The Escort by Gina Robinson

Author:Gina Robinson [Robinson, Gina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Tonio got off the train in Wallace with the intention of heading straight to the Halls for a shower and meal, but he changed course as he walked down Sixth Street. The town hummed with activity.

It feels good to be back, he thought, striding along.

This town suited him. Its wild, boisterous nature matched his. The town itself aspired to greatness and wealth. What better place for a man with his ambitions? No one thought less of him for being an immigrant, a foreigner. The town's citizens ran the gamut from the whores at the Lux building, to the mining elite in their comfortable two-story homes. It was hard not to fit in with such a varied crowd. But one man would be looking for him. Tonio had no intention of talking to Ed Baker. Better to get something to eat and head out on the last train to Burke before Baker realized Tonio was back.

Tonio turned into the Fuller House. The large, partially stuccoed brick building was the finest hotel in the region and served the best food east of Spokane in its plush dining room. A day of scant rations and heavy work digging out the train engine left him with an almost bottomless appetite. And a desire to satiate it with the best food available. He was the son of a wealthy Italian aristocrat, he was used to the best or so many believed. They didn't know about the modest fare he ate during his years in the monastery, his wartime in Ethiopia, the years he barely survived as a miner in South America, or his years on the railroad crew…

As Tonio walked into the dining room, Colonel Steward Fuller, the colorful owner of the establishment, looked up from his cup of coffee. "Tonio!" he called out. "You're back. How was New York?"

"Excellent, as usual, Colonel."

"You didn't run into any of the Fuller clan while you were back there, did you?"

"Colonel, you know better. I run with a different crowd. A decidedly foreign crowd in Little Italy. We're all blackguards you know. We have nothing to do with the elite of the upper city."

The Colonel smiled. He claimed Mayflower ancestry and great military renown, maintaining that many of his relatives remained in the East as the upper crust of society.

"Well, son, it's good to have you back just the same."

"Have you seen Nokes?" Tonio asked.

"Should be here anytime." The Colonel signaled to a waitress who escorted Tonio to the best table in the house.

Moments later, Nokes walked in and spied him. "Tonio, you son of a bitch, you're back!" he called out as he made his way to the table and seated himself opposite his friend. "How was my hometown?"

Charles "Charley" Nokes was from a wealthy New York family.

"Same as always." Tonio signaled a waitress and they ordered.

The waitress drifted off to the kitchen. Charley's eyes followed the girl until she disappeared. "I must be getting desperate; that girl is definitely not a looker, but she is single. We bachelors have a sorry plight; what we need out here is more women.

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