brung in Mad Jack Pickett single-handed, and him and his deputies shot up the Blevins gang and—” Travis looked at Lucas as if he were Wild Bill Hickok come back to life, then stuck out his hand. “Marshal McKenna, sir, I’ve been readin’ about you for years. Why, you’re a gen-u-ine hero—”
“Don’t believe everything you read, kid.” Lucas didn’t shake his hand. “I’m nobody’s hero.”
“But the rattler part might be accurate.” Holt looked up from gently examining Antoinette’s side and gestured to her bruised face. “Did you take a bit of revenge for your brother’s death, Marshal ? Is that how Ann got hurt?”
“She fell from her horse.” Lucas was rapidly losing his patience and his temper, especially since it didn’t look like Holt or anyone else believed him—regardless of Travis’s glowing biography. “Or rather, your horse, Doctor . You own that dappled mare she used to escape?”
“I let her borrow it—”
“Then I guess I won’t have to add horse-thieving to the murder and robbery charges.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” Holt started rolling up his white sleeves. “Just take the cuffs off so I can examine her properly. She may be seriously hurt—”
“Yes.” The woman with the ostrich-plume hat kept hovering over Antoinette and generally getting in the way, her eyes full of worry. “The poor lamb’s barely recovered from losing her baby.”
“What?” Lucas asked in astonishment. “ What did you say?”
The woman rushed over to him. “Ann came here two months ago in the middle of the night, dropped off by a stagecoach makin’ a detour on its way to Leadville ’cause she was having a miscarriage. She can’t be the woman you’re looking for—”
“Rebecca, would you and the marshal and everyone else get out of here?” Holt demanded. “Mrs. Owens is all the help I need. I have to examine this patient more thoroughly and I am not going to do it in front of half the town.”
Lucas tore his gaze from Rebecca, with her pink dress and plumed hat and bobbing earrings, and looked down at Antoinette, so slender and pale in the faded blue calico. Nothing about this made sense. He felt like he had stepped into some bizarre dream. Miscarriage .
“Get her ready to travel,” Lucas ordered, when he could find his voice. “Keep in mind I’ll be right outside. And the cuffs stay on.”
He moved through the parlor and out into the night with everyone else, his mind reeling.
Miscarriage . No wonder she looked so wan and fragile. The people he’d questioned had mentioned only “female trouble.” He’d had no idea that Antoinette was pregnant—
All at once, he recognized the emotion he was feeling as pity, and shook it off.
Whatever she had been through, it didn’t matter. And it didn’t come close to the pain she had inflicted on his family—on James and Olivia and their children and his sisters.
And it didn’t change Lucas’s mind about taking her back to Missouri to face every bit of suffering the law could inflict. He took a deep, steadying breath of the cold night air. There was no way to know, he told himself, if it had even been James’s child.
Lucas doubted the daughter of a whore would be faithful to a lover.
Maybe that was what she and James had been arguing about that night.
He had walked several paces outside before he realized everyone was peppering him with questions again.
“I do not have the wrong woman,” Lucas insisted, raising a hand to quiet them. He turned to Travis, who had followed close on his heels. “Go get my saddlebags, kid. I left them at the livery when I came in on the stage.”
While Travis hurried down the street, Lucas glanced from one frowning, unfriendly face to another, some of them as weathered as the buildings in this forgotten town.
“The lady you’re all so concerned about,” he said tightly, “is no lady. She’s not a respectable young widow who was on her way to Montana Territory. She’s nothing
“Don’t believe everything you read, kid.” Lucas didn’t shake his hand. “I’m nobody’s hero.”
“But the rattler part might be accurate.” Holt looked up from gently examining Antoinette’s side and gestured to her bruised face. “Did you take a bit of revenge for your brother’s death, Marshal ? Is that how Ann got hurt?”
“She fell from her horse.” Lucas was rapidly losing his patience and his temper, especially since it didn’t look like Holt or anyone else believed him—regardless of Travis’s glowing biography. “Or rather, your horse, Doctor . You own that dappled mare she used to escape?”
“I let her borrow it—”
“Then I guess I won’t have to add horse-thieving to the murder and robbery charges.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” Holt started rolling up his white sleeves. “Just take the cuffs off so I can examine her properly. She may be seriously hurt—”
“Yes.” The woman with the ostrich-plume hat kept hovering over Antoinette and generally getting in the way, her eyes full of worry. “The poor lamb’s barely recovered from losing her baby.”
“What?” Lucas asked in astonishment. “ What did you say?”
The woman rushed over to him. “Ann came here two months ago in the middle of the night, dropped off by a stagecoach makin’ a detour on its way to Leadville ’cause she was having a miscarriage. She can’t be the woman you’re looking for—”
“Rebecca, would you and the marshal and everyone else get out of here?” Holt demanded. “Mrs. Owens is all the help I need. I have to examine this patient more thoroughly and I am not going to do it in front of half the town.”
Lucas tore his gaze from Rebecca, with her pink dress and plumed hat and bobbing earrings, and looked down at Antoinette, so slender and pale in the faded blue calico. Nothing about this made sense. He felt like he had stepped into some bizarre dream. Miscarriage .
“Get her ready to travel,” Lucas ordered, when he could find his voice. “Keep in mind I’ll be right outside. And the cuffs stay on.”
He moved through the parlor and out into the night with everyone else, his mind reeling.
Miscarriage . No wonder she looked so wan and fragile. The people he’d questioned had mentioned only “female trouble.” He’d had no idea that Antoinette was pregnant—
All at once, he recognized the emotion he was feeling as pity, and shook it off.
Whatever she had been through, it didn’t matter. And it didn’t come close to the pain she had inflicted on his family—on James and Olivia and their children and his sisters.
And it didn’t change Lucas’s mind about taking her back to Missouri to face every bit of suffering the law could inflict. He took a deep, steadying breath of the cold night air. There was no way to know, he told himself, if it had even been James’s child.
Lucas doubted the daughter of a whore would be faithful to a lover.
Maybe that was what she and James had been arguing about that night.
He had walked several paces outside before he realized everyone was peppering him with questions again.
“I do not have the wrong woman,” Lucas insisted, raising a hand to quiet them. He turned to Travis, who had followed close on his heels. “Go get my saddlebags, kid. I left them at the livery when I came in on the stage.”
While Travis hurried down the street, Lucas glanced from one frowning, unfriendly face to another, some of them as weathered as the buildings in this forgotten town.
“The lady you’re all so concerned about,” he said tightly, “is no lady. She’s not a respectable young widow who was on her way to Montana Territory. She’s nothing
Similar Books
