Whippoorwill by Sala Sharon

Author:Sala, Sharon
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Rosetta Books
Published: 2013-12-05T05:00:00+00:00

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

During the day, Letty was like a bear with a sore tooth. She griped and complained about everything to Eulis and Will the Bartender, and at night, gave the men hell that came to her for a dance. She teased them and taunted them and laughed when the fights over her favors broke out and was talking about upping her price for a poke.

Will knew that a reprimand was in order, but the truth was he feared she would bolt. Ever since that gambler had been killed, she’d been impossible. He’d tried to tell her she couldn’t keep causing all that trouble or she’d put him out of business. She’d laughed in his face and then ordered Eulis to bring her a bath. Even Eulis was keeping his distance from the heart-broken woman who seemed hell bent on making everyone as miserable as she was.

He didn’t know that she’d lost the last bit of hope that had kept her going through all these years or that she no longer spent evenings out on her balcony listening for the whippoorwill’s call. All he knew was that she refused to sing. Pete pounded the keys of the piano as he’d always done, but without the accompaniment of Letty’s voice. Even the customers sensed all was not right at the White Dove, but the whiskey still flowed and the music still played, and if their luck was just right, they might get a dance with the soiled dove still flying at the White Dove Saloon.

But Letty wasn’t the only woman in the territory dealing with her grief in a manic way. Even though they didn’t know each other, Charity Doone was also a victim of the circumstance of men.

***

Ever since Charity Doone’s night with Randall Ward Howe, she’d been in a bad way. More than three days had passed since she had fainted in Beau James arms and she had yet to speak a word about what had happened to her. Her eyes were all but swollen shut from crying. She wouldn’t come out of her room, and she was refusing to eat.

Mehitable was beside herself with worry. She had coaxed and begged, promising Charity everything from a trip back East, to a ship’s ticket to Europe. Once, the very mention of such delights would have sent Charity running to pack, but no more. In Charity’s eyes, her future was ruined before it was over. Since she was no longer pure, being a nun was out of the question. And no decent man would have her now that she was no longer a virgin.

Mehitable was in a panic but she wasn’t the only one. The delay in going after Randall Howe was making Beau James nervous. With each passing hour, he feared the preacher was getting farther and farther away from justice. But Beau had also seen the state Charity was in. She would never have been able to travel, and leaving her alone seemed impossible, as well. He wanted to pack up and go after the man alone, wreaking his own kind of vengeance.

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