At the young lady's cries Jasper turned a horrified gaze to Eric and managed to get out, "Jesus Christ, Eric! What'd you go and lock up a little defenseless lady for!"

Eric just sat there behind the desk with his mouth open, obviously stunned, as Jasper strode forward, grabbed the keys and went to unlock the cell. As he fumbled with the lock, jarred by the young lady's wails, he said, "Don't worry, ma'am, we'll get this straightened out." She continued to cry though and as he made his way into the cell towards her he tried to lighten the mood by saying, "It ain't as if you beat anyone up or anything." But, he knew that was a mistake when she started to cry even louder, her sobs reverberating off the cell walls.

Feeling rather helpless and not knowing what to do he sat next to her and started to awkwardly pat her head, causing her bonnet to sit at an even more awkward angle on her head. "There, there now. Er, it'll be all right?" The last part came out as more of a question than a statement since he wasn't quite sure that it would be all right, considering the way she was going on like someone had died. What in the hell had Eric done to her! he wondered. He'd shoot the bastard and ask questions later if she kept this up.

Looking down he noticed that she was wringing a little blue handkerchief with little red flowers embroidered on it between the dainty hands that were still resting on her lap. He hadn't noticed this nervous gesture before since her hands were half hidden by the skirt of her dress.

"I…I just wanted to make a good impression!" she keened.

"Um, all right. You've made a good impression on me so far. You sure look pretty." He groaned inwardly and almost palmed his face as soon as the words left his mouth. "I mean, I like your dress!" No, that wasn't right either. "The flowers on your hat are like the ones on your hankie!" All right, so right now would be a good time for me to go turn in my badge and ask Eric to shoot my sorry ass, he thought.

But, then the most wonderful thing happened and the girl sitting next to him giggled. That sound made it all better. Glancing over at her he saw her smiling through her tears.

"Thank you." She let go of the handkerchief with one hand and reached up to touch her bonnet only to discover it was out of place. Blushing she reached up with both hands to fix it. Neither of them noticed as her hankie fell to the floor.

"Now, ma'am, could you tell me exactly what happened?" he asked softly.

At that moment he heard the scraping of a chair against the wooden floor and the sound of boots running across it as Eric came rushing into the passage in front of the cell. "Well, you see, Jasper…"

Jasper turned a murderous glare on Eric and said in a low dangerous tone, "I didn't ask you, Deputy Yorkie. I asked the lady. Now go sit your ass down and I'll get to you in a second."

Eric turned pale and rushed out again, stammering, "Yes, sheriff."

"Sorry about that, ma'am. Go on now."

The girl sniffled a bit as she retied the red ribbon under her chin in a pretty bow. "Well, you see, sheriff…" Before she could go on, he interrupted her.

"Jasper."

She looked at him in confusion. "Pardon?"

"Uh, you can call me Jasper, ma'am."

"Oh, thank you, Jasper. I'm Alice." She went into her story without missing a beat. "Well, you see, I've been on this stage coach for the last couple of days with these two horrible ladies. I know it's not kindly to speak about anyone like that, but that's God truth. Sometimes I felt like throwing myself clear off the coach just to get away from those two and I might have, but I didn't want to ruin any of my pretty new dresses. Most of the time I just pretended to sleep or just ignored their ignorant comments, but when we got here I saw them mistreating a young Indian boy and I just couldn't take it anymore. Next thing you know I was beating down on the younger one after she hit the boy. I just can't stand any of God's children being treated like that. You'd think I was murdering her by the way she and her momma were shrieking, but I swear that I only slapped her around just a bit. Before I knew it, your man — I believe you said his name was Deputy Yorkie? — was pulling me off of her, but not knowing he was with the law in these parts I started swinging thinking it was just some man grabbing me. It shames me to say I got in a few punches and hurt him. It wasn't long before he was slinging me over his shoulder and throwing me into this here cell. Course, at the time I didn't know where he was taking me so I fought with all my might along the way. I think I might have gotten a few bites in and I'm perfectly certain that I did some damage to his…nether regions."

Jasper just sat there stunned.

First, he couldn't believe this tiny little thing was capable of "beating down" on anyone, even if it was by her own admission, and going by what she was saying she was the one that had caused Eric's split lip. Furthermore, if what she was saying was true — and he had no reason to doubt her — she'd done a lot more to him than that. No wonder Eric was terrified. Second, he was livid that anyone had mistreated this young lady in any way.

"What do you mean he threw you in here?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.

Before she could answer there was the sound of a chair falling to the floor and he heard Eric call out in a high-pitched, panicked voice, "Time for me to head out, sheriff! My momma's expecting me home for lunch!" This was quickly followed by the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut.

Alice stifled a giggle by bringing her hand up to her mouth and pretending to cough. "Well, I think he was just anxious to get me out of his hands before I hurt him more, Jasper."

"So, you're all right then?" he asked with concern.

"Well, that really depends on you," she smiled.

"On me?" he asked.

"Well, yes. If I'm under arrest I'm afraid it would really ruin my day even further."

He chuckled and shook his head. "You're not under arrest. I'm sure Deputy Yorkie will be too scared of you to press charges and I can smooth things over with the ladies you mentioned. What were there names anyway?"

"Mallory. They never told me their first names. Insisted that I call them Miss. and Mrs. if I wanted to address them," she said huffily.

He smiled at her expression and sighed a bit as he shook his head. Of all the families this girl had to go and tangle with it had to be that one.

"I'll find a way to smooth things out, Miss Alice. Don't you worry," he said reassuringly.

She giggled and placed her hand lightly on his arm. "Oh, just Alice please, only my students ever called me Miss Alice."

He nodded and grinned at her like a fool, her hand on him sending a thrill right through to his very core. "Well, Alice, I'm sure you're hungry after your long journey. How about I go and fetch us some grub and we can eat here at the desk out front?" He knew the people of this town and he knew more than a few of them were going to go hard on this poor girl for what she'd done. He also wanted to protect her from all the stares and whispers. But, most of all, he just had this urge to spend time with her…alone.

"I'd like that very much, Jasper. May I ask a favor of you though? I don't know what happened to my luggage after they brought me here and I am very concerned about it. Could you please find out what happened to it for me?"

"Certainly, Alice." He stood up and motioned for her to go through the open door to the cell first before he followed her out.

It certainly looked like Eric had left in a hurry. The chair he'd been sitting in was overturned and there was papers scattered on the floor. Shaking his head he put the chair upright and picked up the papers, leaving them in a messy pile. He'd clean up later.

"Make yourself at home, well, as much as you can in a jailhouse. I'll be back soon."

Grinning, she nodded at him. "I'll be here waiting, Jasper."

Grabbing his hat he tipped it at her and winked before he headed out.

Chapter End Notes:

Sorry for posting chapter 9 twice! I corrected it and chapter 10 is now up correctly!

Thank you for all the reviews.