A deep and abiding rage filled him. Whoever had done this was going to pay.
He looked her over more carefully in case he’d missed other wounds. There were none he could see. He called, “She’s ready.”
His foreman came in fast with a basin of steaming water. “We had some hot by the fireplace. Figured you’d need to wash up.” Rowdy went to the far side of the bed and set the basin on a table, his eyes examining the puncture on her arm first.
“She’s got a cut on her waist on the other side, too.” Gage carefully exposed her as little as possible by pulling back the blanket.
“That’s an open wound.” Rowdy sounded grim. “It’ll hurt, but it should heal fast. The hand and the shoulder are punctures. That’s the kind of thing that can bring on a fever.”
“These three are all.” His eyes went to the scratch on her neck. “I didn’t see blood anywhere else.” Lifting his eyes, he knew the blazing fury must show, because Rowdy was paying real close attention.
“Someone set a trap for us out there. It just might be the same varmint who was behind that landslide last fall.”
Rowdy’s eyes narrowed. “This was a lot closer to home.”
“I want you to ride out at first light and study that trail. Backtrack them if you can. I heard someone in the woods tonight. They were waiting, watching for us, but they didn’t take the chance to attack when I was down.” Gage remembered how fast Bailey had gotten there and knelt over him, gun in hand. She’d saved his life.
“Whaddya reckon they’re up to?”
Shaking his head, Gage turned back to Bailey. “I don’t know, but they hurt my wife, and they hurt my horse. They could’ve killed someone. I aim to find out who’s behind it.”
Ma stepped into the room. “What happened?”
“She got hurt on the trail. Same place I fell.”
“I saw her fall on the steps.” Ma came around the bed and stood beside Gage. “I thought she was just tired or . . .” Ma’s hand came to rest on Gage’s shoulder. “She didn’t say a word.”
“Nope, she was too busy taking care of both of us. She cleared the trail.” It was making him crazy to think of her bleeding, lifting that trap, straightening the horses’ reins, getting them all moving again. Something hard trembled deep inside him to think of the caliber of woman he’d married.
And Gage knew that even though Ma had a strange way of treating him, she’d stood at Pa’s side through some mighty hard times. He needed to find a way to make Ma see that he was in good hands with Bailey as his wife.
Rowdy handed Gage a cloth. “Keep pressure on that arm until the bleeding stops. I’m going to bandage her side.”
“I should be tending her,” Ma said. “This isn’t proper to have your cowhand do it.”
“I know you’re good with those who are hurting, Ma, but Rowdy has some mighty fine healing skills. I want him to take care of her. With your help.”
Her hand tightened on his shoulder, and he was glad for her support.
“Say a prayer for her, Ma.” Gage pressed firmly on the puncture wound, and Bailey moaned in pain. It was the first sign of consciousness she’d shown since she collapsed. But that one sound was the only one she made.
Rowdy dipped a cloth in the steaming water, wrung it out, and went to work.
18
Bailey’s eyes flickered open. A lantern turned down low showed enough of the room to make her sure she’d never seen it before. This bed wasn’t hers. Nor did she recognize the thick blankets covering her. She swept her hands out, and pain hit her hand, her side, even her left shoulder and she hadn’t moved that an inch.
She forgot about the pain when her hand collided with something. No, not something . . . someone. Someone was in bed beside her. She squeaked.
“Bailey, you’re awake.”
She snapped her head around . . . and went back to thinking of the pain. Breathing hurt. Thinking hurt. Moving sure enough hurt. Everything hurt.
She looked right into the gray eyes of . . . oh, good heavens, she’d gotten married. To Gage Coulter, of all people. Remembering that hurt worst of all. Well, maybe not hurt, as in pain . . . more like dread.
The whole long, strange day came rushing back. But finding Gage in bed with her was the strangest part yet.
And where exactly did you think he was going to sleep?
Gage rose from the bed so quickly she wondered if he was just remembering what they’d done, too. Maybe he was a little unsettled to be so close to her. He adjusted her blankets until they were pulled up to her chin, and she wondered if he was tempted to pull them all the way over her head so he could deny he’d married her.
“You fainted. You lost a lot of blood.”
Fainted? Bailey hated such weakness. “How are you?”
She hoped he was the kind of man to talk about himself.
“I’m fine. You’re the one who got hurt.” Gage leaned close, focused on her, his attention not turned one speck. “Your right hand and waist and your left shoulder are bandaged. Maybe we should have sewn you up, but we didn’t.”
Bailey remembered being hurt, but she’d never gotten a chance to see what all had happened.
“Rowdy does the doctoring around here, and he said there was no cause for stitches.”
More about the day came back to her. “Did you warn your men about the trap? Whoever did it may strike again.”
“They’ll ride out at dawn, try to pick up a trail. They know to be on their guard.”
“Have them check that carcass the wolves were after. If there’s anything left of it, they might find tracks or proof the animal was killed and staked out by the trail to draw that pack.”
“Good thinking,” Gage said.
“How long have I been unconscious?” She hated the thought of how vulnerable she’d been.
“There’s a lot of night left yet. We rode into the place before midnight, and you haven’t been out that long. Rowdy said it’s a mercy not to be awake during his doctoring. He’s none too gentle.”
“Rowdy tended me?” How exposed had she been?
“We kept you covered except for the places he had to work,” Gage said. “We were careful of your privacy.”
He’d read her mind, and she didn’t like that her face must’ve given away so much. Probably she was weak from her wounds. She’d toughen up come morning. “How’s your ma?”
Gage flinched. “She’s asleep.”
Had Ma stayed and watched over her during the doctoring?
“She came in and saw to it there was a woman present. She was a while settling down, but then she came back to look in on you.”
Bailey was glad for that simple decency. Except, of course, Ma thought Gage was her husband. Well, Gage was her husband, but that didn’t quite seem real.
“Getting all her things up to her room kept the men busy awhile.”
Bailey nodded, wondering just how long the woman intended to stay. “I need to get up. I’m thirsty and I need a . . . a moment. Outside.” She reached for the covers, and pain struck from all sides. Fighting not to make a sound, she forced herself to lift the blankets. A wave of relief swept through her when she saw she was still dressed in her bloodstained woolen underwear. They were ugly and uncomfortably stiff, but she hadn’t been undressed. It lifted some of the feeling of being defenseless.
“Take it easy.”
Since she was inching out of bed on the side away from him, he came around and reached for her, then hesitated. “Which’ll hurt the least, my arm around your waist on the side that’s wounded or on the side with your hurt shoulder?”
Bailey sat on the edge of the bed while the room swayed. She wanted to shoo him off, yet she wasn’t that sure she could stand up, let alone walk out to the privy. Things steadied. Mostly.
She tried to identify the pain, which seemed to come from everywhere. “The right side so your hand closes on my waist on the left. But be careful of my shoulder.”
Gage slid his arm across her back and caug
ht hold at her waist. She lifted her arm thinking to loop it around his neck for support, but lifting her arm pulled at her wounded shoulder and waist so she gave that up. As she stood, her vision blurred and her ears buzzed.
“Wait, let my head clear.” Her voice sounded far away. Gage stood still. Bailey was surprised how sure she was that he’d keep her from falling. She trusted him.
Finally the room came back into focus. “I’m ready.”
They took two steps, and her knees sagged. Gage swept her up in his arms.
“No, I need to walk, clear my head.”
“You can do that later.” He carried her to a door, probably the back because the kitchen was there, though she remembered nothing of being brought inside. “Let me fetch your coat.”
“I’m sure it’s cold, but I don’t want to fuss with a coat.” This made Bailey look down and realize her boots were still on. They hadn’t done a thing to her they didn’t need to.
Gage swung the door open and made a sound of disgust. “It’s snowing.”
“Bound to happen, even this late in the spring.”
“But it’s going to cover the tracks left by whoever did this to you.”
That hadn’t occurred to her. “So no chance you’ll be able to pick up a trail.” Bailey looked at the snow sifting down, at least a couple of inches already covering the ground.
It was beautiful, silent and soft. Bailey shivered, partly from the cold, but also because now their mystery had just gotten harder to solve.
“You want your coat, after all?” Gage stared down at her.
“I can make it. It’ll be a good reason to hurry.”
When he got her to the privy, he opened the door for her. “Can you manage all right?” Gage sounded as uncomfortable as she felt.
They were nearly strangers and now they were married and forced into a situation far too intimate, one that neither of them particularly wanted. Bailey expected the next few weeks would be an adventure—and that didn’t count if someone kept coming after Gage.
“I can make it,” she said.
He set her on her feet.
She took a solid hold of the door with her left hand, letting her heavily bandaged right hand hang idly. She got herself inside . . . and out.
Gage had stepped away, but when she emerged he rushed to her side and plucked her off her feet again. “Let’s get you back to bed. A good night’s sleep will help more than anything.”
“I need a drink of water, and Gage?”
He headed toward the house. “What is it?”
“I think we need to talk. And now, while your ma’s asleep. This’ll be our only chance.”
Gage swallowed hard as he swung open the back door. His voice dropped to a whisper. “You mean concoct a lie about how we met and when we decided to get married and such?”
“No, I think we should just tell her the truth.”
Gage shook his head frantically. “I’m not telling my ma I lied to her last fall, and I’m sure as certain not telling her I was afraid she’d never go home so I married a stranger who barely likes me and bribed her into it with a five-thousand-acre canyon.”
Bailey felt a headache coming on. “I mean tell her the truth except for that.”
“That’s a big exception. Pretty much covers the whole thing, don’t you think?”
“It does not. We met when you wanted your canyon back, true. We got married, true. We don’t have to say a date. And besides, since you wrote to her, she thinks she knows that. So what we say saves us from having to make up a story, and later trying to keep it straight.”
“What do you want to talk about, then?”
“I want to talk about who hates you enough to want you dead.”
Gage looked at the ceiling—his ma sleeping right above them—and listened before settling Bailey in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace, which glowed with dying embers.
He fetched logs from the woodbox and laid them on the floor beside the fire. Next he used scraps of bark to get a flame going from the embers. As the fire caught, Gage laid kindling on it, then added a few logs. The fire crackled and grew, soothing her tension. Her eyes rested on the leaping flames.
Gage left her to rest, coming back a few minutes later with a tin plate in one hand, a tin cup in the other. He set them on a small table, pushed up against the wall by the fireplace, picked the whole table up and brought it over to sit in front of her.
“There, go ahead and eat. I can get you more if you want it. I didn’t have supper, either. I’ll get myself a plate.”
After a bit of food went down, her hunger blazed to life.
Gage returned with his own meal and pulled a second rocker close enough to use her table. He must’ve been as hungry as she, because they dug in and ate in silence for a while. Her full belly and the crackling fire relaxed her until she thought she might fall asleep where she sat.
“You said you wanted to talk?” Gage’s deep voice broke her out of the drowsiness.
Bailey looked at Gage. In the flickering light, his unusual gray eyes reflected the flames and replaced the cold so often found there with heat.
She couldn’t help but smile. “We oughta talk about so many things it’s hard to know where to start.”
Gage managed a smile over that.
“But what I wanted to talk about”—she dropped her voice to a whisper—“is who wants to hurt you?”
“Someone had to see me in town to get ahead of me and set that trap.”
“What’s more, it wasn’t set for a group of men. Whoever set it would’ve known he was as good as asking for war with a crowd of tough gunmen ready to fight. Anyone have a grudge against you?” She leaned closer, barely able to hear his whispers over the crackling logs.
He leaned in, too. In the room, lit only by firelight, there seemed to be a cocoon around them. Like they were the only two people in the world. Bailey couldn’t help leaning even closer.
“There are a couple of area ranchers who’ve never been friendly. Some of ’em are men who’ve never impressed me with their hard work. Rance Boyle is one, and he saw me in town.”
“So you think it’s him?”
With a shrug, Gage said, “Mo Simmons has a good-sized spread, and I’m not sure how he hangs on to it. He’s a poor cattleman. He’s made no secret of being jealous of my ranch, even though he could have a good herd and a nice house himself if he’d just spend his time working instead of complaining.”
“Are there other big ranches around?” Bailey asked. “I’ve always heard you were the biggest.”
Gage’s eyes rose to catch hers. “I am the biggest and the best. But that’s only because I’ve worked my heart out for five years. I left my home and my family, my friends and a good chunk of my self-respect behind when I came out here. I’ve been working to get back my self-respect because none of the rest of it is possible.”
He sounded so grim, Bailey decided their time for talking was over. So she pointed out the obvious. “You may have left your family, but your ma is right upstairs. I think she wants to take care of you.”
Gage rolled his eyes heavenward. “And if she has to move in here and live with me forever, well, that’s what a loving mother does. And I’m a brute if I disagree.”
Bailey was afraid Gage had his mother figured about right. “I’d like to have a look at those tracks, too. I’m not as good on a trail as Tucker or Sunrise, but I do a decent job. If I saw a familiar track, I’d recognize it.”
“You’re not up to riding.” Gage made it sound like an order, which pinched. “For now, my men and I are going to handle it.”
Unfortunately he was right. “I think I’m going to fall asleep where I sit. We’ve done enough talking. We’ll need to be on our guard.”
“I always post a sentry, and my men ride out for miles all around. If there are more man-traps, someone could die. I’ve warned them, but I’ve got to figure out who’s doing this.” Gage stood and moved the table to the side. He reached for her good h
and, which hurt her shoulder, then for her waist and stopped.
Picking up her right hand with its thick bandage, he turned it over and ran his fingers over the white wrap. “I’m sorry my trouble got you hurt, Bailey. A man’s supposed to protect his woman, and I’ve failed you after less than a day.”
Bailey thought of her pa sending her off to war. Not much protection there, either.
He raised her hand and pressed his lips to the bandage as if he could kiss the hurt away. It was so sweet, so at odds with the man she thought he was.
“Instead, you protected me. You were kneeling over me with your gun drawn before I could pick myself up, and that was after you got stabbed in three places.”
Bailey brushed the dark hair off his forehead and ran one of her winter-chapped fingers over the goose egg on his brow. “You were knocked witless. The second your head cleared, you were helping me. And I hurt, but I didn’t have time to worry about it at the time. Kind of like you climbing back on that stallion when you could barely stand.”
His eyes came up to meet hers. She’d never expected to like a man’s eyes so much. Never thought of such a thing.
Shaking his head, he went to her side and eased her to her feet. The whole room wavered, and Bailey’s knees turned to liquid. She sank, but before she could hit the floor, Gage had her cradled in his arms again.
Again his eyes met hers. She saw the good man beneath his hard ways. Strong and warm. The tender care he’d taken of her, his confused love for his mother. Their gaze held. The moment stretched on. His eyes flickered to her lips. Then Gage lowered his head an inch at a time.
She raised her mouth just as slowly. The kiss made her think of her wedding vows. She had no plans to stay here, to be married. But as the kiss deepened and his strength surrounded her, Bailey realized she felt safe for the first time in a long time.
Not that she’d ever felt like she was in danger exactly. At least not since the war ended. She knew how to take care of herself. But this safety was more than the absence of danger, or someone strong enough to stand between her and danger.
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