Stockton Ranch, Texas 1891
Regina Stockton-Davenport paused in the doorway of her office taking off her gloves and tucking them into the waistband of her trousers she looked at the backs of the three men waiting for her.
She knew only one of them.
Diego had ridden out to find her in one of the pastures informing her they needed her at the ranch house right away. Telling her only that Mr. Moreland said to hurry, ridding in she wondered why David Moreland had not let her known in advance of his coming arrival.
The men stood when she entered the room wearing her trousers, shirt, boots, leather vest and chaps along with her gun and holster with Stetson hat in hand. Standing at six feet, most people considered her a beautiful statuesque woman. The tallest man, who she didn't know, looked at her as if she were some sort of creature from a different planet.
"What brings you to the ranch, David?" she asked the one she knew and he gave her a hug and a kiss but didn't answer her question. "What was so important I had to stop what I was doing to ride in?"
"I'm here this time on business," David replied to her. "Where are Annabel and Sophia?"
"They left yesterday to visit some friends but will return in a few days," she answered. "Did Helena take good care of you?"
"Yes, she supplied us with enough food and coffee to hold me over for a week," he told her and Regina smiled at him remembering how big his appetite always was.
David Moreland and Regina grew up together on neighboring ranches and he was now two or three men under the Secretary of State in Washington D.C. The other two men David introduced as Jordan Cavanaugh, Earl of Ravensly currently working for the British Government and the tall one was one Simon Trent, Duke of Sutherworth.
After making introductions, she walked around the desk and sat in her chair facing the three men with David handing her a letter to read from George Blaine, Secretary of State as the three men resumed their seats. She opened the letter before she leaned back in her chair to read what was written on the paper. When she'd finished she looked at all three men and put the letter on the desk.
"David I gather this has something to do with Davenport Limited in England for all of you to be here. He wants me to help the British Government but he doesn't say what help I am to give them or what your visit here is all about," Regina said looking puzzled as to what help she could possibly offer them and why.
"Someone at Davenport Limited is suspected of murder," David replied. "We need your help to find out who killed the young man, a Lord Overton."
Socked at the news, Regina remembered a letter coming from Nigel Weston, who ran Davenport Limited for her, about six months earlier telling her of the young man's death but not informing her that it was a murder. She was instantly angry with Nigel for withholding that information from her and wondered why he had done it.
"The young man killed was my cousin," Simon Trent informed her.
"I'm sorry, Your Grace," she replied. "Nigel never informed in his letter the young man was murdered. I think I have it here somewhere." Regina rose from behind the desk and walked over to some files lying on a table looking through them she found in a few seconds what she was looking for. She returned to her desk and sat down before handing the letter to David and then leaned back to watch while he read it before passing it along to Lord Ravensly and then on to the duke.
"It was made to look like an accident, Mrs. Davenport," Lord Ravensly told her. "We did or said nothing to make anyone think otherwise while we investigated his death."
"Do you want me to go to England to investigate further?" she wanted to know. "Do you think is was someone in my company?"
"There is more then going to England that we want you to do, Reggie," David told her smiling and she wondered what more he wanted her to do and not liking the smile on his face.
"David is this one of your plans?" she asked returning his smile. "I seem to remember when we were younger your plans always got me into trouble."
"Mr. Moreland has helped with this plan but it is one that the British Government has put together," Lord Ravensly informed her.
"Why is Lord Overton's murder of interest to both the British and American governments?" she wanted to know and watched as both the earl and the duke stiffened.
"If an American didn't own the company it probably wouldn't be," Lord Ravensly replied. "Since it is Sutherworth who has requested our help to find out why and who killed his cousin."
Regina looked toward the duke and thought he had somehow put enough pressure on the right people for an investigation into his cousin's death. Having the title of duke had made it very easy for him to get what he wanted. "Tell me your plan and I will let you know if I will help with it," she told them and looked the two strangers over once more.
Lord Ravensly looked to be in his early thirties with blond wavy hair and deep blue eyes, the color of the sky on a clear day. When she had walked into the room and they stood to meet her she put his height at over just over six feet tall. Both men were dressed in similar fashion, English riding clothes, buckskin breeches, cream linen shirts, cravats with the earl's jacket in dark blue while the duke's was in a dark steel gray. Both were wearing Hessian boots coming to just below their knees and their clothes looked as if they'd been molded to their bodies. Bond Street tailors, she thought, her late husband having many items of his clothing made there on their many visits to England.
"We want you to marry Sutherworth and the two of you will travel to London. Once there you will give him control of Davenport Limited. He will then be able to investigate and try to learn who murdered his cousin and why," Lord Ravensly told her.
Once Ravensly had informed her of their plan for her to marry the duke, Reggie first suppressed her sock then later a smile as she listened to their plan. She looked at Simon Trent whom she judged to be in his early thirties as well with black wavy hair longer than the earl's falling almost to his shoulders. He stood at least six feet four inches in height if not taller with broad shoulders, narrow waist and hips but his eyes were what fascinated her the most about him.
They were the grayest eyes she'd ever seen, almost dark pewter in color. Over the years, she had dealt with many men in England such as the duke. He was a handsome man and she thought he knew most women found him so. He had been looking her over since she arrived and she felt he didn't like her or what he saw. He defiantly didn't like seeing a woman in trousers.
"David this has to be your idea and by far the craziest one you have ever come up with," she told him. "I have no intentions of pretending to be married to anyone."
"We would not be pretending, Mrs. Davenport. It would be a real marriage. We cannot afford anyone learning we were never legally married," Simon told her wondering how he was going to endure a marriage to this woman if you could call her that. She was somewhat pretty but not the raving beauty he was lead to believe. Regina Davenport was too tall, his taste ran toward shorter women with dark hair. She had long reddish blond hair, which he never cared for. She was not what he wanted for his duchess dressed as she was in those trousers covered in dust and my god she was even wearing a gun! He wondered is this woman even knew how to dress and behave as a lady should.
"Reggie a contract has been drawn up for all to sign where Simon would only be able to run Davenport Limited. He would have no control over your other holdings or monies. He will only be able to run the company as long as you allow him to do so," David stressed to her. "Once the killer is found and this is over you and Simon would then go your separate ways and quietly divorce which is also in the contract."
Regina viewed them once more wondering if this was some kind of dream she was having, maybe even a nightmare, at this point she was not sure which. The memory of John and her parent's deaths came back to her as if it were yesterday as she remembered the doctor telling her they were dead. She was the only one in their party to survive the train accident three years ago and never planned on marrying again.
"Boss, sorry to interrupt you but we've got a serious problem," Regina heard Bob Draper her foreman telling her bringing her back to the present. "We found two of the men dead and over a hundred head of cattle missing from the west section. It was Deke and Curly, Boss ."
"I'll be there in a few minutes, Bob. Make sure we have the provisions we'll need if we have to be gone several days," she replied to her foreman as she rose from her chair.
"Yes, Boss," Bob replied and left her office.
Reggie walked to the gun rack taking a rifle from it along with a scabbard before remembering the men still sitting at her desk. "David I have to think about this," she told him. "I may not be back here for dinner so make yourselves at home." She started walking out of the office with David following right along at her heels.
"Reggie let me come with you so we can discuss this more," David told her. "We need to know your answer as soon as possible."
"As you wish David but don't get in the way," she said and they walked out the front door to find her foreman and ten of her hands waiting with her horse. She tied the scabbard to the saddle, then put in the rifle, the last things she did before mounting her horse was to put on her gloves.
Once on her horse Reggie realized not only that not only David was coming along with her but the other two men were as well. She hesitated for only a few seconds wishing they would stay behind but changed her mind about telling them to do so. Let them see what Texas was like and how they handled killers and cattle rustlers, she thought. Turning her horse around Reggie and Bob took the lead as they rode at a gallop to the west pasture.
Simon kept looking ahead watching Regina Davenport as they rode wondering more and more what sort of woman she was. the minute her foreman had come to tell her about the two dead men and the missing cattle she never hesitated going first for her rifle and then to her horse. Riding a huge chestnut colored stallion with a golden mane and tail he watched as she controlled the animal effortlessly. He would expect that of her, he thought, since she grew up on this ranch.
He thought over once again what David Moreland had informed Jordan and him about her. She was almost thirty and had been widowed for over three years. She had deeply loved her late husband and along with her parents had lost them in a train accident with her the sole survivor. Thrown from the train she had suffered a blow to the head leaving her unconscious for over two weeks with people wondering if she would ever awaken.
It was now her, her young sister Annabel Stockton, who had recently turned twenty, and an aunt, a Sophia Stockton. He was informed that both she and her sister were tall with her being right at six feet in her boots having reddish blonde hair and dark green eyes. Both women were considered beautiful, once again according to Moreland, but Simon wondered why American men thought them so.
She owned half the ranch with her sister owning the other half but this woman ran the ranch. She was worth millions from the businesses that John Davenport left her and she'd stepped into run without any interruptions after his death. The Davenport's were married almost six years and had no children. David told him Regina Stockton-Davenport had a very hard time dealing with her husband's death and that of her parents.
He wondered as they rode along if she would go along with their plan. Would she turn Davenport Limited over to him to find his cousin's killer? Would he be able to convince this odd woman to do so if she chose not to?
* * *
Riding west Reggie felt Simon Trent's eyes on her and she thought about the crazy plan of theirs. If John were still alive, they would be asking him to investigate, but just because she was a woman, they wanted her to marry this man, this duke. It all sounded so typically English. So typically male.
John always treated her as an equal and valued her business sense. Several of the companies they owned when he died she had purchased with his approval after showing him the merits of doing so. Many wonderful dreams died that afternoon in 1888 a few miles outside of Dallas. They'd be so close to home. So close to being safe.
"Boss you seem a million miles away," Bob said to her. "What's Moreland doing here with them two foreign yahoo's and why are they riding with us?"
Reggie smiled knowing the word had already spread around the ranch as to who her three visitors were.
"David's here on business and stopped by with his two visitors from England," she answered him. She hoped Bob couldn't tell she was not telling the whole truth about their purpose here. If she did decide to go along with this plan, no one should know about it but the four of them. "I thought it wouldn't hurt for them to see how we handle killers and cattle rustlers here in Texas."
Bob grinned back at her at the thought of the two yahoo's traveling with them and what they'd probably be seeing before the day was over.
Reggie knew she wouldn't tell Annabel but somehow she needed to take her to England with her if she married the duke or not. She couldn't leave her sister behind for Richard Zachary to try and persuade Annabel to marry him. The man was no good and she was having problems convincing her little sister of the man's true nature. Zachary wanted her sister's money along with her half of the ranch and she didn't think the man would stop short of murder to get what he wanted after he'd married Annabel. Reggie wanted the man out of Annabel's life.
Reggie saw five of her hands standing around when they arrived with both of the bodies of her dead cowhands covered with blankets. She reined in Arthur and dismounted along with Bob while the others remained in their saddles. She walked over to the bodies and turned back the blankets one at a time looking at the faces of two young men she knew well. Curly Jackson and Deke Littleton both came to work for her over two years ago and now would never see their twentieth birthdays. They'd been friends since young boys with Curly being the jokester of the two always making people laugh. They would both be missed.
"We figured they were killed sometime last night and the rustlers took the herd and headed west," Bob told her. "It looks as if there were seven of them. Their tracks should be easy to follow."
"Have two of the men take them into town and tell Lane what's happened and that we are going after them," she told him closing her eyes for a few seconds as she fought back the grief. "Have them tell Mr. Emerson to bill the ranch for their burial. Make sure they go see Mrs. Littleton and break the news to her as gently as they can and see about getting several of her church ladies to come stay with her. Tell them to see to it that she has everything she needs, Bob. I know Deke was her only means of support."
"Sure, Boss," Bob told her and put his hand on her shoulder squeezing it. "I'll make sure they get the best and Deke's mother is taken care of."
Looking up Reggie was reminded of David and the other two men standing nearby. "David I want you three to ride either back to the ranch or go with my men into town and stay there until we return," she told them having second thoughts about their coming along from here on.
"Reggie we're coming with you," David replied.
"David we are going to be riding hard and if we camp it won't be for long. I have killers we need to find and I don't need two greenhorns and someone I know has gotten soft from sitting behind a desk tagging along. Go on back to the ranch."
"Mrs. Davenport we have no intention of returning to wait for you," Simon spoke up angry that she didn't want them along, "We plan on going with you and we will be able to keep up with your pace." He hadn't liked the way she referred to them as greenhorns. He wanted to show her that she had no idea what kind of men he and Jordan were.
"Suit yourself," she told him with a discussed look on her face. "Don't say you weren't warned."
Reggie walked to her horse and swung up in the saddle and once again when everyone was on their horses they started riding hard again toward the west following the tracks left from the cattle. After dark they lit several torches and followed them until around one in the morning when they stopped to rest and feed the horses along with lighting a campfire to make coffee and something to eat.
"See to your horses first before you get some food and sleep if you can. We will be leaving again once the sun comes up. We should catch up with them later in the afternoon," Reggie informed them then walked away to see to her own horse.
"You said she was raised on this ranch," Simon asked Moreland.
"Yes, both Reggie and Annabel were. They went east to Boston to a finishing school their mother attended when she was a young woman. Reggie met John Davenport when she was there and they later married," David replied. "Reggie knows what she's doing. This isn't the first time she's gone after rustlers and killers. Regina Davenport isn't like any of your English ladies."
"I can clearly see that," Simon answered him thinking more about her and how unlady like she truely was. "She likes to give orders and expects them to be followed."
"That's for sure," David replied smiling. "You can't have a ranch as large as this one or run Davenport Industries as she does without expecting your orders to be followed. Since John's death she has more than doubled her wealth. Reggie is a smart and very capable woman, Simon. Don't ever under estimate her."
Later after they had eaten, Simon watched her take her cup of coffee and go sit along on a large boulder looking off into the darkness. He took a cup and followed her leaning up against another boulder. "Have you decided anything about our plan?" he asked her and watched as once more she gave him what the American's called a once over.
"No," she told him. "I've had a few other things on my mind but I did wonder when we were in my office what you would have done if John were still alive? Would you have allowed him to investigate his own company? Is my marrying you because I am a woman and you don't think I am capable of finding the answers without male assistance?"
"But your husband isn't alive Mrs. Davenport," Simon responded trying to control the tone of his voice and not sound mad or as impatient with her as he was. "This person has already killed once and we don't feel a woman should lead this investigation."
Men, Reggie thought, before she took a sip from her coffee thinking he was the one that thought her incapable of looking into this matter. "Why do we have to have a real wedding ceremony? Why can't we just pretend that we were married?"
"Mrs. Davenport we will be staying together sharing the same bedroom. We are both to well known and it would be easy for people to learn we were never legally married. We can't afford anyone find out out this is a sham marriage," Simon saw the surprised look come to her face.
"What do you mean we will be sharing the same bed! I thought you people didn't share beds with their wives!"
"Let me assure you, Mrs. Davenport, that nothing and I mean nothing will happen between us," he told her. "I can assure you too, that we will only be pretending even though it is a legal marriage. Most of the time you will have your own bedchamber but there will be some occasions we will not be able to have separate rooms."
Reggie thought by the sound of the dukes voice he found her unattractive and he wouldn't take advantage of her. The thought of that eased her mind somewhat but it also made her mad to think he didn't find her attractive enough for him.
"I know, Your Grace, that you British marry women and they are not love matches. I also know that later a divorce will be scandalous for you," she said watching for his reaction.
"Mrs. Davenport," he said getting more impatient with her. "I want to find my cousin's killer and I will do what ever I have to in order to do so. Neither my sister nor my aunt know he was murdered and I would ask that it be kept between us about his death and why we married."
"If we get married I do hope you don't keep referring to be as Mrs. Davenport," she said smiling at him hoping he thought it was a real smile. "My name is Regina or many of my close friends call me Reggie. I would never tell your sister or your aunt or anyone else for that matter. You still haven't answered my question about why people need to thin this is a love match and not my marrying you for your title or you marrying me for my money as is common today." She really enjoyed seeing how off balanced her questions were making him as she took another sip of her coffee.
"I have made it very clear that I would marry for duty to my title and to the right English woman. If I come home from America with an American bride, it would look odd to people if we did not pretend to care deeply for one another. You are much older than any woman I would choose to wed since it would be to have children. I am also well off so I don't need an arranged marriage for money so you could have a title."
Reggie took another sip of her now cold coffee. The pompous ass thought her not only unattractive but also to old. Before she threw the cold coffee in his face or worse yet shot him and created an international incident she'd better change the subject or leave, she told herself. "What kind of man was your cousin?" she asked and for the first time saw his eyes soften as he started telling her about his cousin.
"He had just turned twenty-six," Simon began. "He was smart and good in business. He had hoped to learn much by working for your company. He wanted to eventually start his own shipping company. He was to wed a nice young woman he'd know forever and they were happily making plans for their future. He was the only child of my widowed aunt and his death has devastated her. That is something you should understand." Once he said that he knew he shouldn't have as he watched her stiffen and her eyes narrow in anger.
"Oh, I do Your Grace," she replied. "but don't use grief hoping that it will make me bow down to your wishes. I still see no reason we should marry. Now I think I'll turn in and see about getting a few hours of sleep."
Simon watched her pour out what was left in her cup and then jump down from the boulder. He watched too, as she walked back into camp to lie down on her bed on the ground. Simon realized he's pushed her to hard but she'd irritated him from the first moment they'd met. He walked to his own bed and later after laying down looked up at the stars in the dark sky and wondered how he would be able to make her see why their plan was the best plan. He felt he'd just gone to sleep with Moreland woke him and Jordan. In a short time they were once again back on the trail of the killers and the cattle.