Read Online After Sundown by Shelly Thacker - Free Book Online Page B

but money. And she’s got blood on her hands. My brother’s blood.”
    Everyone continued talking and debating with him, but Lucas decided to stop wasting his breath. He turned to Travis. “Where’s the telegraph office in this town?”
    “We don’t have a telegraph here, sir,” the kid said, stepping forward and looking pleased to be asked even a simple question. “Too high in the mountains. Too hard to string the wire up these ridges and keep the poles standing, what with all the winds. But the mail express ain’t left yet... uh, on account of you took one of the fresh horses they needed for the team.” He gestured toward the end of the street, where the coach still sat outside the stables. “My pa owns the livery. Stage’ll be leavin’ in the morning, if you want to send a letter.”
    Lucas grimaced. What he wanted was to send word home, to give his family a little peace by telling them he’d caught James’s killer—but he would arrive in St. Charles at the same time a letter would. “No, I don’t want to send a letter. But tell your pa I’m going to want two tickets on the stage. One way.” He headed back into the doctor’s house.
    Holt had closed the door to his examining room. Lucas opened it without knocking. The doctor turned on him with a glare.
    The pungent scent of smelling salts filled the room. Supported by the doctor’s female assistant, Antoinette was sitting up.
    And wearing nothing but her petticoat and her camisole, lifted so it just covered her breasts while Holt was wrapping a white bandage around her ribs.
    Lucas got an eyeful of porcelain skin and full, round breasts spilling over the scanty bit of cotton and lace and ribbon. Her dusky nipples showed through the thin fabric. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Their eyes met and she tried to cover herself better.
    But she couldn’t quite manage it with the handcuffs.
    Lucas felt like he’d just been kicked in the gut. “She fit to travel in the morning?” he demanded hoarsely.
    “No.” Holt left the rest of the bandaging to his assistant and stalked toward Lucas. “She needs rest—”
    “A day? Two days?”
    “Five or six weeks.” Holt curtly gestured for him to leave and followed him out, shutting the door behind them.
    “If that’s supposed to be a joke, Doc,” Lucas bit out, “it’s not real funny.”
    “Do you see me laughing, Marshal?” Holt retorted as they faced each other in the parlor. “She was just starting to recover. Just getting back on her feet after everything she’d been through—and then you ran her right off the side of the mountain.”
    “That what she told you?” Lucas scoffed.
    “What I’m telling you is you can’t take her anywhere until her ribs heal. She’d never make it down the mountain in this condition. I’ve taped her up, but out on the trails, getting jostled around in a stagecoach...” He shook his head. “One of the broken bones could puncture a lung.”
    “Well, Doc, accidents happen.”
    Holt’s gray eyes turned icy. “Are you listening to what I’m saying? She could die—”
    “And I’m supposed to care?”
    “Allow me to put this in language you understand, Marshal. If you’re responsible for this woman’s death, you’d better kiss that shiny badge of yours good-bye. You may be the biggest toad in the puddle down in Indian Territory, but this is Colorado. You don’t legally have jurisdiction here. I’m willing to bet you can’t even enforce your Missouri warrant here.”
    “It’s been taken care of,” Lucas replied slowly. Sometimes, having a famous reputation did prove to be useful. He narrowed his eyes. “You seem to have more than a passing knowledge of the law, Doctor. Makes me wonder how you came by it.”
    “The hard way.” Holt’s voice dropped lower, his stare unflinching. “Let’s just say I don’t have a big soft spot in my heart for lawmen—especially lawmen who use their badge as an excuse to do whatever the hell they please. You