A Marriage of Inconvenience
Chapter 25 – Trouble in Paradise
Once again Samantha found herself in Bart's hotel room sitting on the bed. That was the easiest place to be situated so that she could keep an eye on Bart as he paced back and forth across the floor. She kept watching him, trying to decide what frame of mind he was in while she related the story of her meeting with Fred Cole. She'd easily been able to determine his moods in the past, since he was always fairly well tempered. Right now she couldn't read him at all.
"Just who is this Lon Tenley?" Bart's voice was even and steady, no hint of frustration or anger. He stopped his pacing and pulled a cigar from his coat pocket. He looked down at her attentively as he put the stogie in his mouth and struck a match.
"Someone fairly new to Dry Springs. He bought the old Snyder place a few years back. When Uncle Clement needed a loan to build a barn he was willing to lend him the money. Tenley always seemed fairly harmless." She paused to let that statement sink in. "That's all I know about him."
"Mmmmmmm," came the reply. He stopped pacing and pulled out a chair. He held Sam steady in his gaze as he asked "What do you think he's after?"
She thought for a moment, discarding all but one possibility. "Must be the ranch."
Bart nodded his head in agreement. "How big is his spread?"
Now it was Sam's turn to start walking around the room. "About as big as the Double C. If you put them together they'd take up most of the valley. And you could raise a lot of cattle on that land."
Bart sat quietly for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. The he looked up at Samantha. "Did he ever just try to buy the place?"
She laughed softly. "Several times that I know of. From Uncle Clement and from Caroline. Neither was inclined to sell." Sam sat down in a chair across the table from Bart. "He never seemed pushy about it, though. Maybe he thought Caroline would give in eventually and he could be a cattle baron."
"Makes sense. A woman alone has tough going. Especially with a place that size. As long as she was by herself he probably figured he had a chance." He looked meaningfully at Sam. "And then we came along. And it looked like Caroline wasn't going to be alone anymore." His face was still unemotional but his eyes were sorrowful. It disturbed him that Sam's solution to Caroline's dilemma of inheritance now seemed to be causing problems. And he was the main source of that trouble.
"I can't think any more. I'm exhausted," Samantha pronounced. She rose to leave. "Let's sleep on it and come up with a plan in the morning."
Once again all she got from Bart was a nod. 'What's going on?' she wondered. 'Bart always has a plan.'
After Sam closed the door to his room he sat in the chair and smoked for a long time. He seemed to be deciding something. Then he got up, put on his coat and walked down the hotel steps to the street. He looked up and down the busy thoroughfare and crossed over to the nearest saloon, walked in quietly and went straight to the bar. "Whiskey," he told the bartender. "And leave the bottle."