Whirlwind Groom

by Debra Cowan

  She was close enough that she couldn’t miss. She wouldn’t. “I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Ian.”

  “Lady, I’m already shot. Don’t fill me full of lead.”

  It was quiet behind her. Too quiet. And she realized, as if coming out of a fog, that Davis Lee hadn’t tried to stop her. He hadn’t said anything for a long time.

  She turned and saw him lying motionless on his back, eyes closed. Blood seeped from his side. “No!”

  She rushed to him, falling on her knees.

  Setting her gun aside, she found a pulse in his neck and shook his shoulder, trying to rouse him. She jerked off her coat, then her bodice and pressed it to his side. It was blood-soaked within seconds. “Davis Lee, please wake up.”

  His eyes stayed closed. He didn’t move.

  “Please don’t die,” she cried. “Please talk to me.”

  He stirred, his eyes opening to slits. “Josie?”

  “I’m here.” She took a breath, trying to steady herself. “You’re hurt and I don’t know how badly. I need to get you to a doctor, but I can’t get you up.”

  “I think…I can do it.”

  “How?”

  He pushed himself to one elbow, a groan tearing from his throat.

  Josie bit her lip.

  “Bring my horse.”

  She didn’t want to leave him, but it was his only chance for help. Scooping up her coat, she pulled it on over her underwear as she ran back the way they’d come. She led Davis Lee’s buckskin over. “What do I do?”

  “Bring her here. Stand her with her left side to me, like I would normally mount.”

  She did it.

  “I need something to grab on to once I stand up. I’m pretty woozy.”

  “You can hang on to me.”

  Balancing his weight on his right arm, he pushed himself to his feet, teetered. He clutched at the saddle as Josie braced one shoulder under his right arm. She didn’t see any fresh blood coming from his wound. Maybe she’d stopped the bleeding for now. She held tight to his arm as he grabbed the saddle horn with his right hand and after a moment hoisted himself up, muscles straining in his arms and shoulders, his neck.

  Cursing, he dragged his right leg over. Breathing hard, he slumped forward, his head resting against the horse’s neck.

  Josie picked up her gun and turned to see Ian scrambling away. Her finger went to the trigger and she started after him. There was nothing and no one to stop her from killing him.

  Except the feelings she had for the man who leaned in the saddle, bleeding. Her head urged her to go after McDougal, but her heart… She looked back at Davis Lee. Her love for Davis Lee burned stronger than her need to go after the outlaw who’d murdered her family.

  Decision made, Josie ran back to her own horse, mounted, then returned to take Davis Lee’s horse’s reins and lead him to Whirlwind.

  “Davis Lee, hold on. You have to hold on.” The words pounded through her brain.

  She kept talking to him, checking to make sure he was still breathing. He couldn’t die. She couldn’t lose another person to McDougal.

  McDougal. She could’ve easily killed him and she hadn’t. She waited for the swell of anger that she always felt when thinking of Ian, the loathing that had dogged her for the past two years, but neither came. She looked back at Davis Lee, offering up a silent prayer that she could get help in time.

  Ian had escaped. Again. And she found she didn’t care. All that mattered was that Davis Lee lived.

  A couple of hours later, Davis Lee was in his own bed being tended by Catherine. Josie paced in and out of his bedroom. He’d been unconscious for a while now. Jericho and Riley had met up with her just outside of town, on their way to help look for McDougal.

  While Charlie Haskell went for Catherine, Jericho and Riley got Davis Lee into bed. A few minutes later, the nurse asked both men to hold the patient down while she removed the bullet in his side.

  Josie stood in the kitchen with her eyes squeezed shut. When she heard a raw moan of pain tear out of his throat, her knees buckled. Charlie caught her and settled her in a chair. She was still trying to take in all that had happened. Cora’s brother, Loren, had been the one to try and kill McDougal in the jail that night. He’d found Ian today because last night, Loren, like the others there, had heard Jake tell Davis Lee which direction the outlaw was headed. And now Cora’s brother had vanished like McDougal. She didn’t care what happened to Ian, but she worried about Loren.

  Catherine stepped out of Davis Lee’s bedroom, interrupting Josie’s thoughts. The dark-haired woman’s white apron was streaked with blood as were the rolled-up sleeves of her blue wool dress.

  Josie stood, her hands trembling. “Is he—”

  “He’s going to be all right,” the other woman said.

  “Thank you,” she breathed.

  “But he’s lost a lot of blood and will be weak for a while. He needs rest and food.”

  “I’ll make sure he gets it.”

  Jericho and Riley stepped out of the room. Riley jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “He’s asking for you, Josie.”

  “Thank you.” She rushed past them and went to the right side of his bed to avoid jostling his wound. “Davis Lee?”

  “Come here,” he said in a guttural voice.

  She sat down carefully, taking the hand he held out to her. “Catherine said you’re going to be all right.”

  “You didn’t kill him.” His blue eyes were bleak with pain. “You had McDougal in your sights and you didn’t take a shot. Why not?”

  She didn’t want any more lies between them, but would he believe her?

  “Josie?” he asked hoarsely.

  She stroked his hand. “The reason I didn’t shoot Ian is because I love you. Even if we don’t see each other after this, I want you to know that.”

  “I’m fadin’.” His eyes closed, but his fingers tightened on hers. “Promise you won’t leave.”

  “I promise.”

  He slept and she did, too. When she woke, he was sitting up in bed, still holding her hand. “Do you need anything?”

  “Just you.” He tugged her over into his lap and rested his head against hers.

  He was warm and solid beneath her. For the first time since she’d seen him bleeding on the ground, she truly felt he would be all right. “I shouldn’t be in your lap. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

  “I wasn’t shot there.”

  She smiled into his eyes, wanting to remember every second with him. No matter where she went, he would be part of her.

  “Before I passed out, you said you loved me,” he said huskily.

  She kept her gaze on his, her stomach knotting. “Yes.”

  “You said you told me that in case we never saw each other again. Are you planning to leave?”

  “I thought I should.”

  For a long minute, he didn’t speak. She studied her hands. She should get up, end things cleanly, but she couldn’t make herself move. Not yet.

  “I have regrets in my life, Josie.” He slid a knuckle under her chin and tilted her face up. “If I let you walk away from me, I’ll regret that for the rest of my days.”

  “Really?”

  “I can’t let you go. Don’t leave. I love you.”

  She stilled, half-afraid she was hearing things. “Even though I lied?”

  “That went deep,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t change the way I feel.”

  “Have you forgiven me? Can you? Will you be sorry someday for loving me?”

  “You showed me what’s in your heart, Josie. You turned away from revenge, from murder. What would make me sorry is if I lost you.”

  “You won’t.” She lifted a hand and stroked his whisker-stubbled jaw. “I won’t go. I won’t ever go.”

  He kissed her, soft and slow and so thoroughly that when he lifted his head, she melted against him, feeling as if she were floating in a dream.

  “You know…” Careful of the bruise on her jaw, he nudg
ed her head back and nuzzled her throat. “Everyone saw you come into my house, an unmarried woman alone with an unmarried man. And—” he lowered his voice to a deep velvet whisper “—people have seen you in my bedroom. All sorts of rumors will fly now.”

  “The only ones who saw me in here were your brother, Catherine and Jericho. They won’t say anything.”

  “Well, I have a reputation to think of,” he said. “You have to make an honest man of me.”

  She laughed. “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. You’re gonna have to marry me.”

  She sat straight up, staring into his eyes. “Davis Lee!”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Have you thought this through?”

  He nodded, his gaze hot on her.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  She looked down at herself, grimacing. “My hair is a mess and my dress—”

  “Josie,” he groaned. “Answer me before I expire.”

  “Yes.” She laughed. “Yes, I’ll—”

  He took her mouth in a sweet, hot kiss.

  Long seconds or minutes later, the front door burst open. They jerked apart at his brother came into the bedroom.

  “Riley,” Davis Lee growled. “This better be good.”

  “You’re never gonna believe this!”

  The grin on his brother’s face was infectious and Josie found herself smiling, too.

  “Loren Barnes just rode into town with Ian McDougal hog-tied and slung over his saddle. Jericho’s putting them both in jail right now.”

  “Loren and Ian?” Davis Lee’s jaw dropped. “That beats all.”

  “Just thought you’d want to know.” With a knowing twinkle in his eye, Riley’s gaze shifted from Josie to his brother. “Carry on.”

  As soon as the door shut, Josie turned to Davis Lee. “I guess Ian’s trial can go on as scheduled.”

  His gaze was soft on her face. “I want to get married right now.”

  “Right now?” Josie about fell out of his lap. “No.”

  “What do you mean no?” he demanded. “You said you would.”

  “Davis Lee, you’ve just been shot.”

  “When then? Don’t make me wait. Do you want a wedding like Catherine’s? I don’t think I can wait as long as Jericho did.”

  “No, I don’t want a wedding like Catherine’s, but I would like you to be able to stand up when we get married.”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. We can wait until you’re healed.”

  “Tomorrow.” He kissed his way along her jaw, down the side of her neck then gently sank his teeth into the curve where her shoulder began.

  “All right,” she murmured. “Tomorrow.”

  He chuckled. “You didn’t even try to bargain with me.”

  She brought his head back to hers. “That’s because I already have what I want.”

  He folded her hand in his and placed them both over her heart. “Me, too.”

  “Now, about that wedding—”

  Eyes laughing, he kissed the starch right out of her.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-3719-3

  WHIRLWIND GROOM

  Copyright © 2005 by Debra S. Cowan

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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