She bristled. “I don’t have time for your supposedly not alpha-male bullshit. And if you get hurt, the same thing applies, so don’t.”
The steady pulse of his magic turned sharp and angry for a split second as he made a rude noise. “If I were Jack or Oliver you’d be locked in a closet in your own house still, so you’d best recognize that I am trying.”
“So am I.” Smoke billowed through the open door, and Lottie coughed as she stumbled behind the bar and thrust some towels into the rinse pan. Her eyes burned, and she could barely see. She tossed a towel at Thomas and headed for the stairs.
Whatever retort he might have given was lost in the roaring noise from the fire, but his hand curled around her arm before her foot hit the bottom step. “I’ll go upstairs. Check down here.”
There wasn’t time to argue, even if she thought she might win. “Her room is the last on the right. Hurry.”
He ran off in the direction of the stairs, and Lottie coughed as she made her way to the kitchen. The smoke burned her nose, even through the towel, but she couldn’t turn back. She checked the storeroom next, and then her office.
Empty.
Even her sigh of relief came out sounding hoarse as she rushed to the front room to meet Thomas. He was at the top of the stairs, already heading down, alone. Lottie shouted to be heard. “Where’s Sarab --”
A crash and another shower of sparks cut off her question as the stairs collapsed under him.
The world stood still, and Lottie moved before she realized it. Her heart in her throat, she rushed to the pile of smoldering wood and shoved through it, searching for Thomas.
A board shifted, and she heard his pained groan as his hand appeared, knocking some of the wood aside.
She knew she was burning her hands on the hot wood, but she couldn’t feel it. Finally, she managed to uncover Thomas enough to grip his arms and pull. He slid free of the debris with another groan, and Lottie’s lungs burned. “Thomas? Can you talk?”
“Leg’s hurt,” he rasped, his voice weak. “Maybe broken.”
“It’ll be all right,” she soothed. “Just hold on.” A beam collapsed over by the bar, and Lottie tried not to flinch. They had to get out, but moving Thomas’s solid bulk across the floor wouldn’t have been an easy task under the best of circumstances.
They’d made it halfway to the door when a voice called her name, and a pair of strong, slender hands joined hers. “Hurry, Lottie.”
Ginny. Together, they made it through the door and out into the night air. Lottie wanted to stop and just breathe, but being outside wasn’t enough. The building could collapse at any moment.
Her friend’s words confirmed her suspicions. “The roof’s about to go.”
“Ginny!” Jack appeared in front of them, looking disheveled. “Let me help. Lottie, go and double check your girls for me. Make sure Sarabeth’s the only one missing.”
She hesitated, torn between her duty to the women in her employ and her concern for Thomas. “It’s his leg…”
“I’ll take him straight to Doc Baker,” Jack promised, already reaching out to slide Thomas’s arm over his shoulder. “Meet us there after you get a headcount.”
Her hands clenched into fists, but she gasped and relaxed them as pain shot up her arms. “All right. Ginny, can you help me?”
“’Course I can, sweetie.” The tall redhead had already pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, and she reached for Lottie’s hand. “Let me see that.”
“I-I have to count.”
Ginny tugged her toward the crowd. “Count while I wrap your hands, then you’re getting your ass down to Doc’s too.”
Lottie complied, a little dazed. She recognized it as adrenaline subsiding and shock setting in. She wanted to sleep, or maybe cry. She wanted to follow Thomas, to make sure he was okay.
Instead, she concentrated on making sure everyone but Sarabeth was accounted for, while her business burned behind her.
Thomas closed his eyes and concentrated every bit of power inside him on his aching body, as if he could force bruised flesh to heal through willpower alone. The pain had faded a bit with whatever concoction the doctor had forced down his throat, but the need to climb to his feet -- lame or not -- and find Lottie was stronger than ever.
He ground his teeth together as the doctor poked at his leg. “Is it broken?”
Doc Baker scratched at his beard. “If so, it’s just a mild fracture. If you rest and eat plenty, it’ll be good as new in a couple of days.”
Jack snorted. “And if he runs around like an idiot wearing himself to a thread day in day out?”
The doctor shrugged one shoulder. “Then he’ll be limping for a while. Month, maybe two. Maybe forever.”
The alpha nodded. “Crutches for you, Thomas, if you move at all, or I’ll kick your ass.”
Thomas glared at Doc Baker. “You’re a damned traitor, you know.”
“You’re a grouchy patient, Crawford.”
“Speaking of grouchy…” It was Ginny’s voice. She walked in with Lottie propped on her shoulder. “This one fits the bill.”
“Thomas.” Lottie’s face was streaked and dirty, her voice hoarse from the smoke, but she looked relieved to see him.
Thomas brushed the doctor away and held out both arms. “Come here, Charlotte.”
Ginny glowered at him. “Hold on to your horses. Lottie’s hurt.”
Doc Baker was all business again. “What’s the problem?”
“I burned my hands a little, that’s all.” She held them out for his inspection.
The elderly man huffed. “Well, sit over here by Thomas before he strains something, and I’ll get them cleaned up.”
The nervous energy inside him eased somewhat when Lottie lowered herself to the bench next to him. Thomas curled his arm around her waist and hugged her against his side gently. “You saved my ass.”
She turned her face to his neck. “You scared the hell out of me.”
He kissed the top of her head, then twisted enough to watch the doctor as he examined Lottie’s hands. “How bad?”
“Just need to be disinfected,” the doctor murmured, intent on his task. “They’ll heal quick.”
Thomas cupped the back of Lottie’s head and kept her face tucked against his neck as he looked to Ginny and Jack. “You know Sarabeth’s missing? Ira Braswell’s my first suspect. He’s pissed as hell she left him.”
Jack nodded shortly. “That’s where I’m headed, once the fire’s out. I need to get back out there…” Jack’s voice trailed off, and he glanced at Ginny. “You’ll keep everything under control?”
She nodded. “Everyone else looks okay, but we’re still going to file them through here to make sure. Doc could use the practice.”
Doc Baker snorted. “I was an old hand at this when you were in diapers, Virginia Howard.”
Jack made a rude noise before glancing at Thomas. “I’m taking care of Sarabeth and the fire. You get to stay right here in this damn room and take care of Lottie and all her girls. And you don’t need to go tromping around on that leg to do it, so if I catch you running around, I’m going to finish breaking it for you.”
The threat was just a little too angry sounding to be frightening. Thomas knew from long association that Jack was scariest when he didn’t sound angry at all. So he nodded once and tried to look suitably disgruntled, as if he hadn’t been planning to take care of Lottie all along. “I’ll be here, Jack.”
“Good. Lottie, don’t worry yourself. Ginny and I are going to take care of this.”
Lottie shook, and it took Thomas a moment to recognize her anger. “Do you really think Braswell would do something like this just to snatch Sarabeth? Everyone could have been killed.”
Braswell was an ass, but not this much of one. Nor was he stupid enough to court the kind of retribution that Jack would be likely to bring even if Lottie left any pieces of him. “If he did, it got out of hand. I don’t know what happened for sure, but I bet no one thou
ght it would be this.”
Doc Baker finished rewrapping her hands. “Now that they’re clean, they’ll heal fast. You’re fine, honey.”
“Thank you.” Lottie glanced at Ginny. “Who needs to come in first?”
“Nancy’s the worst,” she admitted. “Just about everyone breathed in some smoke. Shorty burned himself some trying to put out the fire, but he already cleaned himself up.”
“He’s bucking for my job,” Doc Baker grumbled.
Thomas rolled his eyes. “As if you don’t need the help. Ginny, take care of the rest of the town. Lottie and I can manage here. I promise I won’t move farther than the bench out front.”
“Yell if you need me, either of you. And if you don’t take it easy, Thomas, I’ll help Jack break your leg.” She ducked out the door.
Lottie sighed. “At least they mean well, even when they’re talking about breaking limbs.”
Thomas curled his arm around Lottie’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head again, mostly to reassure himself she was in one piece. “Jack’s been in a better mood since he moved in with Ginny, but the two of them together are a bit formidable.”
“You mean bossy.” Lottie rose and kissed him gently. “The sooner I take care of everyone, the sooner we can rest.” She lingered, her cheek against his and her mouth close to his ear. “I’m sorry you were hurt, honey.”
She meant to leave him inside, which didn’t suit him at all. He bit her ear as a warning before pulling back. “Doc, you got a crutch for me? I’m going outside to help Lottie see to her girls.”
“I’ll help you,” she said immediately. “Put your arm over my shoulders and lean on me.”
Not the manliest way to move, but being close to her was worth it. Thomas looped his arm around her shoulders and rose to his feet. His leg ached when he put weight on it, but not so much that he worried. A day or two and you’ll be better.
And then he was going to find whoever had started the fire and rip them limb from limb, even if it meant defying Jack to do it.
Chapter Five
Lottie woke with Thomas’s warm weight pressed against her back. She stretched, testing her muscles for soreness, but the last day of rest and sleep had eliminated nearly all her aches and twinges left over from the fire.
Even her hands were mostly healed. She flexed them and smiled when she felt no pain at all. “Are you awake?”
His arm curled around her body and tugged her closer. “Was just thinking I should get out of bed and drag myself onto a horse so I can go back to my place and check on everyone.”
“Without breakfast?” She turned in his arms and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “I can cook this morning.”
Thomas curled his fingers around her hand and lifted it up so he could examine it. “Feels better?”
“Mmm.” She closed her fingers around his. “What about your leg?”
He kissed the heel of her palm before answering. “Sore. Probably shouldn’t put more weight on it than I have to, but I’ll manage.”
He shouldn’t be out at all. “I can go instead. You need more time to recuperate.”
“Lottie.” His expression turned serious. “I can sit a horse.”
She growled and turned her face into her pillow. “I know. I don’t have to like it, though.”
“And I like you running around with your hands still barely healed?” His fingers curled in her hair and he tilted her head back just enough that she had to look at him. “You may be used to having your way, Lottie, and damn if I don’t want to give it to you most of the time. But I’m not an invalid.”
“Mm-hmm.” Lottie sat up, smoothed her hair over one shoulder and began to braid it. “Will you be riding out to talk to Jack too?”
Thomas made an annoyed noise as he tucked his hands behind his head. “Jack shares your opinion of my capabilities. Told me to ride back to my place and wait there for him and Oliver.”
“Does he have a lead on where Braswell might have gone?” Trailing the man had been impossible immediately after the fire. Even the pack’s best trackers had been able to smell nothing but soot and charred wood.
“I think he might. Though I was supposed to ask you if you knew why the man might have risked this much over Sarabeth. If she ever told you anything, I mean…”
She thought back, but nothing sprang to mind. “All I know is how he acted whenever he approached me about wanting her back. It never seemed like a business transaction for him. It was always too personal, like she was more to him.” Or he’d wanted her to be.
Thomas’s eyes darkened. “And I’m guessing she didn’t agree, or she wouldn’t have gone to you.”
All Sarabeth had wanted was for him to leave her alone. When he hadn’t, she’d come to the Full Moon Saloon. “No, she didn’t agree.”
“We’ll get her back, Lottie.” He held out a hand to her. “Come here.”
“I’m okay.” Still, she slipped her hand into his. “I’m worried about her, that’s all. If it’s like you said, and Ira just let things get out of hand the other night… He might be feeling desperate by now.”
“I know.” Thomas drew her down into his arms. “Jack knows, too. And he’s not going to let anything happen to her. We’re not going to let anything happen to her.”
She nestled into his arms with a sad sigh. “I should have known Braswell was concerned with more than lost revenue. I should have known he was obsessed.”
Thomas’s fingers stroked gently over her hair. “Did she tell you that?”
“No.” Sarabeth had been reserved about most of her personal life before she’d come to Lottie’s. “She didn’t like to talk about him.”
“Then you couldn’t have known. We’re responsible for the people in our care, Lottie, but we’re not all-powerful. And we’re not infallible. We need to know there’s a problem before we can fix it.”
She turned her face to his hand. It was just like him to make sure she didn’t feel as if what had happened was her fault. “Spoken like someone who wants to make me feel better.”
“Spoken like someone who has too many problems to fix,” he corrected softly. “Lottie --”
His voice cut off as he turned his head toward the front of the house, and a moment later she heard it, too. Hoofbeats pounding toward them at a gallop.
Thomas was out of the bed in a moment. He didn’t even limp as he strode to the window, then swore softly. “Sarabeth. Alone. On one of Braswell’s horses.”
Lottie lunged for her robe. “Does she look all right?”
“Scared.” Thomas reached for his pants and winced as he shoved his injured leg into them. “But unhurt.”
By the time they got downstairs, Sarabeth had stumbled up on the porch. Lottie wrapped her arms around her and urged her through the door. “Are you all right, honey? What happened?”
Sarabeth shook in her arms, stumbling until Lottie got her into a chair. Dirt streaked her cheeks and her eyes were too-wide, either from shock or fear. “I-I got away.”
Angry power flared inside her, but Lottie shoved it down. “Got away from who, sweetie?”
“Mr. Braswell.” She trembled, and Thomas appeared at Lottie’s side and reached out a cautious hand to rest on her shoulder. Sarabeth flinched a little, but Thomas soothed her with a gentle noise and a soft wave of warm, reassuring magic.
When she stopped shivering, Thomas knelt in front of her. “Are you hurt?”
After a moment Sarabeth shook her head. Lottie shot Thomas a look. “Can you fetch some brandy, honey?”
Thomas rose to his feet and brushed his fingers across the back of Lottie’s shoulder as he passed her, heading for the kitchen.
When he’d gone, Lottie smoothed Sarabeth’s disheveled hair from her forehead. “Where is Mr. Braswell now, sweetie? Jack checked his house…”
Sarabeth closed her eyes. “I hit him. With a piece of firewood. But I don’t know where we were because I was so upset and I couldn’t get control of the horse at first. We ran so fa
r… half an hour at least. But it could have been in circles.”
“It’s fine.” Lottie pulled her close. “There’s a trail, and Jack and the others will find him.”
“He was mad, Lottie.” Sarabeth hid her face against Lottie’s shoulder, the trembling returning. “He said we’d be married and start a new life, but that’s insane. I told him I didn’t want to. That I didn’t need him to save me.”
Lottie cursed herself again for underestimating the man’s obsession. “No, you don’t. Braswell’s just gone off the deep end, that’s all.”
Thomas returned with a generous glass of brandy in one hand. “Do you think you two will be up to riding over to the house with me? Ginny and Jack should be there already with the rest of the ladies. The doctor was going to visit this morning, too.”
“We can hitch up my buggy.” Lottie murmured her thanks and pressed the glass into Sarabeth’s hand. “Will you ride out with Jack?”
“Maybe.” He glanced at her, then Sarabeth, making it clear he had more he didn’t want to say in front of the obviously shaken young woman. “For now we’ve got to get everyone together and looked after. Why don’t I finish getting dressed and hitch up your buggy?”
“It’ll give Sarabeth time to finish her drink.” And Lottie would have more time to calm the enraged instincts inside her.
Thomas nodded and brushed his fingers over her hair. “Yell if you need me.”
She leaned into his touch for just a moment. “You do the same.”
When he was gone, Sarabeth lowered the glass to her lap and looked up at Lottie with eyes that slowly filled with tears. “The fire. Is anyone… are all the other girls okay?”
Lottie’s heart twisted. “Everyone’s just fine. Probably even enjoying the vacation.”
“And the saloon?”
She tried not to let her grief show. “I’ve already started making plans to rebuild it. With bigger bathrooms this time, I think.”
A tiny smile curved Sarabeth’s lips. “Bigger bathrooms would be wonderful.”
Lottie grinned. “I thought so.”
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