Page 18 of Native Hawk
Catalina’s shoulders drooped. There were already too few hours in the day. How could she possibly add another job to her schedule?
Miss Hattie hastened to add, “I don’t want you doin’ somethin’ you ain’t ready for. Lord knows it’s not everyone’s cup o’ tea.”
“Cup of tea?” Did Miss Hattie want her to start serving tea in the salon instead of scrubbing floors? That might be a pleasant change.
Miss Hattie beckoned her closer with her finger. Catalina leaned in until their faces were inches apart and she could see every wrinkle in the madam’s powdered face.
“How would you feel about…havin’ a gentleman caller?”
Catalina’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” She was afraid she knew exactly what Miss Hattie meant.
“Like some o’ the other girls.”
Before Catalina could respond with an outraged outburst, Miss Hattie held up her palm.
“Now hear me out,” she whispered. “You don’t have to do nothin’ you don’t want to do. I won’t think any less of you. You won’t lose your job. And you won’t lose your room and board. But I know you need cash. Andyouknow how much money the other girls are makin’.”
Catalina’s jaw was clenched so tight, she feared it would crack like a china cup. Still, she couldn’t deny that the lure of all that coin was strong.
She paused for one, two, three seconds, pretending to think it over out of courtesy to Miss Hattie. But in the end, she couldn’t do it. She straightened and announced, “No. I’m sorry. It is not possible.”
From the hall, she heard a man’s deep voice. “I’ll pay you double.”
Her eyes went wide. She hadn’t realized the prospective “gentleman caller” was right outside her door.
Miss Hattie’s eyes widened as well, and she hissed at Catalina. “Lordy, I told him you cost five dollars. That’s already more than double what Sophie gets. He’s offerin’ youten. Look, I know you’re a smart young lady—”
“No!” Catalina said firmly, loud enough for the man to hear. “I am not for sale.”
“Fifteen,” the man called out.
Miss Hattie was almost apoplectic now. Her face was red, and she pressed her face through the crack in the door with new desperation. “Catalina, no one’s ever offered fifteen before.”
She hissed, “I do not care if he offers me the moon and the stars. I am not that kind of a woman.”
Even as she said the words, she imagined all those lovely silver coins drifting through her fingers onto the floor. She almost wished shewerethat kind of a woman. To think a man was willing to pay fifteen dollars for her…
Miss Hattie could have burned holes into Catalina with her fierce glare. She probably thought Catalina was the most stupid woman she had ever met to turn down such a fortune. And the truth was, Catalina almost wondered if she didn’t agree.
“Look,” the man outside said, sounding a bit exasperated, “I won’t even knock boots with you if you don’t want to.”
Miss Hattie almost fainted at that.
He continued. “All I want is a soft bed and someone warm to share it with.”
Catalina arched a brow. He’d pay her fifteen dollars just to sleep next to her? She’d slept beside strangers on the journey to California…and had to pay for it herself…a whole dollar.
But he’d said “warm.” That meant he would want to lie close to her.
She angled herself so she could take a quick peek over Miss Hattie’s head at the man in the hallway. All she could see was his black hair and the square edge of his jaw.
Miss Hattie tried one more time, muttering, “He seems like a real gentleman, Catalina, like a man of his word. He’s a handsome young fella. I think you’d like—”
“Eighteen dollars,” the man offered.
Miss Hattie blinked in disbelief, and Catalina’s brows shot up. Eighteen dollars? The man must either be crazy or very, very tired.
Miss Hattie whispered furiously at her. “If you don’t take this offer, Catalina, you’ll regret it. Never in my born days has anyone offered eighteen dollars just to spend the night with—”
