Ruby by Ruth Langan Page A

Baskin, who was looking from one to the other, hanging on every word. “I am certain we’ll be more comfortable there. And it will certainly be more private.”
    Diamond turned to the marshal. “Is there a fine or anything, Quent?”
    He was tempted. After all, he’d paid the peddler more than the trinkets had been worth. And the Jewel sisters could easily afford it. But, after seeing Ruby all pale and frightened last night, he just wanted her out of here and back home where she belonged.
    “There’s no fine, ladies. Just see that Ruby doesn’t find herself in my jail again.”
    Ruby glanced at Quent’s rugged profile. “Last night it was your intention to humiliate me. I am wondering why you had this sudden change of heart.”
    He shrugged. “I’m wondering the same thing. But your pa was a friend of mine. Maybe the first real friend I had in Texas. I owe him. Maybe I see this as a way to pay him back.”
     
    Ruby bristled. “You needn’t bother on my account—”
    “Thanks, Quent.” Diamond dropped an arm around her sister and started to lead her toward the door, in an effort to keep her from saying more. Her hot-blooded sister and the marshal just seemed to rub sparks off each other.
    “The horse and rig are out back,” Quent called. “I had it brought over from Neville Oakley’s livery, where it was kept for the night. You’ll have to pay him for the oats and use of a stall.”
    “We’ll take care of it,” Diamond called as the three sisters escorted Ruby from the jail.
    As they swept past his cell, Beau drew a deep breath. When the door closed behind them, he said, “Um-um, Marshal. Those Jewel ladies are like a bouquet of flowers. Every one of ’em prettier than the next.”
    Quent inhaled the sweet fragrances that trailed in Ruby’s wake. Beau was right. A bouquet of flowers. And Ruby was a wild rose. With plenty of thorns.
     
    “A seamstress.” Diamond reached for a slice of corn bread. “You spent a night in jail because you decided to become a seamstress?”
    Carmelita, housekeeper and ranch cook, rapped Diamond’s knuckles with a wooden spoon and snatched the platter away. “Not until lunch is ready,” she muttered.
    The four sisters had ridden almost the entire distance from the town to their ranch in silence. Ruby had absolutely refused to discuss her “unsettling incident,” as she referred to it, and the three sisters had finally given up the idea that they would ever break through that wall of silence she had built. The reason for her time spent in jail was a closed subject. But Diamond, as always, was giving it one last try.
    Once inside the house, with hugs from Carmelita, surrounded by the wonderful fragrances of cooking, Ruby had surprised them by blurting out her plans for the future.
    Now she shot a withering look at Diamond. “That is not why the marshal arrested me.”
    “Why, then?” Diamond persisted. “Quent said you helped yourself to somebody else’s property.”
    Ruby gave an exaggerated sigh. “I do not wish to speak of that. I wish to tell you of my plans for my future. I have given this some thought. I can sew anything. I made this gown. Have you seen the stitches?” She lifted the hem of her gown and insisted they examine it. “These stitches would make Sister Dominique proud.”
    “Sister Dominique?” Jade looked puzzled. “You have another sister?”
    “ Non. ” Ruby was becoming flustered. “Sister Dominique was the nun, the teacher,” she corrected, for Jade’s benefit, “who befriended me while I was a student. I cannot tell you how many times I was punished because Sister Clothilde accused me of some infraction.”
    “Punished?” Jade arched a brow. “In what way?”
    For a moment Ruby froze. Then she said softly, “There were many punishments. One was to scrub the refectory floor on my hands and knees.”
    “What were the other punishments?” Jade persisted.
    Ruby merely shrugged. “I have forgotten. But Sister Dominique was