strip of paper, which she placed on his hand with her eyes downcast. Jude studied it carefully. It was a valid ticket, but the original departure date had been scratched off and the current date rewritten in calligraphy—a pitiful attempt to resemble the letters of the station’s ink stamp.

  He handed it back to her. “That’s quite dishonest of you, scratching out the real date. Did you really reckon you’d get away with that?”

  The girl stood a little straighter and focused wide green eyes on him that seemed bright against her fair skin. “I promise you won’t be sorry if you let me come along. I can take care of the horses. I was a groom for the best stable in Missouri for a year. Also, I know how to repair each and every wagon part on that outfit,” she said, pointing at the stagecoach.

  Jude opened the door to the body of the coach and held out his hand to assist Annie up the steps. To the girl he said, “I don’t need a groom or repairman. They’re at every swing and home station along the line. Run on home now, young lady.”

  “That would be mighty difficult, mister, seeing as how my home is in California. I swear, you won’t be sorry if I come. I’m real useful. Have you heard of Nurse Nightingale? She personally taught me how to stitch up wounds and tend to fevers and other sicknesses. Imagine if something happened on the line and you had among your passengers someone with medical training. That would be a right smart benefit, I’d think.”

  Jude sighed. “Why do I get the feelin’ you’re stretching the truth a bit?”

  She didn’t pick up on the rhetorical nature of the question. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re not a trusting person. But what I say is true. Why, I bet I’d be the most useful person of all your passengers. I can shoot a target from three hundred yards away and hit it ninety-nine out of a hundred times. If you need a guard, I’m your huckleberry,” she asserted, jutting a thumb at her chest.

  Jude groaned and rolled his eyes. Reaching down, he picked up the senator’s large red travel case and hefted it onto the back of the coach. He secured it to the boot with straps. “Let me get this straight. You’re a groom, repairman, nurse, and gunslinger?”

  “Yup. And I’m good at singing too, if people want some entertainment along the way.”

  “We don’t,” Mrs. Tucker interjected. She sat next to the window and peered out, scowling at the girl. “We want peace and quiet.”

  “I can give you that too,” the girl said cheerfully, not seeming daunted in the least by the older woman’s condescending manner toward her.

  Jude struggled not to smile at her response. “There’s been little evidence of that, darlin’. Now I’m sorry, but there’s no room in this coach for you. You’ll have to go west on the date you scratched out on the ticket.”

  “There is too room!” she exclaimed. “I don’t see a shotgun rider. Like I said, I can be the guard and sit with you up front. I’ll keep my eye out for Pawnee and road agents, and I’ll be real helpful to you. After all, I was taught how to shoot by Jesse James, the outlaw. He’s one of the best guns around.”

  She placed a foot on the wheel, grasped the seat’s metal bar, and swung up to the box. Once settled, she placed her hands in her lap, folded them, and sat with her shoulders back and her head high. She stared straight ahead as though the conversation were over and her riding along was a sure thing.

  Stunned by her initiative, it took a moment for Jude to respond. He was about to swing her right back down and give her a scolding as well as a parting smack to her impertinent hind end when the senator bellowed his displeasure. “Driver, get that barrel boarder off our ride so we can be on our way! We’re wasting time.” He stepped inside the coach and sat down heavily next to his wife.

  The girl focused pleading eyes down at Jude. He stared up at her, wondering what her real story was and why she was so determined to come along. A wounded look crossed her face after the senator’s insult, but she quickly masked it and replaced it with a hopeful and slightly stubborn expression.

  Jude had already decided he didn’t care too much for the senator, and now he cared for him even less. There was no need for him to call the girl names, and he certainly shouldn’t have bossed around a driver. Jude removed his hat and smacked it against his knee to shake off the dust, then readjusted the red bandana around his neck. As he placed his Stetson back on his head, an idea came to him. It just so happened that the girl was valuable in imparting an important lesson about who was in charge for the next twenty-six days. He addressed the senator sternly. “That’s the last time you’ll be giving orders if you want to stay on my coach. Also, I won’t tolerate any disrespect toward the other passengers, including my new guard here. We all need to get along for the next twenty-two-hundred miles of rough travel, and squabbling will only make the journey more uncomfortable.” He looked up at the girl and addressed her just as sternly. “What’s your name, young lady?”

  Her face lit up and split into a grin. “Miss Caroline Broderick, at your service. You can call me Callie, though, seeing as how we’re gonna be working together.”

  Jude stifled another smile. He found her pluck rather cute, but he knew the challenges that faced them meant he couldn’t be indulgent and tolerate any more misbehavior. The girl seemed half-feral, and the last thing he needed was someone causing trouble on what already might be a troublesome journey. “All right, Callie. You can be my shotgun, but that means you’ll have to mind me. No more taking liberties without permission. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said eagerly. “I’ll be no trouble to you whatsoever. You’ll hardly know I’m here.”

  Jude had a strong suspicion this wouldn’t be the case, but he kept that thought to himself. He also kept to himself the thought that she desperately needed a new dress to accommodate her womanly figure. The dress, obviously made to fit a girl, not a woman, was too short and too tight. Her breasts pressed against the fabric of her button-down bodice, revealing gaps between buttons. She would have been showing off most of her generous cleavage if it weren’t for the chemise she wore underneath.

  He turned his attention to the four passengers sitting in the coach. “On our journey, we’ll encounter everything from bad weather to treacherous terrain. Worse, we might have to modify our route if word comes through to a home station alerting us to Indians or bandits. I’m not trying to scare you, but those are the facts. I need you all to agree to follow my lead. You do that, and we should all arrive to California in one piece.”

  “We understand,” Billy said. He removed his tattered slouch hat. “My wife and I have heard good things about you, driver, and we’ve no problem following your lead.”

  “Yes, same here,” Callie confirmed. “Mr. Fargo recommended you to me personally. That’s why I chose to come on your coach.”

  Jude couldn’t help but laugh then, despite the obvious lie. “Remind me to thank the boss for providing me with the pleasure of your company,” he said, and winked at her.

  She grinned back at him, her green eyes sparkling with delight.

  Chapter Two: A Whipping

  Jude thanked the groom for tending to the horses and stepped up to the driver�
�s seat. “Giddy-up!” he said, and the horses meandered forward, picking up speed as Jude clucked to them when they reached the wide path.

  “I’ll take your Colt, Mr. Johnson,” the girl said. “I can’t be a very good guard if I’m not heeled.”

  Jude gave her a sidelong glance. “Please feel free to call me Jude, and I’ll keep the gun shucked for now, thank you, Callie.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m a real good aim though. Jesse James said I was better than anyone he’d ever taught before.”

  Jude sighed. “Our acquaintance will be much more pleasant without the tall tales.”

  “I’m telling the truth!” she exclaimed.

  Jude shook his head. He removed his whip from his hip and held it loosely in his right hand. A short time later, he cracked it in the air that flanked the horses’ right side. They sidestepped to the left smoothly, avoiding a felled tree without slowing.

  “That was real impressive,” Callie told him. “I’m good at aiming a whip too. My pa owned more horses than anyone else in Missouri, so I know most everything there is to know about buggies and riding. It’s in my blood.”

  “Did your pa ever turn you over his knee for your bragging and fibbing in between raising all them horses?” he asked wryly.

  “No. I never met him. And my ma died when I was seven years old. I grew up in an orphans’ home. But I know all about my parents, and I turned out just like them. They were real fine folks.”

  That news gave him pause. “I’m sure they were,” Jude said in a gentler voice. “When did you leave the orphans’ home?”

  “Just a couple days ago.”

  Jude wanted to ask what her business was in California, but he figured she would probably tell him without him needing to ask. The girl was jawing at him like she hadn’t spoken to anyone in ages. Sure enough, she explained the reason for her journey next.

  “I’m going to California to meet my future husband. We’ve been writing letters to each other for nine months now.” Her voice sounded hoarse by this point in their conversation, and she coughed a few times.

  Jude handed her his canteen. He’d noticed that she didn’t bring along water, or any other supplies for that matter, except for a small pouch tied to her side. “Ah, so you’re a catalog bride, are ya?” Jude wasn’t surprised. Although passengers usually traveled in pairs, occasionally an unescorted woman would travel his line. In that case, however, she nearly always traveled with the goal of reaching a man, be it her husband or fiancé. As a result, Jude met very few women who weren’t spoken for.

  She nodded and took a long drink of water. “My fiancé is a miner, and he got rich off all the gold he found in California. He owns a big house with a wraparound porch and a well right out back so I won’t have to lug water too far.”

  “Sounds fancy.” He wanted to ask her more, like whether she had any proof that the man owned property, but it wasn’t Jude’s business. He was only responsible for getting people to their destination safely, not for ensuring their security once they arrived.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a moaning sound coming from the coach. He looked behind him and saw Mrs. Tucker sticking her head out the window and panting.

  “Blazes,” he muttered. Sometimes he got lucky, but more often than not he had at least one passenger who felt dizzy and nauseated during the journey.

  “Is she all right?” Callie asked.

  Jude turned his head forward again. “Looks like she’s already got traveling sickness. There’s not much to be done about that, I’m afraid.”

  Callie fell into silence, and the only noises that could be heard then were the clip-clopping of the horses’ hooves, the rubbing of metal and leather in the coach, and Mrs. Tucker retching out the window every so often.

  Jude’s team traveled at a gallop along the road. When the path became narrower or when the team would need to lug the coach uphill, they would have to be driven at a walk, but Jude took advantage of the clear path while he could in order to move their journey along. They needed to travel an average of eighty miles per day in order to reach their destination on time.

  “Stop!” Callie called out suddenly.

  Jude frowned at her. “There’s no stopping for another twenty miles,” he said with a raised voice over the noise of the horses’ hooves.

  “You must stop!” she shouted back at him.

  He shook his head and continued to drive the horses forward. Then, to Jude’s immense surprise and complete horror, the girl reached over and tugged sharply on the left rein, shouting, “Whoa!” to the horses as she did.

  The horses were so confused by the contradiction between the voice command to stop and the tug on the rein to move left that the halt was haphazard at best. The two front horses understood that someone had told them to stop and so slowed their steps, but the two back horses continued on at a quick clip to the left. This caused jolting and confused whinnying until Jude was able to communicate the stop to the back horses. When the dust settled, Jude breathed a sigh of relief even as his temper flared. Disaster had been averted, but the girl’s stunt could have caused injury to the horses and passengers if the coach had tipped. He lifted the brake and turned to upbraid the girl who had put everyone’s safety at risk, but she’d already clambered off the coach and was running down the path in the direction from which they’d come.

  “Damn and blast!” Jude stepped down. “We’ll be continuing on shortly,” he said through gritted teeth to the four surprised passengers as he strode past them.

  “What happened? Why did the girl call for a stop?” the senator asked.

  Jude continued on his way without responding because he didn’t know the answer to that question. He intended to find out why in a jiffy, however. The girl was crouched on the ground. As he neared, he saw that she was pulling up a weed at the base of the stem. She tugged it free from the dirt just as Jude reached her. He placed his hands on his hips as she stood and turned to face him, beaming from ear to ear.

  Jude must have looked as angry as he felt, for her triumphant expression faded when she met his gaze. Severely, he said, “You endangered my horses and the other passengers. What were you thinking, trying to take over driving?”

  She blinked a few times and held out the plant timidly with an outstretched arm. “I saw this on the side of the road.” Her voice was small and had a pleading quality about it.

  “So?” he growled.

  “It’s wild gingerroot,” she said quickly. “It will help Mrs. Tucker with her nausea.”

  Jude took a step toward her and held a finger to her face. “I don’t care if you saw a pot of gold on the side of the road. You never, ever interfere with a driver’s team.”

  “I-I’m sorry, Jude,” she said, her eyes wide. “I won’t do it again.”

  “That’s for darn sure. The next home station is in Paselo. When we get there, you will no longer be welcome on the coach. Now you march your bottom back to your seat, and you keep it planted there for the rest of your short journey.”

  “No, please!” she cried. Her eyes filled with tears. “Please don’t leave me behind in Paselo. I promise I won’t be any more trouble.”

  Jude hated to see her cry, but he steeled himself. He couldn’t tolerate such behavior from a passenger, when it could endanger the others. He had only ever kicked off two other people from his coach, and both were men who drank liquor during the journey, which was against the rules, and cursed in front of the lady passengers, also against the rules. What Callie had done was far worse, and he couldn’t let it slide.

  He jerked his head in the direction of the coach, indicating that she was to move along.

  Her lower lip quivered. “Please, can you punish me some other way? I have to get to California. It’s the only thing I want in the whole world.”

  Jude’s anger began to wane as he listened to her pleading. He shook his head at her, more in disbelief over what she’d done than in answer to her question.

  “You can split my po
rtion of food with the other passengers. I’ll go without,” she suggested.

  He sighed. “No, that’s not going to happen. I don’t believe in starving my passengers.”

  She sniffled. “Please don’t leave me behind.” She wiped a tear with the back of her hand, and Jude felt the last of his anger slip away. After all, her reckless action had been to help a passenger and was done in good faith. What further softened him was the fact that she did it for someone who had been less than kind to her.

  “Callie,” he said more gently than before, but still with a firmness in his tone. “I know you were only trying to help, and I know it’s important for you to get to California. However, I can’t allow behavior like that to go unpunished. What you did was out-and-out dangerous.”

  She nodded, a glimmer of hope creeping into her wet eyes. “I understand, Jude. But can’t you give me work to do or force me to ride up top or something?”

  Jude ran his hand along the beard on his jaw and studied her. She looked like a scared and desperate child, very different from the proud little lady who had been bragging to him for the last few hours. He knew he wouldn’t have the heart to leave her behind. She looked too vulnerable to be on her own, and the only punishment he thought fitting was a spanking. Yes, that’s what she needed—a good blistering that would leave her temporarily sore but would impart a lasting lesson.

  He folded his arms in front of his chest. “I’ll tell you what, if you submit to some old-fashioned discipline, I will consider the slate wiped clean.”

  She blinked and stared into his eyes. “Old-fashioned discipline? Like a whipping?”

  He nodded once. “Yes, like a whipping.”

  She looked down and took only a brief moment to decide. “All right,” she said softly in the direction of the ground.

  “Very well.” Jude glanced at the coach behind him and noticed that the passengers had alighted and were wandering about. He was behind schedule because of the girl’s stunt, and a spanking would only add more time to the delay. Still, he reckoned it was better to punish her now, ensuring a well-behaved passenger for the remainder of their journey, as opposed to waiting until they reached their first stop.