Louisiana Laydown by Jon Sharpe

Author:Jon Sharpe [Sharpe, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2012-11-08T16:32:16+00:00

9

H.D. was not happy. In fact, he sounded downright unhappy. “Come on, Fargo, I’ve got better things to do than babysit a whore, for God’s sake!”

“Not for the next few days, you don’t,” Fargo said. “Unless I miss my guess, Parker, Beares, and Anderson are going to pull all their men in and wait for the outcome of the game. It should be pretty quiet around here.”

“But why a whore, Fargo? My wife will tan my hide and stake it to the front door. Couldn’t you have found some nice girl to rescue?”

Fargo chuckled. “I’m not all that big on nice girls,” he said. “Mary is special, H.D., and she needs help. I can’t watch out for her while dealing with all these other snakes, too.”

Fargo could go sentimental and say that there were whores of the body and whores of the heart. Some “nice” girls harbored attitudes about people that were anything but nice. And some whores harbored thoughts that were downright charitable when it came to helping men in and out of bed. As far as Fargo was concerned, that was one of the problems with this world. The poor had to scramble just to get meals sometimes, and this kind of scrambling made them seem coarse to those more prosperous. But the fancy manners of the rich folks would soon be pitched out the window if they, too, had to scramble to put food on the table. And a whole lot of those “nice” girls wouldn’t seem so nice anymore, either.

H.D.’s shoulders sagged and Fargo knew the man had given in. “Don’t worry on it too much,” he said. “Your wife will understand a woman needing protection, no matter what she does for a living.”

His face in his hands, H.D. said, “She’ll kill me, Fargo, the second she finds out. She’ll think I’ve been seeing a sporting lady and now I’ve brought her into our home.”

“No, she won’t,” Fargo said. “What kind of an idiot does she take you for? No sane man would bring his mistress—even a paid one—into the same house as his wife. One woman is trouble enough, let alone two.”

“You’d probably know, Fargo,” H.D. said. He held up his hands. “Fine, fine. I’ll figure it out. When are you coming back for her?”

“Thursday, depending on how fast the game runs. Maybe Friday. Just keep her out of sight until I return.”

Throughout this conversation, Mary had remained silent, but Fargo could see she was all but busting at the seams to say something. “What is it, Mary?”

“I don’t want to stay with him, Skye. I want to . . . stay with you,” she said. “Miz Hamilton told me that’s what I was supposed to do.”

Fargo shook his head. “Mary, you can’t. This poker game is liable to get downright dangerous. I can’t do what I have to do if I’m worried about you. You’ll be safe with H.D. He’s a good man.”

“But what if something happens to you?”

H.D. laughed. “Girl, that man you’re talking to is the Trailsman.

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