Courting Will (Escape To The West Book 8)

by Nerys Leigh

  And on the far side, Daisy and Nicky sat huddled together, blinking in the light. They looked scared but unharmed.

  Will started towards them.

  “Stop.”

  He wanted nothing more than to gather the two of them into his arms, but the tone of Briggs’ voice brought him to a halt.

  “It’s not enough,” Briggs said.

  His gut clenching, Will turned to look back at him. “What do you mean, it’s not enough? I gave you what you asked for.”

  “You gave me the money, but it didn’t cost you anything.”

  Across the room, Daisy pushed to her feet. “Please, just let us go. My son and I haven’t done anything to you.”

  Briggs’ face hardened, a madness in his eyes Will hadn’t seen before. “None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Raine. He needs to pay.”

  “You got your money,” Will said. “Just go.”

  Briggs shook his head. “No. This would never have happened if you hadn’t cheated. This isn’t my fault. This is all on you.”

  A nerve fluttered in his temple, the same nerve that twitched whenever he wasn’t bluffing.

  When he was about to do something reckless.

  He raised his gun to aim, but not at Will.

  “No!” Daisy shrieked, lunging in front of Nicky.

  With no time to reach Briggs, Will threw himself in front of him

  .

  The cellar shook with the deafening boom of a gunshot.

  Will hit the floor, agony exploding in his shoulder.

  Nicky screamed. “Ma!”

  Ignoring the pain, Will scrambled to his feet.

  Daisy erupted past him and Briggs’ gun fired again as she hit him head on. They crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

  Briggs shoved Daisy off and she rolled away, coming to a stop against the base of the steps.

  Heart thundering in his ears, Will dived on top of Briggs and grabbed at the hand holding the pistol. Briggs pushed back, but Will’s right hand stayed clamped around his arm.

  He tried to lift his left hand, but it wouldn’t move.

  Briggs’ fist slammed into the side of his face and Will tasted blood, but still he refused to let go.

  Another punch, this one jamming into Will’s injured shoulder. The pain was so intense, stars burst on the fringes of his vision.

  With a roar, he twisted his hand, wrenching Briggs’ wrist. Briggs cried out. The gun dropped to the floor.

  Releasing his hold on Briggs’ arm, Will drew back his fist and, with all the strength left to him, rammed it into his face.

  Briggs’s head slumped to the floor, his body going slack.

  “Daisy?” Will rose unsteadily onto his knees, looking around for her. Relief so intense it made him dizzy filled him at the sight of her pushing to her feet.

  She glanced at him then ran to Nicky and fell to her knees in front of him. “Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”

  Nicky shook his head. Then he burst into tears.

  She gathered him into her arms, holding him tight against her. “It’s all right, sweetie. We’re safe now.”

  She glanced back at Will, tears in her eyes.

  He tried to rise, but his legs shook and he slumped to the floor on the first attempt. His left arm still wouldn’t work.

  “Will!” A shadow appeared against the square of sky at the top of the stairs and Daniel ran down into the cellar, Marshal Cade behind him.

  Dan fell to the floor beside Will and pulled him into an embrace. “I heard the gunshots. I thought…” Shaking his head, he drew back. His eyes went to the blood soaking Will’s shoulder and seeping from his mouth. “You idiot!”

  Will blinked at him. “What?”

  “Going off with Briggs without me. What were you thinking?”

  It took a moment for Will to catch up. The pain was making his head fuzzy. “I was thinking you’d go and get the marshal. I did the eye thing. Didn’t you see the eye thing?”

  Dan nodded to Marshal Cade who was pushing Briggs’ gun into his belt. “Of course I saw the eye thing. It was still a stupid thing to do. You could have been kil…” His voice cracked and he looked away.

  “Dan, I’m all right.”

  “You don’t look all right.”

  Will looked at his shoulder properly for the first time. His brother was right, he didn’t look all right. “I got shot.”

  “Oh, really?” Dan stood and helped Will to his feet. “I need to get you to Doc Wilson.”

  Gritting his teeth against the pain, Will looked over at Daisy. She’d picked Nicky up and was carrying him to the stairs. Her gaze met Will’s, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Did she blame him for putting them in danger? He wanted to reach out to her, to say something that would fix it all, but he didn’t know how.

  She lowered her eyes and carried Nicky outside.

  Briggs groaned as he came to. Marshal Cade handcuffed his hands behind him before hauling him to his feet.

  “Wait.” Will walked over to them, wincing as that small amount of movement jostled his shoulder. Reaching his good hand into Briggs’ jacket, he pulled out the two thousand dollars. “This is mine. I won it fair and square.”

  Briggs scowled at him but said nothing, and Marshal Cade ushered him from the cellar.

  “How did you know we were here?” Will asked as he and Dan walked up the stairs.

  “I followed you. Snagged the marshal on the way past his office.”

  That came as a surprise. “I didn’t see you behind us.”

  “Well, of course not. That was the point.”

  Will emerged into the yard behind the house to see River and Marshal Cade’s horse stood close to Indiana, nibbling at the tufts of grass growing around the tree.

  Daisy stood by her horse, Nicky still in her arms. His head was leaning against Indiana’s mane, little sniffles shuddering through his small body.

  A pain that eclipsed even the agony from his gunshot wound squeezed Will’s heart. He would have done anything to keep the little boy from what he’d been through.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Dan said softly.

  “Yes, it was.”

  Marshal Cade secured Briggs to a tree and walked over to Will and Dan. He indicated Will’s shoulder. “We need to stop that bleeding before we start back. Take off your shirt.”

  They were four such innocuous words for a process that caused Will so much pain. In truth, mostly what he did was stand still and try not to whimper while Daniel gently removed the blood-soaked garment. He didn’t want Nicky to be any more scared than he already was.

  He kept darting glances in Daisy’s direction, but she’d disappeared around the other side of Indiana. She hadn’t said a word to him since they left the cellar. Hadn’t even looked at him. He’d lost her friendship, he had no doubt of that, but at least she and Nicky were alive and unharmed. He would give up anything for that, even his life.

  Dan finally peeled the sleeve of the shirt away from Will’s shoulder and Marshal Cade examined the wound.

  “Looks like it’s gone right through,” he said. “That’s good.”

  The marshal had fought in the war so Will figured he knew what he was talking about. “I guess you’ve seen a lot of bullet wounds.”

  “More than I care to think of. I need something to bind this with, to stop the bleeding until we get to Noah.”

  “Here.” Daisy walked up to them, a bundle of white fabric in her hands. “Use this.”

  With a jolt, Will realized it was her petticoat. She must have been removing it behind Indiana.

  The marshal took it without batting an eyelid and proceeded to tear it into strips.

  “Thank you,” Will said to her.

  She nodded, barely looking at him, and returned to Nicky and her horse.

  “She’s just in shock,” Dan said. “She doesn’t blame you. No one does, except for you.”

  Will didn’t reply. He was too busy gritting his teeth against the p
ain as Marshal Cade bandaged his shoulder.

  When he was done, and Dan had got Will back into his shirt, Nicky walked over to them.

  Will lowered to one knee. “Hey, kid. How are you doing?”

  Nicky bit his lip, his eyes going to the blood on Will’s shirt.

  “Don’t worry about this,” Will said. “I’ll be just fine.”

  Without a word, Nicky flew into his arms.

  Ignoring the pain of his jostled wound, Will wrapped his good arm around Nicky’s small body. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

  Will closed his eyes as Nicky clung to him. After this, would Daisy allow him to visit her son? It would probably be better for Nicky if she didn’t, but the thought of losing the little boy broke Will’s heart so much he had to blink back tears.

  At the soft sound of footsteps, he opened his eyes to see Daisy walk up to them.

  She touched Nicky’s head. “Come on, sweetie. We need to go home. Will has to go see Doctor Wilson.”

  Sniffing, Nicky followed his mother to Indiana. Daisy didn’t look back.

  Will stood, swaying a little as a wave of lightheadedness swept over him.

  Dan walked up to him. “Let’s go before you pass out. I’m not carrying you all the way back to town.”

  Will released a breath and turned from Daisy and Nicky. His brother was right. He needed to get back.

  “I’m too manly to pass out,” he said, nevertheless allowing Dan to help him around the house to where he’d left Ginger.

  “Of course you are. But in the unlikely event that’s not the case, we’ll get to the doctor as quickly as possible.”

  “If that will make you feel better.”

  “It will.”

  Chapter 24

  Will leaned against the barn doorframe, winced, and stood straight again.

  He sat on a chair instead and Bess wandered up to him to lay her head in his lap. He stroked her with his free hand, the one not trapped in a sling.

  Doing anything other than standing or sitting straight up, or lying on his uninjured side, still hurt his shoulder. His mother, who was temporarily living in the bunkhouse to take care of him and help with the twins, had tried to get him to stay in bed. But after four days of not doing anything but read, he was getting restless.

  Well, he’d actually become restless after two days, but it had taken him another day to remember he was an adult now and no longer had to do everything his mother said.

  “Not tiring yourself out, I hope,” Dan said, flicking a glance back at him from where he sat beside Pea.

  “When you got shot, you didn’t milk her for a month,” Will pointed out. “And I still think you’d have been able to do it at least a week earlier. It’s only been four days since I was shot, and mine is far worse than yours. Yours was just a flesh wound. I have actual damage to my muscle.”

  Dan’s back was to him, but Will could all but hear him rolling his eyes. “You can’t let it go that when I was shot last year I got all the attention, and you had to do the extra work on the farm until I healed. You just had to get yourself shot too.”

  Will snorted a laugh. “Yes, that’s why I got shot, for the attention.”

  Dan rose from the stool and moved the bucket from beneath Pea before she realized he was finished and tried to kick him. “You always did like attention. Look at how you were born.”

  “I like attention?” Will’s indignant choke hurt his shoulder. “Who was the one who always had to get the better grades? And who always got his chores done the quickest? And who had to win every game he played? Until I grew up, of course.”

  Dan walked past him to place the bucket on the table by the door. “That wasn’t to get attention. That was just me being naturally better at everything than you.”

  “You’re deluded.”

  Dan gave him a self-satisfied grin. “Twins.”

  This time it was Will who rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t anything to do with you.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Dan unhooked Pea’s halter rope from the hook on the wall and led her outside. Will followed, just for something to do.

  “So when are you going to go see Daisy?” Dan asked, stumbling a little when Pea changed direction without warning and nudged into him.

  Will looked across the field beside the barn and shrugged his good shoulder.

  Dan pushed Pea back towards the gate. “It’s been four days. You should go and see how she and Nicky are doing.”

  “I know how they’re doing; Ma told me. And I’m still healing.” It was a weak excuse and Will knew it.

  The truth was, he was afraid to go and see Daisy. He was afraid of what she’d say when he did.

  He opened the gate into the field, one of the few things he could do with only one hand, and Dan wrestled Pea inside.

  “She doesn’t blame you, you know,” Dan said, just managing to take the halter from the cow’s head before she dragged him into the pasture.

  Will closed the gate. “You don’t know that.”

  Dan rested his arms on the fence and stared at the distant mountains. “I know Daisy, so yes, I do know that.”

  Will didn’t reply, because his brother was right.

  The horses wandered over to them and Will rubbed Ginger’s neck. And then River’s and Rosie’s, because it was impossible to get away with giving more attention to just one of them.

  “I love her.”

  “I know.” Dan was silent for a few moments. “I’ve been thinking about something for a while now.”

  The seriousness in his brother’s tone got Will’s attention. “Oh?”

  Dan gave River one last rub and pushed his hands into his pockets. “When you have a family of your own, you’ll need a house of your own.”

  “If I ever have a family of my own.” A pang of sadness tightened Will’s chest at the thought of leaving the farm. He loved his brother’s farm, and he loved living close to him and Sara, and now the twins. But he could hardly spend the rest of his life in the bunkhouse.

  “You will. And I was thinking, I have a lot of land.”

  Will had no idea where the conversation was going. “Yeah.”

  Dan raised his eyes and fixed them on Will. “Enough to build another house on.”

  It took Will a moment to realize what his brother meant. “You mean, for me?”

  “Yes, for you. And I was also thinking that maybe you shouldn’t just work for me. You’ve worked just as hard as I have to make this farm a success. Even before I officially started employing you, you came over a lot to help. I wouldn’t have the farm, or Sara and the twins, if it wasn’t for you.

  Will felt as if he couldn’t breathe. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that I want you to be my partner. I want you to have a stake in the farm.”

  For a few seconds, all Will could do was stare at his brother. He couldn’t be serious. “But… but this farm is yours. You bought it. It’s… yours.”

  “Are you saying you don’t want it?”

  “No! I…” He didn’t know what to say. He shook his head. Ran his good hand through his hair. Looked at the mountains.

  His brother trusted him, and thought him responsible enough to share his lifelong dream with. How could he not want that?

  Overwhelmed with emotion he had no chance of hiding, he grabbed his brother with one arm and hugged him tight, because no words would be enough to say everything he felt at that moment.

  “I think the twins are getting to both of us,” Dan remarked, a smile in his voice as he hugged Will back.

  Will barked a laugh. “Yeah.” He pulled away, wiping at his eyes. “I won’t let you down.”

  Dan smiled. “You never have. Now go see Daisy.”

  Chapter 25

  It was four days since Daisy and Nicky were kidnapped by Briggs.

  Four days.

  And Will hadn’t been to see them once.
<
br />   Daisy was willing to allow him a day for being shot. Two at the most. But four? Unacceptable. She didn’t care how much the wound hurt, or that he’d got it saving her and Nicky.

  All right, so she did care that he got it saving them. He’d been willing to take a bullet, even die, for her and her son. The fact that it made her adore him even more irritated her no end.

  She knew he was healing well. She’d spoken to his mother in town and Mrs. Raine told her so. So Daisy knew he was capable of visiting her. He just hadn’t.

  There were times, when thinking about him, that she wanted to explode.

  She stabbed the needle through the shirt she was making for Isaiah Smith a little too forcefully, and the tip pierced her skin. With a yelp of frustration more than pain, she dropped the shirt onto her lap and stuck her fingertip into her mouth, tasting blood.

  Will had a lot to answer for.

  A knock at the door made her jump. Careful not to get blood on the shirt as she placed it aside, she rose to answer.

  A nightmare had woken Nicky the night after their ordeal, but he seemed to be doing better now, and when Gareth’s parents offered to take him for the day, he’d been eager to go. Daisy hoped it wasn’t them bringing him back early. It broke her heart to think that her carefree little boy might still be afraid.

  But it wasn’t Mr. and Mrs. Monroe at the door.

  “I’m sorry,” was the first thing Will said, looking ridiculously handsome and heroic as he stood on the porch with his injured arm in a sling.

  She was unspeakably glad to see him, and that made her even angrier. “Where have you been?”

  His forehead wrinkled a little. “I’m sorry?”

  “Nicky and I got kidnapped for you and you don’t even come to see if we’re all right?”

  “I… I’m sorry.”

  “It’s been four days. Four days!”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “Stop saying you’re sorry!”

  “I’m…” He stopped. “I should have told you about Briggs.”

  “Yes, you should have.”

  “I… apologize.”

  Caught between wanting to laugh and scream, she made a strangled sound of frustration and slammed the door shut.