"But, what if I need to… take care of something?"
"Crystal, we are not attempting to keep you prisoner here. You are free to run errands during the morning or afternoon as long as you inform someone. However, as you've seen, the town becomes rowdier once the sun begins to set. There is the chance that you will be recognized and…"
Instantly her face paled and she swayed slightly.
"What is it?" Gabe asked with concern as he took her arm and seated her in a chair.
"What do you mean, recognized?" she asked fearfully.
"I'm sorry, honey. I guess I should have worded that differently. You'll be recognized as Crystal, one of The Red Petticoat's gems. For some men it may not matter that you're not working. Your safety is my prime concern and you are not safe alone. In the future, you are to do your errands during the daylight hours, take another gem with you, or ask for someone else to accompany you. Charlie, myself, Jewel or even John if he's around will be more than happy to escort you."
"But…"
"There are no exceptions. Do I make myself clear?" he asked, fixing her with a stern gaze. "I wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding about this, the penalty is quite severe," he continued when she didn't reply right away.
"You would beat me?" she asked, flinching slightly.
Gabe laughed. "Nothing so dramatic, little one, but I would spank you and I can guarantee you wouldn't sit comfortably for a day or two."
"I see," Crystal said, stunned. She'd gotten away with leaving the saloon to go riding, but that was before she knew about this rule. Now the risk was high-stake. The idea of going over this man's lap for a spanking was just too mortifying to contemplate. She'd have to be very, very careful. "Well, I guess if it's a rule, I have no choice but to follow it.
"Good girl," Gabe said approvingly as he rose. "Hurry along now, Nettie will be serving dinner soon and I hear there's peach cobbler for dessert," he teased.
Chapter Eight
"Miss Crystal, ma'am, I feel mighty foolish for letting you talk an old codger like me into coming upstairs with you."
"Oh, don't feel that way, Whiskers," Crystal smiled. "It is all right if I call you that?"
"Yes, ma'am, everyone does."
"Good. Why don't you sit down?" she suggested, indicating the chair. "We can visit for a little while without all that noise. Sometimes it makes my head hurt," she sighed.
"I know what you mean," he agreed, the beard on his face barely hiding his blush.
"So where are you from?" she asked, pouring him a drink out of the bottle the house provided.
"I was born in Ohio," he replied, tossing back the drink, "but I've been trapping in the Rockies for nigh on twenty years. Guess I'm just about wore out."
"How old are you?" Crystal asked, refilling his glass.
"Be forty my next birthday, whenever that is. I plumb forget."
"Forty?" she gasped.
"Yes, ma'am. I know I look a mite older than that. Life's hard on a body here in the west."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so shocked. I just wonder how you'd look without all those whiskers," she teased.
He grinned back. "Don't rightly know, ma'am. Had 'em so long now, I might not know myself."
"What brought you out here in the first place, gold?" Sitting on the side of her bed she dangled her legs, a pillow piled in her lap to prop up her elbow.
"Lord no. There weren't no gold when I come out. Well, I guess there was, but nobody knew it. Beaver pelts was what I come for, them and other furs to sell or trade. I guess I was just looking to get away. You see my heart was broken," he said sadly.
Leaning forward, Crystal picked up the bottle on her bedside stand and poured him another drink.
"Oh, that's so sad," she said sincerely. "Do you want to tell me what happened to break your heart? I'm a good listener."
"Well, there was this woman, a girl really," he began with a faraway look in his eyes. "She wasn't but seventeen, but I loved her truly. Pretty as a spring morn she was and that's a fact. Lorelei was real smart you see. She wanted to be a school teacher.
"Myself, I didn't get much learning. Could barely read and write back then and now I've plumb forgotten everything I ever knew. My Pa needed me on the farm awful bad, so going to school was catch as catch can if you know what I mean."
"I certainly do. I was a school teacher before I came out here. Some children attended every day and others once or twice a month, whenever their folks could spare them."
"Well I'll be, a school teacher, tain't that something," he said with admiration.
"So what happened with Lorelei?"
"I wanted to marry her, planned on asking her Pa for her hand."
Crystal nodded and poured him another shot.
"Then one day I heard her telling Cora, her friend, that while she had feelings for me, she could never marry someone, let's see… ignorant! Yep, that's what she said. A school teacher couldn't marry an ignorant man."