Strictly Taboo(121)

“Well, ma’am, I can't rightly speak for Virginia, but seems to me yer gonna be mighty surprised when you get to where yer goin’.” The man said. Then, after a few moments of silence he added, “where might you be headed, anyhow?” Clara turned away from him and looked back out of the window. Hope that he would remove himself from her proximity if she ignored him, was dashed when he started to talk again. “I, myself, am from El Paso. Born and raised.” He said with extra emphasis on the ‘or’ opinion born. Clara sighed loudly. “The name’s Buck.” He said and Clara could see him thrust his hand towards her through the train window. “Buck Holliday…but everyone just calls me Buck.” Clara inhaled deeply and turned to him.

“Forgive me, Buck, for being as rude as to ask you to please kindly take your appropriated seat. It is not appropriate for a man of any type to approach a woman traveling alone and continue conversation when she quite plainly just wishes to be left alone.” Clara said. Buck whistled between his teeth and got up from his seat shaking his head.

“Boy, you're a feisty one, I'll give ya that. If you weren't so pretty a guy might be offended.” He said. Clara scowled as she turned back to the train window. She had no idea what Buck might have meant by that, but she wasn't going to waste any time on working it out. She was going to sit quietly and watch the stations go by until she got to El Paso herself. And then, when the train stopped and she got out on the platform, she would be greeted by Mr. Andrew Montague, the man to whom she was promised to be wed.



Clara James was the daughter of Abraham James, the most prominent attorney in Richmond, Virginia. She was raised in a life of privilege, afforded the best tutors, the finest threads and always thrown the most opulent balls. However, as Clara blossomed in to a young woman, her father began to worry about her keeping. There would come a point, he knew, when he would no longer be there to care for his three daughters, and so, he began searching for their grooms.

Clara’s sisters had been angered by the idea of their father choosing their betrothed, however, Clara was simply delighted that she was to be kept in the life of luxury to which she had become accustomed. So, when Andrew James packed his eldest daughter off to El Paso to wed oil magnate, Andrew Montague, she went happily. At least, that is, she went happily until the train set in to motion.

Clara knew very little about Andrew Montague aside from the fact that he had made his money in oil and that he was prepared to take her as his wife. She had seen his picture in the newspaper clippings her father had given to her and while he was not particularly handsome, he was, likewise, not an unfortunate gentleman either. He wore a thick greying mustache that turned up in the corners, and in every picture she had seen, he had been wearing a high collared jacket with a handkerchief folded neatly in the pocket. He may not have been a man that she would have chosen for herself, but Andrew Montague was respectable and to Clara, respectable and wealthy was all that she could ask for.





Chapter 2

“Next stop, El Paso station!” The conductor bellowed at the top of his lungs, startling Clara from a light sleep. She sat upright, rubbing her face gently where it had been lying against the firm leather of her suitcase. “Next stop, El Paso station!” The conductor bellowed again. Clara set her case on the seat beside her and with one hand on its handle, she tried to stand up, only to fall back in to her seat. Buck chuckled.

“Might wanna wait ‘till the train has stopped, else you'll just keep fallin’ down.” He said nodding at her. Clara pretended not to hear him, but heeded his advice anyway.

When finally the train screeched to a halt a few minutes later, Clara stood up again, gripping her suitcase.

“Good afternoon.” She said curtly in Buck’s direction, before picking up her case and stepping out in to the walkway.

“I'm comin’ out that way myself.” Buck said, standing up and following Clara out in to the walkway. She sighed, admonishing herself for speaking to him at all and encouraging his interest. “Need any help with that there suitcase?” Buck nodded to her suitcase. Clara gripped it tighter.

“No, thank you.” She said. “I am quite capable of taking care of myself.” And with that she bustled towards the exit with an undeterred Buck hot on her heels.

When Clara stepped out on to the platform, the heat of the afternoon sun all but slapped her in the face. She wished she had packed her pocket fan where she could get at it, but she had nestled it safely in her trunk which wouldn't be in El Paso for at least another month. She hadn't expected the late fall weather to be quite so warm.