Read Taming of Jessi Rose for Free Online

water.”
    â€œMeaning?”
    â€œI’m here because Joth wrote Marshal Wildhorse and asked for help.”
    Jessi stared.
    That got her attention. “So, where do I bunk?”
    â€œJoth wrote for help?”
    â€œSmart boy, I would say.”
    Jessi didn’t know what to do or say now. Parts of herdesperately wanted to take the branch of hope being offered by Judge Parker, but the end of the stick was being held by a man who’d known Calico Bob, and Bob couldn’t’ve been trusted to bring water to a dying child. Blake’s assessment of Joth’s life had touched a nerve though; she too, worried what effect this fight with Darcy might be having on him. Her nephew was at an age now where he should be out riding his pony, fishing, hunting lizards, and just enjoying life as she and her sister, Mildred, his mother, had done in their youth. But things were just too dangerous now, and with Darcy and his men always lurking, Jessi refused to let Joth out of her sight.
    She would still be escorting him back and forth to school had he not begged her to stop treating him like a baby. But in a way, he was her baby. When her sister had died in childbirth, the recently widowed Jessi had given up her teaching position in New York to come home and raise him. When she was young, a severe case of the measles had left her sterile, so she would have no children of her own; Joth represented the only family she had left in this world, and she loved him as much as life.
    â€œLook, Miss Clayton,” Griff said, interrupting her thoughts. “If we can get the goods on Darcy, I’ll be out of your hair and you’ll be out of mine. Personally, I don’t like these arrangements any more than you do. I rob trains. That’s what I do best. Even though I don’t like men who declare war on women with children, I’d much rather be in Mexico. But I can’t get there until this mess is settled. So why don’t we declare a truce for now and you tell me about Darcy?”
    Jessi thought that a reasonable idea. Once he heard the story, maybe he’d hightail it on out of here.
    She began with the town meeting Darcy had called to announce the railroad’s desire to buy land in the area.
    Blake asked, “Was there much opposition?”
    â€œNot at first, because we thought we had a choice to sell or not. Some folks signed on, most didn’t. A week or so later, Darcy announced that we all had to sell, or no one would get anything. That’s when the trouble started. He pitted neighbor against neighbor—those who wished to sell against those who didn’t. Many people still refused and were paid visits like the one I had last night. If that didn’t intimidate you, Darcy’s bank denied folks credit for seed and equipment and he called in mortgages. Most gave in. My pa didn’t.”
    â€œSo Darcy killed him?”
    â€œHis men did, but under his orders. He’s too yellow to do his own killing.”
    â€œI’m disliking this Darcy more and more. In the letter Joth wrote to Wildhorse, he said the sheriff wouldn’t help.”
    â€œNope. He and my pa had been friends for years, but once Darcy placed him on his payroll, their relationship changed. After the killing, Sheriff Hatcher said my pa’s death was an accident, probably caused by a stray bullet from our own guns.”
    â€œWhat did he mean?”
    â€œThere was a terrible storm that night and it caused a stampede. We were all shooting and riding trying to make the herd turn. To this day, I believe Darcy’s men started that stampede. My father saw one of Darcy’s men that night aiming a rifle his way right before he was shot in the back. He was picked off like a crow on a fence.”
    Jessi set aside the still painful memory, then took a good long look at her immediate future. She wasn’t naive enough to believe she could carry on this war indefinitely; Darcy had money,