Market Street Madam by Randi Samuelson-Brown

Author:Randi Samuelson-Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2021-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

PART IV

A COW TOWN OF GLORIOUS PROPORTIONS WITH A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF UNATTACHED MEN, FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER

LATE JANUARY 1893

Chapter 26

DOWNHILL TO DENVER

LIFE WAS JUST SO MUCH BULLSHIT.

Pearl got off the train at Union Station, expecting a familiar face to meet her on the platform. Although the station was bustling, there was no one there for her. Why did everyone act like she was so goddamned expendable? She had to hire a porter and the weather was cold. Obviously, Annie still didn’t give a rat’s ass about her, seeing as how she hadn’t bothered to send anyone. “Screw her.”

Pearl surveyed her surroundings and liked the surge of Denver, the familiar smell of cattle and smelters. The city was her ticket to be new again—as far as the row was concerned. She would be smarter this time around. She knew how things worked, and she knew the score about her mother. Pearl figured she was smart enough to avoid another brush with heartache in the form of a handsome face and a stingy heart. But she didn’t want to abandon the dream altogether. She just needed to make stronger choices.

She sauntered into Ryan’s with the porter trailing five feet behind, knowing she cut a good figure. Her purple traveling suit sported a fashionable and form-hugging cut, clinging in all the right places. That was a damn good thing, too—considering how much she owed Annie for it.

She made sure she didn’t let the hem drag in the street.

“Howdy, boys!” Pearl exclaimed to all the patrons in the saloon. Just to shake up the clientele a bit. There was no sense pussy-footing around. She was the top of the heap and that’s how she wanted it to stay. And it would.

For a time.

The porter set the trunk down, uncomfortable at the display and at the surroundings. Pearl opened her purse with a flourish and tossed a silver dollar in his direction. When he caught it, Pearl blew him an exaggerated kiss.

“Come back to see me when you’re off work,” she said in a voice that carried, acting as if every man in Denver had been waiting for her arrival. She laughed with a whore’s laugh when the flustered man bolted. “Guess he’s the shy type,” she pronounced, still playing to the crowd.

“Well,” said a woman’s voice behind her. “That’s quite the entrance. What else did Sadie teach you?”

Of course, it was Annie. She took in Pearl’s measure, eyes glinting with approval. She was already counting the money Pearl would be making for her. As was her custom.

“She taught me to do my own goddamned cyphering.” Pearl felt it important to get that out on the table.

Annie smirked, brown eyes sparking. “Did you fall for that bit, too? That’s just a little game she plays. She’s as shrewd as anyone when it comes to figures.”

That about knocked the breath out of Pearl, and opened the door to all kinds of unsettling thoughts.

Annie eyed her. “Let it go. Sometimes you just have to overlook certain peculiarities.

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