"Please hurry," Mary Rose pleaded. "I have to help Clive. He's in trouble."
"It might not be bad news," Cole argued. " Harrison could be right."
"After the morning I've had. Of course it's bad. I deserve it."
"Are you going to start in again?"
"I said some mean things about Catherine," she told her brother.
"Everything I said was true, but I still shouldn't have said them. In my defense, I will tell you that if you had any idea what I had to suffer growing up with her for my only companion, you would get down on your knees and beg my forgiveness. Yes, you would. Why didn't you just give me a rattlesnake to play with? I would have been safer."
Travis smiled at Harrison. "Mary Rose is still mad Catherine cut her hair. She likes to hold a grudge."
"The haircut was the least of it. Either start down the hill, or please get out of my way."
The brothers finally moved. They reached the ranch a few minutes later. Clive hurried over to help her down to the ground. "Lordy, Lordy, what happened to you, Miss Mary?"
"Bickley punched me."
Clive became outraged on her behalf. "I'm gonna kill him for you. Just see if I don't."
"Now, Clive, don't get all riled up. It isn't good for your digestion. Bickley and his friends are being taken back to Hammond. The sheriff will take care of them. It's very sweet of you to be concerned about me. You're such a dear friend."
"Are you in pain, Miss Mary?" Clive asked. He wasn't convinced he should let the matter drop.
"No, no, not at all," she assured him. "Once I wash my face and change my dress, you won't be able to tell anything happened to me."
"And comb your hair," he suggested.
She immediately tried to smooth her curls down again. "Now, tell me why you're here. Is something wrong?"
"Something's wrong all right," he answered. "I'm so thankful you're finally home. You got no business going into Blue Belle today, Miss Mary. It ain't Saturday. Did you forget?"
"No, I needed supplies to take to another friend. It was a special circumstance."
"All right then, if it was special," he muttered. His mind returned to his dilemma. "Even though you look like you got yourself run over, you're still a sight for these sore eyes. I need your help something desperate. You just got to help me. You just got to."
She shot her brothers an I-told-you-it-was-trouble look before giving Clive her full attention again. "Of course I'll help. Just tell me what's wrong."
"You got to get her out of my stagecoach. She won't budge. She wouldn't even let Adam get near the door. She started in shouting at him. She said she wasn't going to let no hired hand greet her. It weren't proper. That's precisely what she said, all right. I tried to tell her how things were around here, but she wouldn't listen. She won't believe Adam's your brother. I could understand her doubt. She ain't from around here, so she ain't used to things. Adam finally gave up and went on back inside. He didn't want to get shot. She was threatening to do him in if he got near the coach again. Your brother offered me a comfortable chair and a cool drink. I didn't dare take him up on his offer though. I couldn't leave her out here alone. No telling what she'd do to my coach if I turned my back on her. I tried to soft talk her out, Miss Mary. Nothing worked. She demands a proper greeting, and she says she ain't getting out until she gets what she wants. She's been roosting in there a good two hours. She's something else, Miss Mary."
"Who do you have inside?" Douglas asked. He had already tried to look in the window, but a dark drape blocked his view.
"Miss Border." He shuddered when he whispered the name.
"Eleanor?" Mary Rose was thunderstruck. She couldn't believe what Clive was telling her. What in heaven's name was Eleanor Border doing in her front yard?
Douglas whirled around and stared at his sister. "The Eleanor?"
Clive tugged on her arm before she could answer her brother.
"You just got to take her off my hands. I swear I'll do anything you ask. I'll even beg if you want me to."
Cole was the only brother who was amused by the news. His eyes sparkled with delight. "You're already begging," he said. Then he started laughing. The notorious roommate they'd heard all those outrageous stories about, the woman who had made Mary Rose miserable for years now, had come to pay her respects.
"What is she doing here?" Travis demanded. He was good and angry.
"Did you invite her?" Douglas asked.
"Sort of," she hedged.
"What does'sort of mean?" Douglas asked. He stomped over to stand in front of his sister. "Well?"
"I did invite her, but only because I was certain she wouldn't ever take me up on my offer. She doesn't like the frontier. She thinks it's barbaric and uncivilized. Douglas, do quit glaring at me. What's done is done."
"Has that woman ever been west of St. Louis before?" Travis asked.
"No, but she still doesn't like it," Mary Rose explained.
"I want you to tell me she isn't the same Eleanor you've been talking about all these past years," Douglas demanded.
He latched on to her other arm and wasn't going to let go until she gave him what he wanted.
"You know perfectly well she's the same Eleanor," his sister whispered. She tried to pry off his hand so she could go and get her houseguest.
"I could wring your neck for inviting her, Mary Rose," Travis muttered.
"You're acting like a child," she said. "And lower your voice. I don't want her to hear us talking about her. She has tender feelings."
Cole burst out laughing again.
"Clive, take her back to Blue Belle," Douglas suggested. "She can stay in one of the rooms above the saloon."
"Be reasonable, for heaven's sake. Only drunks stay above the saloon. Eleanor's a delicate and refined lady."
"I don't think any of you understand my problem here," Clive cried out. "I got to get rid of her if I'm ever going to make Morton Junction before nightfall. People are waiting on me."
"Yes, of course," Mary Rose soothed. "We'll help you."
Clive wasn't listening. He was on a roll and wasn't about to stop. He'd been storing up his frustration for two long hours. It was time to get it all out.
"If folks around here find out I broke my own principles and brung her right to your front door, I'll never be able to hold my head up again."
He turned to the brothers. "I'm telling you, men, she's something else. I ain't going against her. She already put a hole in my best hat. Thank the Lord it weren't perched on my head at the time. She told me she'd shoot me down like a dog if I misbehaved on her. I don't know about her being delicate, Miss Mary. I only know you got to do something quick. I want to get out of here."
"I'll get her out right this minute," she promised. " Douglas, please let go of me. We have to be hospitable. We've already been rude by making her wait."
Harrison stood by MacHugh's side and watched. He was astonished by everyone's reaction to the unwanted guest. Needless to say, Eleanor Border had captured his curiosity.
"Do you think I'm going to let you welcome her after she was rude to my brother?" Douglas asked.
"She didn't understand."
"Exactly what didn't she understand?" Travis asked. "You heard Clive. He said he told her Adam was your brother."
"She obviously didn't believe him," Mary Rose countered.
"She threatened to shoot him too," Clive interjected.
Cole quit smiling. "She what?" he said in a near shout.
"I never told anyone about my family. Cole, calm down. You insisted I keep quiet about everyone. Remember? All of you told me over and over again not to mention any details about our family." She lowered her voice when she added, "Eleanor probably thought Clive was trying to dump her."
"I was trying to dump her," Clive shouted.
Mary Rose closed her eyes. Douglas was still tugging on her arm, and Clive was on her other side pulling on her hand. Honest to heaven, she wasn't up to this today. She hurt all over, and she really didn't want to waste time trying to fix something that couldn't be fixed. They were stuck with Eleanor Border whether they liked it or not.