Chapter Twenty-Four

Penny's fist connected solidly with Billy's face, causing the drunken man to stumble backward, nearly tripping over a trough behind him. Pain radiated up Penny's arm. She had never punched anyone before.

Before the shock of what she had done to could register, Billy threw down his whiskey bottle and lunged at her. Penny leapt to the side but Billy managed to grab her arm. He yanked her away from the cart, swung, and caught her in the jaw with a punch of his own.

Penny's world swam as her jaw throbbed. He might be drunk but he was still strong. For the first time in her life, Penny was thankful for an abusive father who had taught her how to take a punch—otherwise Billy's might have done her in.

He swung again, but this time Penny dodged. Billy was sent wind milling past her as the force of the punch he'd missed knocked him off balance. Penny hoisted her skirt and delivered a solid kick to his back, sending him slamming face first into the ground.

She was laughing as Billy scrambled to his feet, stumbling while spitting dirt and blood. "You goddamn whore. I'll teach you a lesson!"

He came for her with his head down, catching Penny in the midsection and tackling them both to the ground. Penny realized they'd landed in the contents of his spilled whiskey bottle as the scent clogged her nostrils and her dress was quickly soaked.

Billy straddled her and threw another punch. Penny dodged it which served to anger him more. She swung out and raked her nails across his face, bringing blood and causing him to bellow with pain and clutch at his cheek.

Using his distraction, Penny threw him off of her and scrambled to her feet, covered in whiskey soaked mud. "Come on, Penny, let's get out of here," Maggie urged, grabbing her arm and leading her toward the wagon while Billy regathered his wits. "You stay down there, Billy," Maggie warned. "Your ass has been kicked enough. Just wait until Ace finds out what you've done."

Billy jumped to his feet and came for Penny again, only this time he was stopped in his tracks by the sound of a gunshot.

Sheriff Potter and his two deputies had joined their brawling ring. "What in the hell is going on here!" Sheriff Potter bellowed.

"She attacked me first, Sheriff!" Billy whimpered, swiping at the blood seeping from his cuts and leaking from his busted nose and mouth.

Penny's adrenaline was fading. She was realizing just what she'd done. And she'd done it on a crowded street with plenty of witnesses. What had she been thinking?

"Don't give him that shit, Billy!" Maggie snapped. "You wouldn't leave the woman alone. You was like a dog with a bone."

"It's true, Sheriff," Patricia spoke, looking very pale on the cart. "He touched her inappropriately as well."

Sheriff Potter shook his head. "I saw most of it. Now I'm just wondering what the hell I'm supposed to do about it."

Penny couldn't find words to speak. She simply stood there with her head down, rubbing at the bruised welt forming on her jaw.

"You arrest Billy and let us be on our way," Patricia stated, seeming as if she found that quite obvious.

"Billy get your good for nothing ass over here. I see you trying to sneak away," Sheriff Potter warned, earning a sheepish grin from Billy who'd been inching his way away from the scene.

"I'm afraid it's not as simple as that, Mrs. Anderson," Sheriff Potter addressed Patricia. "You see, this is a crowded street with families, children and plenty of people who just saw this display. I can't be allowing brawling in my streets in broad daylight."

"Billy Henkley deserved what he got and worse!" Maggie snapped.

"Did not," Billy mumbled.

"Shut the hell up, Billy," Sheriff Potter snapped, pressing a finger into the man's chest. "You say one more word and I'll tell the deputies here you resisted arrest and they'll take care of you real good when we get you inside."

Billy paled and fell silent.

Turning his attention back to Penny, Sheriff Potter seemed regretful. "Miss Burkart, I don't enjoy this, I truly don't, but you're under arrest." Cries of outrage rang out from the cart but Penny didn't speak. She couldn't. Under arrest?

"If you'll please go with Deputy Taylor here." He gestured toward the youngest deputy and Penny walked stiff legged to the man.

Patricia pleaded. "Sheriff, this isn't right. Penny..."

"Leaped off that wagon like a woman crazed and proceeded to brawl in the middle of the street," Sheriff Potter finished for Patricia. "I understand Billy was harassing her but she should have come to me. I'm more than happy to take care of any issues in my town."

"Dammit, Sherriff, you're gonna wanna rethink this," Maggie warned.

"Don't curse," Sheriff Potter scolded. "And don't threaten me or you'll be locked up with her."

Maggie tossed back her messy curls. "Ace sure ain't gonna be happy to hear about this."

Penny's blood ran cold. Ace? No.... Ace couldn't know. After all the hell she'd given him over being a brute! The man could never find out about this.

"Please..." she met Maggie's gaze. "Anyone but Ace. Don't let Ace know..."

"Billy, there you go sneaking off again!" Sherriff Potter strode toward Billy, grabbed him by the back of the neck and squeezed. "Get your worthless ass back over here. You're under arrest too."

"For what?!" Billy exclaimed indignantly. "She attacked me."

"You're under arrest cuz I don't like the look of you," Sheriff Potter replied. He turned his attention to Maggie and Patricia. "She can be bailed out later this evening."

"You're in for it when her fiancé finds out about this Billy—you too sheriff. He's gonna be mad as hell," Maggie warned again.

"Her fiancé?" Sheriff Potter whispered rubbing at his neck. "That explains it."

Maggie hopped back into the cart. Patricia gathered up the reins. "You'll be out of there this evening, Penny," she promised. With tears in her eyes Patricia drove the cart away.

Sheriff Potter sighed. "Well come on you two. I believe you've caused enough of a spectacle for one day.

***

Ace tossed the last bit of manure filled hay into the pile behind the barn and swiped his shirt sleeve across his face. Making his way to the spicket, Ace washed up his hands with a bar of soap kept in a tray there before taking several long sips of cool water.

"Ace?" his mother's voice had him standing tall and turning.

"Hey mama."

She smiled at her youngest son. "I have been doing some planning for your wedding. Penny wanted simple."

Ace raised a brow. "She did?"

Carol seemed just as surprised. "She did. She wants to get married in the gardens with the ceremony being performed at the gazebo."

Ace smiled. That sounded damn nice to him. And he knew how much Penny loved the gardens. He needed to go about clearing her a spot at the cabin for gardens of her own. He'd bet Penny would love that.

"And I'm thinking," Carol continued. "That we shouldn't wait much longer than a week or two because we want the flowers to still be in full bloom."

"A week or two sounds good to me. Hell, I'll marry her this evening if we can get a preacher out here."

Carol shook her head and pointed her finger up at his nose. "No, Montgomery. There needs to be some decoration, food, a reception party afterward... You have to give me some time. Penny deserves it."

With a sigh, he nodded. "You're right. She does."

They continued talking about the wedding for a few moments, until they were interrupted by a cart barreling onto the ranch. Acting on instinct, Ace shoved his mother behind him and went for his gun, only to realize it was Patricia leading that speeding vehicle with Maggie clinging to her hat beside her.

Pulling up on the reins, Patricia brought the cart to a stop. Luke, who had been cleaning another barn, was the first one to her. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he demanded.

"And where the hell is Penny?" Ace added, worry gathering in his gut when he saw how angry Maggie appeared and how sickened Patricia seemed with tears on her cheeks.

"Ace... Penny was.... Um..." Patricia couldn't seem to form words.

Ace's legs damn near gave out beneath him. Had been Penny been attacked by those rustlers? Was she hurt? Laid up at the docs? Or was it worse... Ace was done for if it was worse.

Maggie was quick to finish what Patricia couldn't seem to say. "Penny beat the hell out of Billy Henkley and landed herself in jail."

Ace froze. Silence reigned. He attempted to process what he'd just been told. His Penny was in jail for fighting? And what could have possibly led to her attacking Billy Henkley?

"What did that son of a bitch do to her?" Ace snarled.

"Language!" Carol scolded. "And yes, Maggie, what did that son of a bitch do to our Penny?"

Luke helped Patricia from the wagon and held her close. As she replied. "He saw us walking down the street and he decided to harass us a bit."

"Dammit I warned him about that," Luke grumbled.

Patricia sighed. "You know Billy. He doesn't listen. He started insulting Penny, she snapped back. One thing led to another and he grabbed her arm when she tried to get on the wagon. When she jerked away from him, he called her a horrible name, touched her backside and, well.... She attacked."

"You should have seen her, Ace! You'd have been proud," Maggie spoke up, hopping down from the cart. "She taught him a lesson or two!"

Ace was too angry just now to have any room for pride. Damn that Billy Henkley. If Penny had a single mark on her, Billy was in for one hell of a world of hurt.

"Did he hurt her?"

His tone caused even Maggie to sober. "Uh... well.. he might have gotten in a punch or two..."

Ace's jaw popped and his knuckles whitened. "And our good sheriff saw fit to throw her in jail?"

"Yes." Maggie patted his arm. "But if it makes you feel any better, he threw Billy in there too."

It didn't. It didn't make Ace feel any better.

"I'll send your father into town to get her...." Carol began, clearly hoping to keep her hot-headed son from riding into town and raising a little hell himself.

"No." Ace cracked his knuckles. "No, I'm gonna go get my woman and I'm gonna take care of Billy once and for all."

***

Penny sat in her small jail cell feeling more miserable and ashamed than ever before in her life. Her jaw ached, her best dress was stiff with mud and whiskey, and her hat was muddy and tattered where it lay on the bench in the corner. More than all the physical discomfort, however, was the mental and the sense of shame.

Penny's dream was to be a business woman in this town and she had just brawled in the street like a common thug. With a man no less! What if Mrs. Meyers had seen the horrid display of barbaric behavior? What if the woman changed her mind about doing business with her?

That would break Penny's heart.

Damn Billy Henkley, his mouth, and his inability to keep his hands to himself! Those harsh words and that smack on her backside had pushed Penny completely over the edge. She had never in her life felt such an overwhelming anger.

Penny sat down upon her cot with a sigh and wondered if anyone would be coming to bail her out soon. She'd been in this cell for hours. Penny knew it was pointless to hope Ace wouldn't find out about this, that he wouldn't be the one to come see her in this condition, but still she hoped it.

Ace would probably take one look at her and laugh in her face while calling her a brute—just as she had done him on more than one occasion. Penny knew she would deserve such a reaction she simply didn't think she would be able to handle it—not just now.

She thought of Ace's many brawls with Billy. It would seem that Billy Henkley didn't bring the best out of either one of them, Penny mused.

Speaking of Billy, the nasty man was currently snoring upon a cot in a small cell beside hers, probably sleeping off his drink. Penny had certainly done a number on his dirty face. Dried blood was crusted around his nose and lips and those scratch marks on his cheek.

Was it wrong to feel proud to see that she'd left such an impression and mark on the man? Of course it was! What was wrong with her? Ace was a bad influence.

The slamming of a door drew Penny from her thoughts and had Billy snorting to alertness. "Where the hell is my woman?!"

Despite her sincere hope that it wouldn't be Ace to come to her rescue, his voice served as a balm to her battered emotions.

"Shit..." Clearly Billy recognized Ace's voice as well—and it wasn't serving as a balm to him.

"Ace, don't come in here slamming and yelling," Sheriff Potter scolded. "I am sheriff in this town and deserve at least a little respect."

"I don't respect men who throw a woman in a jail cell for standing up for herself and kickin' an ass that needed to be kicked."

Penny winced. Ace needed to settle down a bit before he simply ended up tossed in the cell on the other side of her.

Even from behind the office, Sheriff Potter's sigh was audible. "You weren't there to see it, Ace. But I won't argue. Give me three dollars and she can go."

Footsteps signaled their approach and when Ace rounded the corner, Penny leaped from her cot and rushed to the bars. Ace was filthy, it was clear he'd been working hard at the ranch—and it was also clear that he was very angry.

The keys rattled in Sheriff's Potters hand as he began to unlock her cell. "Ace here bailed you out, Ms. Burkart. I really am sorry I had to lock you up."

"I understand," Penny assured him, tipping her head and flushing with shame. "I should never have acted that way."

"I'm sure he deserved it," Ace snarled, glancing Billy's way.

Sheriff Potter opened the cell door and Ace was to her in an instant. He pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in a tight embrace and pulling her feet from the floor. "Dammit, Princess, you're supposed to let me be the brute."

Penny smiled against his shoulder. "You weren't there. I had to take things into my own hands."

Slowly Ace placed her feet back on the floor. As he pulled away his eyes and his fingertips traced her welted jaw. "How much is Billy's bail?" Ace asked suddenly, turning away from Penny but holding her hand tight in his. 'I'll bail him out too."

Sheriff Potter looked about as skeptical as Penny felt. "Ace, I don't want no trouble."

"Yeah, me either," Billy agreed.

Ace chuckled. "Looks like Penny done gave you enough trouble." Billy's face reddened almost as deeply as Penny's. Ace shrugged. "I don't mean anyone any more trouble. I just want to show that what happened is over and there's no hard feelings."

Penny frowned. That didn't make any sense. Ace was the king of holding onto hard feelings—especially where Billy Henkley was concerned.

"Sheriff, I don't wanna be bailed out," Billy insisted. "I'll just stay."

Sheriff Potter sighed. "Yeah, but if I get you outta here, I can get home in time for supper tonight." He turned his attention to Ace. "You sure you ain't planning something?"

"I aint the planning type, Sheriff. You know that."

"Three more dollars and everyone can get the hell out of town and go home for a night to cool off."

Penny scratched at her head as Ace handed Sheriff Potter the money needed and the sheriff unlocked Billy's door. Ace, still holding tight to Penny's hand, led her away from the cells, out into the office and then out the front door to the boardwalk.

She saw Blackey hitched to the post and attempted to approach the horse. Ace pulled her back. "Are you okay, Princess?" he asked. "I'm guessing he punched your jaw?"

Penny drew in a sharp breath as Ace's lips traced that welt. She stuttered, unable to form words. Didn't the man realize they were in the middle of town?

"I got him worse," she finally whispered as Ace stood straight.

"And I'm gonna get him better."

"Ace...." Penny warned. Dammit, she'd known this was going to happen.

Billy stepped outside, being shoved along by Sheriff Potter. "Ace, you and Penny need to be getting on now," the sheriff warned.

Ace reached in his pocket and pulled out several dollars, handing them to Penny. "What are you doing?" Penny demanded.

He smiled and kissed her brow. "You'll need this."

Before Billy could yell out a cry of alarm, Ace grabbed the man by the back of the neck and yanked him down off the boardwalk. All but dragging the kicking and screaming man, Ace shoved him down across the horse trough full of water.

"You think you can hit my woman?" Ace demanded.

"Go to hell, Ace," Billy snarled.

"Wrong answer." Ace shoved Billy's head in the water and held the struggling man there several moments before lifting it back out. Billy's scraggly black hair was smeared across his face and water dripped from his nose.

"You won't bother her again, Billy. You won't look at her, you won't talk to her, you won't even so much as breathe in her direction again, got it?"

"She started it!" Billy insisted.

Penny feared for the other man's sanity. Did he want Ace to kill him?

Again, Billy's head went into the water. Penny gaze shot to Sheriff Potter. Why wasn't he stopping this?! The man was simply watching on and Penny was pretty certain that he appeared amused as he did so.

When Ace pulled Billy's head out this time, the man was sputtering and nodded. "Okay! Okay! I won't bother her no more! Dammit, stop!"

Ace picked him up and then threw him down in the dirt, standing over him. "She is mine, Billy. I chose her and luckily enough, she chose me. You'll keep your opinions on the situation to your goddamn self."

"I said okay!" Billy stammered.

Ace stooped low, gripped the collar of Billy's shirt and lifted his torso from the ground. "And if you ever touch my woman inappropriately again, I'll be removin' them goddamn hands with a rusty hand saw. Understand?"

Billy swallowed hard and nodded. "Good!" Ace beamed, just before his fist shot out and caught Billy hard in the jaw. Penny gasped as Ace pulled an addled and swaying Billy to his feet. Ace patted him on the back. "I suggest you get gone now."

Ace stepped toward the boardwalk and held out his hands. "Go ahead and arrest me, sheriff. Penny's got my bail money all ready and waiting."

Penny snorted, unable to completely contain her laughter. Something was quite seriously wrong with her. Sheriff Potter sighed and rubbed his neck. "Just get the hell out of here, Ace. Take your woman there and get on home."

"What?!" Billy demanded. "He just tried to kill me!"

"Don't be so damned overdramatic," Sheriff Potter scolded with a wave of his hand. "Ace didn't do any worse than I'd do to a man who treated my wife the way you treated Penny here. Now go home, Billy."

Billy, soaking wet, bleeding, and grumbling, headed down the road toward the saloon. Penny was fairly certain that wasn't his actual home but, then again, maybe it was.

Ace took Penny's hand again and led her to Blackey. "Come on, Princess Brute," Ace teased helping her into the saddle. He hopped up in front of her. "Let's get you home and cleaned up. You smell like a whiskey vat."

"Shut-up, Ace," Penny scolded through her smile as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

Ace led Blackey into the road. "Hang on, Princess."

Penny gripped him tightly as Ace led Blackey in several quick, galloping circles, filling the air with dust and drawing attention from every direction. "Hey y'all! Me and this woman are gettin' married at the ranch in about two weeks! Y'all are invited. Bring your own whiskey!"

With that, Ace urged Blackey to rear up. Penny would have fallen off had her grip on Ace been any looser. Then with one last whoop Ace sent Blackey into a gallop and they headed out of town.

Sheriff Potter watched them leave, shaking and scratching his head. Married? Those two? Damn. When they started popping out babies, he was retiring. He sure as hell didn't want to be in charge when the demon spawn of those two hell-raisers were running around the streets.