“Ladies, meet Pearl. We now have eight of you going to Montana. We leave the day after tomorrow.”
They all looked at her and began to laugh and appeared so happy.
“A fresh start,” a dark-haired woman said.
“Husbands,” a blonde said with a loud whoop.
Another girl sat in the corner and cried. “I’m so frightened.”
“Don’t be. This is a new beginning for all of you.” Mrs. Newton said, shaking her head.
A place where no one would force her to work as a whore.
CHAPTER3
Anthony Sanders loved everything about living in Treasure Falls – the mountains, the fresh air, the green grass, and the cattle that roamed the land he owned. As a cousin to the Sanders family who had founded the town, he’d learned of the available land and taken their advice to move here.
If only Georgia had not died along the way, she would still be by his side. How many days had he longed for her? She’d been dead for over three years, and still he ached for the feel of her beside him at night, the smell of her, the taste of her on his lips.
“We need a new bull,” Wesley Pickens, his partner, said gazing out at the cattle. “Time to expand our herd.”
Two years ago, he’d picked Wesley up off the street in Helena after the kid had been involved in a bar fight that left him almost dead.
He’d been shocked at the kid’s knowledge of cattle and he’d needed that kind of help. So they became a team. Wesley helped him double the size of his herd, and in return, Anthony gave him half the profits.
“Next year,” Anthony said, “we’re going to increase the headcount again.”
“That means we want to get the cattle impregnated soon. We need that bull this year.”
As much as he agreed, he hoped they had a wife arriving soon. He longed to impregnate her or at least one of them get her with child. Had the kid forgotten?
“The women arrive in a month,” Anthony reminded him.
The man shook his head. “I’m not certain that’s a good idea – you and me sharing a woman together. Hell, I could be leaving next spring, or if my father realizes I’m still alive, it’ll be sooner.”
The boy was always threatening to leave, but so far, he had not gone anywhere. Still in his mid-twenties, there was a restlessness about him, and Anthony hoped a woman could settle the boy down. Just like Georgia had tamed him.
“You could. You could return to Helena and that worthless family of yours that disowned you. Or you could go East. Or you could stay here and help me grow this spread and give it to our children.”
They continued to ride on, corralling the cattle, rounding them up, and moving them to a larger pasture with more grass. This year, Anthony hoped they got top dollar for the ones they sold.
Glancing at Wesley, he had to remind himself that in many ways, the man was still a greenhorn. In many ways, Wesley reminded him of himself at that age. Now at forty years, he knew what he wanted and there was nothing back east or even in Helena that drew him.
All he wanted was a woman to snuggle with at night, to have sex with, and maybe even some children, though he wasn’t certain that was possible.
The kid was damn smart and yet he hadn’t decided what he wanted to do with his life. It was best not to pressure him because then he would definitely leave.
“True,” he said. “But my papa would probably hang me. Even though that fight was not my fault, he didn’t take up for me. Two years later, there’s probably a price on my head.”
Anthony checked with the Treasure Falls sheriff on a regular basis, and so far, he’d not had a wanted poster come through with Wesley’s name on it. Hell, the boy’s father probably thought he was dead. Sometimes he wanted to ride into Helena and find out the truth, so they could put this lingering fear behind them. So Wesley could figure out what he wanted. But that could be tempting fate.
For two years, they had been together and had lived a quiet existence on Anthony’s spread. No, it wasn’t the largest, but it was big enough, and Wesley was teaching him about cattle ranching. And he was teaching Wesley about living a good life.
A life that didn’t need fights to prove one’s manhood, even when your sister’s reputation was involved. A life that consisted of a woman settled between them.
The town of Treasure Falls was known for two men for each woman.
It was a practical solution to living in a place where death tended to sneak up and take you without warning. It was a practical solution so that a man’s woman and children did not end up in poverty.