I modified the previous chapter ever so slightly. Had a better, funnier idea for this one. :)
Julia's ranch was situated some three miles from 'town'. They were the longest three miles of his existence. To say the ride had been unusual would have been a vast understatement. Murdoch had never been so uncomfortable and so exhilarated all at the same time. By the time they charged through the ten foot high posts designating the land, he was very much alert and ready for anything.
Julia skillfully steered her grey stallion straight into his stable without barely slowly down. The powerful beast breathed out deeply once, and then seemed to be rested, for it made no further sound.
"You can let go now," she said, clearly amused again.
Murdoch hastily did so, and now that the harrowing adventure had passed, he suddenly became intensely aware of how inappropriate it had been for him to hold a corset less woman in the first place, especially one who was a complete stranger. In fact, the more that he thought about it, the more he realized it could have been avoided all together. There had been two available horses...Ruby should have doubled with her sister and he should have simply taken the other.
To his elevated mind this could only mean two things. One: Julia had not trusted him enough to take possession of one of her horses, fearing he would either injure or steal it. Or two, and his heart fluttered at the thought, she had wanted him to hold on ever so tightly for some ulterior motive of her own.
"You're going to have to get off first too," she said, breaking through his ruminations.
"Oh, yes, of course!" he replied, clumsily doing just that and nearly landing on his buttocks.
Julia didn't comment, though it was obvious she was trying not to laugh. It seemed every blunder caused her great joy.
"You've lost your hat."
"Yes, it appears I did," he said absentmindedly patting down his hair. This was not necessary as only water was capable of ever putting a hair out of place, and the only time water ever came in contact with his head was during his monthly bath, something he deemed Julia was long overdo for, judging by the smell of her.
Don't be so unfair, William. She works with animals for a living. Even if she bathed every day she would likely still have an unpleasant odour.
And such a notion was preposterous so he put it out of his mind.
"Well, I'm sure we can find a replacement for you somewhere around here."
"Oh, no," he said with a wave of his hand, "that will not be necessary."
"I insist. You can pick one out tomorrow morning."
Murdoch gaped at her, again feeling irrationally thrilled. "I am to spend the night?"
She laughed, though it was more of an abrupt snort than anything. "You are my guest, William. It would hardly be hospitable of me to kick you out after dinner. Besides, it is quite apparent that you are in dire need of some quality relaxation."
He gulped in response.
As she was holding out his bag, Ruby finally caught up to them, looking positively devilish in the lantern glow of the stable. If her hair had been unruly before, it was now reminiscent of Medusa, and indeed, her glare nearly set him in stone. But then he realized she was glaring at her sister and his limbs began functioning anew.
"Why must you always ride at breakneck speeds!" she whined. "You know I have no hope of keeping up with you! I nearly lost my way again! Do you even understand the concept of an escort?"
Julia simply smirked, shrugging her shoulders, which of course infuriated her sister to no end and she continued to whine like a spoiled brat. Julia ignored this and gracefully descended her stead, patting him on the neck a few times to which she received another loud exhale.
"Shall we?" she said to him, gesturing towards the main house.
He nodded curtly, eager to get away from the wrath of Ruby.
The ranch house was nothing fancy and could certainly have done with a repair or two, but it was still far better than any other accommodations in town...considering there were none.
Julia headed over to the hearth and the hunk of meat propped over the glowing embers. She picked up the sharp knife and fork resting on the platter there and quickly sawed off two large pieces. His salivated as the juices dropped down and sizzled, the enticing aroma wafting out to ensnare his senses. When she held up the platter he noticed the top piece of meat was much smaller than the others.
By way of explanation she said, "The burden of corsets. One is not capable of having much of an appetite, no matter the exertion."
This intrigued him. He had always just assumed the fairer sex ate less, to well, remain fair. He must have made a strange face because she snorted again.
"Yes, that is the appropriate response to such foolishness. I have never understood the appeal." She moved towards the circular dining table and he followed. "Which is precisely why I escaped the constraints of so called," she chuckled, "polite society as soon as I could."
Ruby barged in then, a swirl of dust and dirt sweeping in with her, and stormed up the stairs.
"Will she be all right?" he asked.
Dismissively, "Ruby will be fine once she cleans up a bit. And eats something. She has always been a terror when she's hungry."
He nodded and they sat down across from one another. The table had already been set so she simply served him a slab and he dug, or rather, cut right in. The first bite was heaven and he closed his eyes, groaning audibly as he savoured the perfectly cooked beef. He swallowed, opening his eyes to cut another piece and in so doing noticed her keenly watching him.
She smiled with considerable warmth...and something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on. "I'm glad you are enjoying my offerings so much." She winked, playing with her horse necklace, "There's a lot more where that came from."
In response he reached for the water pitcher, poured himself a hearty serving and took an overly long drink.
They ate in awkward silence, (at least on his part) for a time.
"So, you still haven't told me why you are here. You city folk are always so mysterious."
He debated what and how much to divulge to her. Just because she was being so hospitable did not mean he had to tell her everything. But oddly, under her rapt gaze he didn't think he was capable of lying. And besides, he reasoned, she may have valuable information.
"I'm looking for two fugitives."
"May I ask what their crime was?"
"Multiple counts of robbery and murder."
"How fascinating," she said, propping her hands underneath her chin.
That was not the usual reaction, but then again, there was nothing normal about this woman.
She puzzled him further. "You are with The Pinkertons then."
"How did you know?" he asked, taken aback.
"Well," she said with a sly smile, "you carry no badge, or else I would have surely felt it on the ride here." He looked away, embarrassed at holding her as tightly as he did. "As well, a typical lawman would not come all the way out here simply to do his duty, not when he could have utilized the telegraph instead." She paused, to take a sip of water. "There must be a sizeable reward for their capture."
Or death. "There is. Ten thousand dollars apiece."
"Indeed?" she said, raising her eyebrows, but otherwise not reacting.
The fact that she wasn't more stupefied like Brackenreid suggested she either came from money, or had no interest in money. Or both. Judging by Ruby's finery's, he was fairly certain it was both. Suddenly something obvious hit him.
"You wouldn't by any chance happen to be the daughter of Lionel Ogden, would you?"
"Perhaps," she said, eyes lighting up. "Why do you ask?"
When the constabulary failed to locate the fugitives, Lionel Ogden, the owner of the last bank to be robbed, hired The Pinkertons to take over the investigation. Murdoch learned that the constabulary was not completely incompetent and had in fact made use of the Canadian Pacific Railway's telegraph to contact the next stop, North Bay, so that a thorough search could be conducted. When the fugitives weren't located, the constabulary decided they had no reason to pursue that form of transport any further. Murdoch suspected this reticence to check again at the next stop or telegraph any further down the line had more to do with cost than anything else. Telegraphs, especially private ones constructed with the main purpose being to offset railroad construction costs, were not likely to be cheap. And as he understood it, the CPR was more or less out of funds and had asked for another government grant which had yet to be awarded.
Once Murdoch had eliminated all other avenues of escape, he came to the conclusion that the fugitives must have boarded the train after all, but the police had simply not found them...or the fugitives had caught up to the train at a different stop and secretly boarded it then.
Ogden had even warned Murdoch about his daughters being out in Calgary. Should he end up travelling all the way down the line, he should keep his guard up around them as they were wilful creatures, prone to flights of fancy.
Murdoch was extremely annoyed with himself for forgetting these details - even if they were only mentioned in passing over a week ago, and he had been mentally exhausted upon his introduction to the women. Those were not acceptable excuses!
He looked over to find Julia watching him again and felt very mortified to have touched his clients daughter in that way. It was hardly professional behaviour. Rest assured, it would not happen again.
"Your father telegraphed ahead to inform you I would be arriving today." Murdoch was only supposed to telegraph back to Toronto if he located or killed the fugitives. When Ogden didn't hear from him after a certain number of days, he knew Murdoch would soon be in Calgary. "Our meeting was not by chance."
Julia slow clapped, smirking. "Took you long enough."
"Has he finally figured it out then?" said Ruby, coming into the room, all prim and proper. Since she chose that exact moment he figured she had been lurking for some time.
Annoyed to be made to look the fool, he took a moment to compose himself by closing his eyes for five seconds. "Why did you not simply inform me of your identities earlier?"
"One must find their kicks wherever they can out here," said Julia innocently, examining her fork. "Isn't that right, Ruby?"
"Positively," said Ruby, sitting down for her now cold meat.
It was then that he noticed there were three places set. He groaned inwardly at his lack of observational skills, something he privately took great pride in. So focused had he been on the succulent meat and the beautiful (albeit dusty) woman in front of him, he had missed this detail.
"If it had not been for the railway commotion," Ruby continued, "I would surely have been bored senseless by now. I don't understand how you can stand it."
"And I shall never fathom your love for city life."
"Yes, well, you always did lack proper social graces."
Julia snorted into her water and Murdoch was hard pressed not to join her considering Ruby's previous childlike displays. Ruby eyed her disdainfully but said nothing and began daintily cutting into her dinner.
Another thought came to him. "When did you arrive in Calgary, Ruby?"
She swallowed. "Oh, it feels like ages ago, but I suppose it has only been about two weeks."
"Ruby, if I'm not very much mistaken, you were on the train at the same time as Gillies and Perry!"
She gave him a pitying look and patted his hand. "Poor thing, you really should try to get a good night's rest now. You keep stating the obvious."
That's right, poor, poor baby William. He's going to have his hands full (in more ways than one)!