It was 10AM on a Wednesday when Kitty awoke with a smile. Stretching languidly, her body tingled with the anticipation of Matt's return that evening after another long ten days out of town. He had been sent up to Elkader by Judge Brooking to attend to a rustling problem. She started to drift off again when suddenly her eyes opened wide and she sniffed the air.

"That smell! A man has been in here, and not long ago!" Kitty's nose was always very sensitive, and one of her favorite scents was Matt's manly fresh mix of the wind through the prairie grass, well-used leather, and the tang of horses. She loved to awaken in the dark to her man's presence in her room. This was an unfamiliar and disturbing mix of stale and sweaty clothing and unwashed male body.

Anger overtook any fear she may have felt. This room was hers and Matt's special place where they could share everything. A person of deep feelings, usually tamped down as befitting a smart and respected business woman, in this room she could allow herself to give in to all of her deep senses. She only had one small, unimportant so-called "secret" from Matt, in that she would not change his pillowcase while he was out of town, no matter for how long, and needed his special scent to sleep. She knew he knew, but he never mentioned it, same as how she knew his "secret" of always taking her day's hankie from her skirt, neatly folding it into a small square, and then carefully tucking it into his shirt pocket before leaving town on any prolonged trips.

Now she sat up straight in bed and searched the room with narrowed eyes. "Who could have gotten in?" Then a sudden realization made her blood turn to ice water. "It must have been during the night while I was asleep!" Pulling the sheet up in front of her, she looked more carefully around before getting out of bed and slipping her arms into her pink lacy robe. Striding over to the door, she grabbed the handle and rattled it. "Still locked! I must be imagining things," she thought with a sigh of relief. But she could still feel the cold icicle of doubt prick her heart.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Five miles outside of Dodge, the strangely quiet cowhand with the disturbing eyes was slowly riding in the dusty billows of the massive herd plodding its way to its final fate in town. As the "new guy," Culver Whitlock had proven his strong ability to hold his own, but still had to ride last in the choking air behind everyone else. He didn't mind, using the brown cloud to envelope himself and his thoughts.

"I probably should not have sneaked into her room the other night, but I have waited so long to make amends to my Mary that I could not resist," he brooded. That door lock was so easy to pick and she needs to know that!" Then a rare smile creased his unshaven, dirt-encrusted face under his red bandana as he reached inside of his faded jean jacket and pulled out a pair of pink satin underpants. Pulling down his bandana, he held the fresh, lilac-scented garment to his nose and deeply inhaled. "Mary. Oh, my sweet Mary!" His half-closed eyes softly glistened as he lovingly put the garment safely back into his shirt pocket, pulled up his bandana again, and went back into his intense watch over the cattle in front of him. "Soon I will be back in town again. Soon I will be near you again. Soon I will atone-I know I will! I must rescue you from that evil town!"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The Drag R was only one of several herds arriving in Dodge during that week. And each herd was accompanied by its own swarm of rowdy cowhands, restless with pent-up energy, thirst, and desires.

"Miss Kitty. Seems like each bunch of these cowhands is more rowdy than the one before!" Sam said, shaking his big head. He was filling and refilling beer mugs as fast as he could, and Kitty was pitching in, handing the full trays to the saloon women as they hurried off.

"We should be used to it by now, Sam!" Kitty replied with a wry smile. "I try to think of them all as helping my savings for my old age!" Winking at her barkeep friend, she deftly spun away from the grasping dirty hand of a nearby young man, staggering and grinning as he reached over the bar. "Get back to your table or there won't be any more beer for you!" she snapped. "Or a hand to hold the mug!"

"Yes MA'AM!" the startled boy said, turning beet red as his companions loudly laughed. Stumbling to his crowded table, he fell into the arms of a beefy cowhand who grinned as he slung his young friend down into a chair. The tall, lean man across from him scowled and then relaxed back into his seat from his half-standing position.

"Young Cobber Jim, you sure are lucky you didn't touch that woman," he thought. "My fist woulda been the last thing you'd remember for a long time!" Unclenching his tight hands, he took in a calming breath and exhaled slowly. "I got to act NOW! It's time for my plan to save Mary! She needs to be rescued and taken away from all of this…by ME!" Glancing over at the large clock by the front door, he nodded his head, scraped back his chair, and with a quick glance at the red haired woman, he quietly wove his way through the crowds and headed up the stairs unnoticed.

"This lock is way too simple! This is the second time I've picked it and it barely took me thirty seconds. She definitely is not safe up here!" Looking up and down the hallway, Whitlock entered the room, softly closed the door behind him and locked it from the inside. He had easily slipped into Doc's office earlier and taken a small bottle of chloroform which he now pulled from his pants pocket and set on a small table by the door. He set a small chair near the table, pulled out a bandana, folded it into a neat square, and set it beside the bottle. A patient man, he knew that Kitty would be coming up to her room for the night soon, and he sat down to wait.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Goodnight, Sam," Kitty said with a smile, her slim hand on her barkeep's strong forearm. With a sigh of relief, she headed for the stairs up to her room, eager as always for Matt to finish his last rounds and join her there. Glancing down at the smokey room, she noted that the place was starting to slowly empty out, leaving only a few tables of cowhands still drinking and grabbing at the elusive saloon women.

Kitty put her hand on the door handle after using the key from her reticule. The patient man inside quietly stood up, a bandana over his nose, and another one soaked with chloroform, ready to clamp over her face.

"EEEEEK! Let GO of me! Miss KITTY!"

Hurrying over to the railing, Kitty peered down and immediately spotted the source of the screaming. Her youngest and newest saloon woman, Queenie, was struggling wildly on the lap of a hulking cowhand who had his arms wrapped around her waist and his bristly face pressed against her slim neck. It seemed the more she wriggled and screamed, the tighter the big man's arms became.

With an irritated frown, Kitty firmly descended the stairs and strode over to the table where the drunken man sat clutching the terrified woman, one big hand now pushing down inside the low-cut neck of her tight red dress. "YOU! Take your filthy hands off of that woman! NOW!" With her hands on her hips, her face flushed, the red haired woman's beautiful sky-blue eyes now glared at the smirking man like shards of ice.

"HA! Whadda YOU gonna Do 'bout it, Red?! Hey BOYS! Looks like we got TWO of these easy women to have some fun with now!"

After a quick glance towards the bar, looking for big Sam's face and not seeing him, the determined saloon owner scanned the faces of the few remaining customers. They were all grinning drunken buddies of the huge cowhand abusing terrified Queenie.

"Hmm…guess I'm on my own here," Kitty thought, her mind racing with choices of action. "And I need to do something quick!" From her peripheral vision, she detected the men behind her slowly weaving their way closer, worn boot heels scraping on the wooden floor as they laughed and made their own evil plans.

To be continued.