Denver

by Sara Orwig

  “Mary…”

  “Go!”

  Having given orders to Grizzly to get the doctor, Dulcie took Silas’ arm and steered him out of the room, leading him down the hall. He seemed in a daze, letting her take him where she wanted. They entered a bedroom, and a woman dressed only in a lacy chemise looked up. “Tille, let us have your room.”

  “All these years, I trusted him,” Silas said.

  “Silas, you left her. You didn’t send a letter or come back or anything. And it was for years! Dan tried to fight what he felt. And you may hang now, and then what good will your gold do?”

  “Hang?”

  “You just shot Dan.”

  Silas buried his face in his hands. “Damn. I’ve planned everything, where we’ll live, what I’ll do, the children we’ll have. I bought her a ring.”

  “You stay right here. I’ll be back.” Dulcie went back to her room as Doc Felton came down the hall.

  “Where is he? Who was shot?”

  ‘Dan Castle. He’s in my room, right there.” She followed him inside.

  Mary knelt over him, pressing his shirt to the wound to stanch the flow of blood. She looked up as Doc Felton knelt on the other side of Dan.

  “Good girl. Take away the cloth now. Wash your hands, and you can help me.”

  Dulcie took Mary’s arm. “Come down to the kitchen and we’ll get some hot water.”

  In minutes they were back and Mary knelt beside Dan. “How is he?”

  The bullet went clean through and nothing vital is torn. Good thing the man was a damned lousy shot.”

  “He wasn’t. Dulcie hit his arm.”

  Doc Felton glanced at her and continued working in silence, giving her directions.

  “He’ll live?”

  “Yes, he’ll live, Miss O’Malley.” He raised his head. “Dulcie, can we put him in a bed?”

  “Can he be moved to the boardinghouse?” Mary asked quickly.

  Doc Felton looked down at Dan. “Do it tomorrow, maybe. Not now.”

  “He can stay in my bed,” Dulcie said. “I’ll get Grizzly to help you move him.”

  A man filled the doorway, and Dulcie paused to face Sheriff Borden. “Someone sent for me. Said there had been a shooting and a man was killed.”

  “He’s not dead,” Doc Felton said, standing up and rolling down his sleeves. “Come help me move him to the bed.”

  “Who did it?”

  Everyone was silent, and the sheriff looked around the room. “Come on, Dulcie, who did it? I’m going to find out, and you don’t need trouble. And you don’t want him to come back and finish the job.”

  “Silas Eustice,” Mary said.

  “He’s in a room across the hall,” Dulcie added.

  Sheriff Borden and Doc Felton moved Dan to the bed. He looked pale as snow, and blood was smeared all over his clothing and on his jaw and chest. A fresh white bandage was tightly wrapped around the wound. “Dulcie, get me some more hot water. Miss O’Malley, you can clean him up now.”

  “Now, where’s Eustice?” Sheriff Borden asked again.

  “Come with me.” Dulcie left, and Doc Felton put away his instruments. “I’ll leave something to relieve the pain. If any unusual bleeding occurs, come get me.”

  He closed the door, and it was quiet. Mary took Dan’s hand in hers, leaning down to press her cheek against his hand. In a few minutes the door opened and Mary looked up to see Dulcie. She closed the door behind her, moving quietly across the room to stand on the other side of the bed. “Sheriff Borden arrested Silas.”

  “Doc Felton said Dan would be all right.”

  “It’s against the law to shoot someone. Besides, let Silas cool off a little before he’s set loose again. It’ll give him time to get used to the changes. You can stay here with Dan. I can stay in another room.”

  “Thank you,” Mary said, accepting at once, because she didn’t want to leave Dan’s side.

  “Grizzly can come help nurse him. You may need a man until he gets up and going.”

  “I can call Grizzly if I need him, thanks. Is there someone who can get word to my house that I won’t be back? And to my brothers. Michael might look for me.”

  “I’ll see to it, honey. You just take good care of Dan.”

  “Thank you, Dulcie.”

  Dulcie laughed. “I guess my hair-fixing job did the trick, huh?”

  “Yes.” Mary blushed and smiled.

  Dulcie chuckled as she moved around the room. She paused to look at Mary. “He just came to get his things.”

  “He told me he was going to.”

  “He’s all yours, honey. He can’t even see other women.”

  Mary looked at Dan, her heart full of love, hating that he was hurt, but so thankful he would live. She ran her fingers over his knuckles, thinking about Silas. “I’ll go talk to Silas again. He’s going to have to see that I don’t love him.”

  “I think he’s going to have a lot of women who’ll be happy to take your place. He looks like a king.”

  “He said he did well.”

  It was hours later when Dan stirred. He groaned and turned his head, his eyes opening to focus on Mary. He frowned and groaned. “How bad is it?”

  “You’ll be all right. Doc Felton gave me something to relieve your pain. I’ll get some water.”

  “The hell with that. I don’t want to lie here unconscious. Help me sit up.”

  “I don’t think you should.”

  “Get around on this side, Mary, and help me.”

  “I think you should lie still.”

  He gave her a look that made her get up and move around to the other side of the bed. She had to crawl up on the bed to reach him.

  “I’m still at Dulcie’s.”

  “Yes, she said I can stay with you tonight. Doc Felton didn’t think you should be moved until tomorrow. Dan—”

  He wrapped his good arm around her. “Now, help me.”

  She knew enough about men to know when to argue and when to oblige, so she helped him. He groaned, and she bit her lip.

  “There,” he said with satisfaction, sitting up straight. “Jesus, that hurts!”

  “Well, it wouldn’t if you’d lie still.”

  He turned his head, his arm tightening around her, and he kissed her, stopping her words. It was a hard, passionate kiss that finally made her forget his injury for a few seconds. When he released her, he looked into her eyes. “I was so damned scared he was going to do me in and I wouldn’t get to marry you.”

  “You’ve got to be still. How can you think about kisses when you’re hurt?”

  He kissed her again until she responded and her heart beat in flurries. When he released her, he studied her. “That makes me feel better.”

  “I think I’m in for some interesting years,” she said in a breathless voice that finally softened his features.

  “Mary, I was afraid we’d lost everything.”

  “I tried to tell him. He’s been to St. Louis, Dan. He made his discovery in California. He took time to go to St. Louis to get his fancy clothes and a new carriage. That’s not a man wildly in love.”

  “Sure as hell not. I’d have come home covered in dirt from the damned mine if it meant getting back to you!”

  “I know it. Now, you have to let me prop you up against the pillows. You should lie still.”

  “Did Doc say I had to?”

  “No, because I don’t think it occurred to him that you wouldn’t. He left something to keep you quiet and out of pain.”

  “I’d rather hurt like hell and be conscious. Where’s Silas? And where’s my pistol? I want it within reach.”

  “Sheriff Borden arrested Silas.”

  “Oh, damn!”

  “Dulcie said it will give him time to think things over and adjust to the changes.”

  “I’d still like my pistol close at hand.”

  She climbed off the bed as carefully as possible without jiggling him.

  “Dammit, I hate to be trussed up like a
Christmas turkey! I’d like to do what I want with you,” he said in a husky voice, watching her cross the room. Shivers of pleasure ran through Mary as she turned back to see the burning passion in his gaze.

  She blushed and laughed. “Dan, you’re supposed to be weak, and hurt, and thinking about other things.”

  “I’m weak and I hurt like hell.”

  “That’s all the more reason then you should—”

  “Should what?”

  She placed the pistol on the table beside the bed. “If you’re getting this feisty, I want you moved to the boardinghouse and out of this bedroom,” she said firmly.

  He opened his mouth as if to argue, then snapped it shut and nodded. “Get a wagon and your brothers. I can get home to my house and you can take care of me. If I go to the boardinghouse, you’ll cook and clean and nurse and work like three people.”

  “My brothers might not let me stay at your house.”

  “Sure they will if they think I might not survive. Besides, Michael owes it to me.”

  Mary left the room to find Dulcie. She was suddenly assailed by shyness. She was unaccustomed to a bordello and was afraid to knock on doors, but she knew the way to the kitchen and, to her relief, found Dulcie standing beside the cook.

  “Dan wants to go home. He said to find my brothers.”

  “I’ll do that. Want to take him something to eat?” Without waiting for an answer, Dulcie took down a plate and filled it with potatoes and chicken. “Here. If I know Dan, he’ll eat every bite.”

  Mary carried the plate back to Dan. He ate and then leaned back against the pillows, his face pale and a grim set to his mouth.

  “Dan, take something for the pain,” she said as she took the plate and set it on a table.

  “I will when I get home. Right now, I want to be able to move.”

  “Stubborn, stubborn.”

  He opened one eye and grinned at her. “Come here, Mary.”

  His words stirred another ripple of pleasure in her, because his voice and gaze told her what he wanted. “Dan, can’t you remember you’ve just been shot? I think you’re delirious.”

  “Indeed, I am,” he said in a husky voice. “Come closer.” She tried to avoid jiggling the bed, but saw him wince as she moved. “This is absurd. You should be quiet.”

  “This is the best medicine in the world,” he said before he kissed her.

  The door opened and Mary turned around, blushing until she felt on fire as Dulcie came in. “Your brothers are here.”

  Mary scooted off the bed and went to the door to meet them.

  “How is he?” Michael asked, stepping into the room with Brian behind him. “We brought the wagon.”

  Dan lay back against the pillows, his eyes closed. “Doc Felton said he’ll be all right. Dulcie ruined the shot because she hit Silas’s hand,” Mary answered.

  “Silas?”

  “I thought you knew.”

  Michael looked at Brian.

  “He’s been arrested,” Mary added hastily. “Now, don’t you two do anything to him. He’s in jail and Dan will live.”

  “Did he shoot to kill?”

  “What matters is, he didn’t kill him. Dan wants to be moved to his house, and I’m going to take care of him.”

  To her surprise, both brothers nodded. “Doc say it was okay to move him?”

  Dan groaned, and Mary walked to the bed. “Did you bring the wagon?”

  “Yes,” Michael answered. “And a board. If we can lift him to this board, we can carry him out on it and place him in the wagon.”

  Michael laid the board on the bed beside Dan, and Brian shook out a blanket to cover it.

  “Dan,” Mary said in a louder tone, knowing that Dan was conscious and fully aware of what was happening. He groaned and opened his eyes.

  “Sorry,” Michael said.

  “Don’t do anything to Silas, boys,” Dan said. “Promise me you won’t.”

  They looked at each other, and Michael nodded with obvious reluctance.

  “Brian?” Dan said into the silence.

  “I won’t hurt him unless it’s self-defense.”

  “Thanks,” Dan mumbled.

  “Ready to move?”

  “Mary, you go out and wait.”

  “I will not.”

  “Oh, hell. All right. I’m ready.”

  They moved him and he groaned, Mary watching as his fist clenched and his knuckles turned white. His face became ashen, and suddenly he relaxed.

  “He fainted,” Mary said.

  “We can move him better if he has,” Michael said. “I’m surprised Doc said he could be moved. Let’s go, Brian. Easy, now.”

  Mary gathered up Dan’s pistol and clothing, pausing once as she faced Dulcie. “Thank you.”

  “Take care of him,” Dulcie said, and turned away quickly. Mary hurried outside to climb into the wagon beside Dan. He didn’t regain consciousness until he was home in bed. She watched his wound continually to see if the jolting had started it bleeding, but so far the bandage was as white as it had been when Doc Felton finished.

  “Michael said he would come back to help you around. Now,” she said, pouring liquid into a spoon, “you got moved to your house just as you wanted. You are taking this, just as I want.”

  “Aw, Mary, come on.”

  “You’re home, and it will be good for you to sleep. I know you hurt. Open your mouth.”

  He did, and swallowed the medicine. In a short time he was sleeping peacefully. Michael came late in the afternoon and helped Dan up while Mary went to the kitchen to cook. After he had eaten, she made him take another dose of medicine, and in a short time his eyes closed.

  “Mary, I’m going to sleep. Come lie down beside me.”

  She moved close to him and he put his good arm around her, groaning with pain when he moved. “Dan, you should lie still.”

  “Shh. Everything’s fine now.”

  She lay against him, knowing that in minutes he would be sleeping quietly, thankful he was all right. She spent the time thinking about the wedding dress she was making. Finally she slept, moving out of Dan’s embrace because she thought he would sleep better. She put his arm down at his side, then scooted close against him to sleep.

  He was better the next day, sitting up when she came in with his breakfast, his feet on the floor. “Doc Felton will be by today. He’ll go into shock.”

  “He likes a healthy, cooperative patient.”

  “How would you know?”

  “He told me when he was riding out to take care of Michael. He said Michael would be a good patient. And he was.”

  “He hasn’t had one the likes of you.”

  Dan laughed. “The move didn’t hurt me, and don’t tell me you wouldn’t rather be here than there.”

  “You’re right,” she said happily.

  In the middle of the morning, Doc Felton came and declared the patient was doing fine. Dan had been up and had eaten breakfast, and as soon as the doctor left, he went back to sleep. Mary tiptoed out and went down to hitch his horse to the carriage. First she went home to change clothes and see that things were running smoothly. Then she gathered up some of her things, put on her blue bonnet, and drove to the jail.

  They let her into Silas’ cell to talk to him alone. He looked ridiculous sitting in jail in all his fine clothes. He had shed his coat and rolled up his sleeves, his vest hung open, and his hair fell across his forehead. He raked it back with his fingers and stood up when she entered the cell. In spite of his rumpled appearance and the jail, he was a strikingly handsome man who looked as if he had found a million in gold.

  “Dan will be all right.”

  Silas looked away from her, a muscle in his jaw working. “Silas, I want you to listen to me. I don’t think it would have mattered if I had never known Dan. It was just too long a time.”

  “I could have won you back.”

  “Perhaps, but I love Dan in a way I’ve never loved before. And he fought it as hard as a man can fight
anything. He didn’t court me or try to talk me into forgetting you. The only time he took me out was when we first met because he had promised you he would.”

  “God, that was stupid!” He finally faced her. “All right, Mary. I believe you. It was a shock. All those years I’ve lived with dreams of you, dreams of what we would do together.”

  “Silas, you’ve dreamed of what you wanted to do. You have no idea what I’d like.”

  He blinked. “I think I could have made you happy with my plans.” He rubbed his jaw, gazing beyond her. “I guess I should have done things differently, but I can’t look back with regrets now. I’ve been luckier than most.”

  “I don’t want you to hate Dan.”

  “I can’t ever feel friendly toward him. I won’t try to shoot him again. Thank God he’s alive. I don’t want to hang now and never be able to use the fortune I found.” He smiled with a cynical look in his eye. “You’d give up being the wife of an enormously wealthy man to marry Castle?”

  “Yes.”

  He shrugged. “Sheriff!” he called. “I think we might as well say good-bye,” he said coldly, and she didn’t think he would ever understand.

  She nodded and left when the sheriff opened the door. Behind him stood Dulcie, dressed in a blue faille dress with a trim hat perched on her head.

  “You’re a busy man, Mr. Eustice,” Sheriff Borden said with a note of envy. “Miss Dulcie wants to see you.”

  “Come in, Dulcie.”

  Mary nodded to Dulcie as she passed.

  Dan was sitting up on the side of the bed when Mary came into the room.

  “I thought maybe you’d left me for good.”

  “No.”

  He stood up.

  “Should you get out of bed?”

  “I want to see what I can do. Come help me.”

  She put down her packages and moved to his side. He pulled her to his good side, winced as his grip tightened around her, and leaned down to kiss her. She was afraid she would hurt him, and stood with her arms at her sides, then tentatively put her arm around his waist.

  Finally she moved away. “Dan, you’d better stop. I brought your mail.”

  He sat down in a rocking chair, easing himself back carefully. She sat on the floor beside him, sewing tiny pearls on a strip of material for her dress while Dan read his mail aloud. She felt his hands in her hair, constantly running it through his fingers, and she leaned back against his legs, wanting to touch him.