Holding the Fort (The Fort Reno Series Book #1) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Regina Jennings

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178 pages

English

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Jennings Winningly Combines Humor, History, and RomanceLouisa Bell never wanted to be a dance-hall singer, but dire circumstances force her hand. With a little help from her brother in the cavalry, she's able to make ends meet, but lately he's run afoul of his commanding officer, so she undertakes a visit to straighten him out. Major Daniel Adams has his hands full at Fort Reno. He can barely control his rowdy troops, much less his two adolescent daughters. If Daniel doesn't find someone respectable to guide his children, his mother-in-law insists she'll take them.When Louisa arrives with some reading materials, she's mistaken for the governess who never appeared. Major Adams is skeptical. She bears little resemblance to his idea of a governess--they're not supposed to be so blamed pretty--but he's left without recourse. His mother-in-law must be satisfied, which leaves him turning a blind eye to his unconventional governess's methods. Louisa's never faced so important a performance. Can she keep her act together long enough?

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Historical romance

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	05 décembre 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493412006
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0461€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2017 by Regina Jennings
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017945717
ISBN 978-1-4934-1200-6
This is a work of historical reconstruction; the appearances of certain historical figures are therefore inevitable. All other characters, however, are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Cover design by Dan Thornberg, Design Source Creative Services
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
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30
A Note from the Author
About the Author
Books by Regina Jennings
Back Ads
Back Cover
Chapter One

J UNE 1885 W ICHITA , K ANSAS
T he fumes of the gaslights at the foot of the stage protected Louisa Bell from the more noxious odors of her audience. On hot nights like tonight, the scent of unwashed bodies in the Cat-Eye Saloon could be overwhelming. Braving a deep breath, Louisa delicately placed her hand against her beribboned polonaise and crescendoed her way into the next stanza. She lifted her head and sang to the rafters so she didn’t have to meet the eyes of her overly interested, overly intoxicated, overly male audience. Their approval meant she had a place to live and food to eat. And while she knew that performing on stage carried certain undesirable associations, it was the only path open to her.
She held the final note while Charlie resolved the chord on the piano. The applause exploded immediately. Whistles and hoots filled the air.
“That was dandy, Lovely Lola.” Slappy flopped his loose hands together in appreciation.
“Lovely Lola, will you marry me?” She didn’t know his name, but the cowboy was there every summer when the cattle made it up the trail.
“You’re an angel!” Rawbone cried.
Louisa might not be the youngest, most coquettish performer at the saloon, but the purity and emotion of her voice couldn’t be denied. She curtsied elegantly, holding her flounced skirt to the side. Cimarron Ted held up a glass to toast her. She returned his smile as she prepared for her last song of the night. Charlie started the intro on the piano, and Louisa mentally recited her pre-song mantra.
I am Lovely Lola Bell. They will be enchanted by my performance and will love my show.
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. It was Tim-Bob, the owner of the Cat-Eye Saloon. With his hand wrapped firmly around Persephone’s white, shapely arm, he was marching through the stage curtains and onto the stage, right in the middle of Louisa’s nightly performance.
“Hey, Charlie,” Tim-Bob called, “cut off that music. I have an announcement to make.”
The pianist wasted no time in stopping and taking a swig from his bottle. The crowd wasn’t as quick to simmer down.
“Let Lovely Lola sing!” a man hollered.
“It’s Saturday night! Can’t have Saturday night without Lovely Lola.”
Whatever was going on, Louisa wished it didn’t have to happen in front of a rowdy mob. Persephone showed promise as a performer on Tuesday nights—that was Louisa’s night off—but she showed more promise as Tim-Bob’s next ladylove. So why was she here now?
Persephone’s blond hair—Tim-Bob always preferred blondes—had been arranged to swoop dramatically over one eye. That same eye was kept carefully trained on the scarred stage floor, but there was a self-satisfied twist on her tinted lips. Louisa’s stomach twisted, too, and it had nothing to do with stage fright.
Tim-Bob held up the hand that wasn’t busy touching Persephone. “If y’all would settle down and listen. It’s not often that an establishment is graced with two such talents as Lola Bell and Persephone, but when it is, then it owes its customers the opportunity to appreciate both.”
“It’s Saturday. I came to town to hear Lovely Lola!”
Through the smoke-filled room, Louisa could make out Cimarron Ted shaking a fist. Tim-Bob shaded his eyes, then dropped his hand as he recognized the complainer.
“I understand we have some old admirers of Miss Lola’s, and that’s just dandy, but they’ll soon grow to appreciate the charms of a new face . . . a younger face. I’m thinking of you, my friends, knowing how you’ll thank me after you hear Persephone perform the finale tonight.”
Persephone fluttered her eyelashes and smiled up at Tim-Bob. He gazed deeply into her eyes as Charlie jumped into action and played the opening notes to the song.
Louisa’s song.
The audience, those traitors, barely noticed as Louisa backed away into the shadows. No one interrupted Persephone’s slightly flat opening to call for Louisa’s return. No one tried to stop Louisa from disappearing into the poorly lit hallway. No one except Tim-Bob.
“Lola, we need to talk.” He stood next to a wall sconce. The gaslight flicked distorted shadows over his face. “Persephone’s talent deserves a bigger audience, and she’s young. With more experience, there’s no limit to how she could develop.”
Louisa pulled her cascading hair over her shoulder. Tim-Bob had said that about her at one time, but then she’d refused his advances. She’d thought her voice was enough to keep her job. Had he been looking for her replacement all this time?
“Is she taking every Saturday performance, then?” Louisa relied on her stage skills to keep her voice level—cheerful, even. “I suppose I could use the break from the daily—”
“Lola, just stop. It’s best just to say this and get it over with. The Cat-Eye doesn’t need two singers. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m just going to dump you out on the street. You can keep your room while you find another job, or at least for a few weeks. I was a friend of your mother’s, after all.”
Her mother hadn’t had any friends. Not in the end.
“Thank you,” Louisa mumbled, and her feet moved toward her room at the end of the dark hallway. She ignored his weak excuses as they faded behind her.
This couldn’t be happening. What would she do? Where could she go? She fumbled blindly with her door, and when her eyes focused again, she was sitting at her vanity stand. Reaching for a cool rag, she began wiping the rouge off her cheeks.
“Come in,” she answered to the knock at her door. Not because she wanted company, but because she was too stunned to refuse it.
Cimarron Ted entered, scratching at a spot of mud dried to his white beard. The metal on his gun belt jangled as he shifted his wiry frame to avoid bumping up against a satin dress hanging from the clothing rack. “I had some news for ya, but I don’t figure you want to hear it right now.”
Louisa’s lips settled into a rare frown. “Tim-Bob is kicking me out. I don’t know where I’m going to go.”
Through the thin walls, she could hear the applause as Persephone sang the last of her number. The men were fickle. As long as they had some pretty entertainment to go along with their drink, it wouldn’t matter much who it was. The important thing was that Louisa find another place to work. Something to keep her head above water so she didn’t sink to desperate measures.
The lace on her wide neckline chaffed against her collarbone. Snapping out of her daze, she hopped up. “Here, help me out of this gown. I need to make plans.” She turned her back toward the old mule driver as she considered her options.
Where else could she sing? She knew every house of entertainment in Wichita, and none were looking to hire. Finding a job outside of the smoky rooms on Douglas Avenue seemed unlikely, too. Even if her singing career hadn’t tainted her, her mother’s reputation had forever doomed her.
“My old fingers aren’t as nimble as they used to be,” Ted said. And he wasn’t lying. The gown loosened slowly.
Louisa held the ribbons of the decorative front lacing in her hands, her feet tapping through her options. She’d always thought about giving voice lessons, but no respectable family in Wichita would welcome Lovely Lola into their home. If she had enough money for train fare, could she find work in another city?
“There you go,” Cimarron Ted said. “If it weren’t for you being like a daughter to me . . .”
Louisa stepped out of her gown. From the red tint spreading up Ted’s neck, she should’ve asked him to wait outside before stripping down to her corset cover and petticoats, but for the company Louisa kept, she was dressed as modestly as a bride.
She reached for her silk dressing gown. “I met my father, and he wasn’t you.” Although she’d much rather have a crusty mule skinner as a father than the wastrel that sired her. Bradley’s pa wasn’t any better, either. Best that they just relied on each other, as they always had.
Thinking of her brother brought a terrible suspicion to her mind.
“Ted, you said you had news for me?” Her hands shook as she hid them in her fur-lined pockets.
“Well, I thought you should know that Bradley is in trouble again. From what I’ve heard, he’s been thrown in the guardhouse.”
Louisa clutched her hands into fists. There couldn’t be a worse time for him to mess up. “What’s he in trouble for?”
“Nothing for you to worry about. Just a little drinking, from what I hear. I doubt it amounts to much. Major Adams is known for having a stiff collar, and Bradley’s known for tomfoolery. You got troubles of your own.”
This was no time for Bradley’s hijinks. As bad as her situation was, at least she’d been assured that her younger brother was out of the rain. How could s