Read Online Darby: Bride of Oregon (American Mail-Order Bride 33) by Bella Bowen - Free Book Online

and tossed her
cape over him. It was still warm from her body.
    “Thank you,” he whispered. His teeth began to
chatter, so he clamped them shut.
    Shadow moved out of her way. She smiled and nodded
at the man, then sat on the edge of the couch next to Rand’s hip. Her cool hand
rested on his forehead for a moment, her brow furrowed in concentration. Then
she met his eye.
    “I assume you’re the Phantom.” It wasn’t a
question.
    Shadow stepped forward. “Who was fool enough to
say such a thing?”
    She rolled her eyes. “No one. But I’m not blind,
am I?” She waved Shadow closer. “Can’t you bring a doctor in the same way I got
here?”
    Rand summoned his voice. “No doctor in his right
mind would save the life of the Phantom.” He chuckled. “I’ve done too well, you
see. I’ve painted him to be evil incarnate.”
    She nodded. “So I’ve heard. Selling some of your
fellow men into slavery and eating the rest?”
    “You make it sound so easy.” Suddenly feeling
talkative, he told her a brief history of the tunnels and Harrigan, and how the
man suspected the judge and the phantom were one and the same. So when he
thought Rand was with his new wife, he went after Jez. “But it was all a trap.
He left the cages empty on purpose, hoping I would have nothing better to do
than check on Jez.”
    Her sudden smile was cheerful, though forced. “Well
then, I’d say it was lucky for her you weren’t with your wife.”
    When she pressed hot cloths into his slashed flesh
to clean out the infection, Rand suspected she might be bitter about the way he’d
spent their wedding night. When she sewed his leg closed before the whisky had
time to numb him, he knew it for a fact.
    “It is only my suggestion, of course,” she said to
Shadow, “but if I were you, I would find a wheeled chair, disguise him as an
old man, and get him home. I’ll find a way to lure a doctor up to the house.”
She pointed to the desk. “Can you write?”
    Shadow nodded and completely ignored Rand while he
jumped to the woman’s bidding.
    “Have someone deliver this to the newspaper right
away,” she said. “Judge Rand Beauregard and Lady Darby McClintock, now Lord and
Lady Beauregard, are pleased to announce their marriage—put yesterday’s date—in
a private ceremony amongst their dearest friends. After the nuptials, they
departed for a traditional honeymoon along the coast. A reception will be held
to introduce the bride to her fellow citizens of Portland soon after their
return.”
    Rand summoned the energy to push himself up. “I
cannot leave the city, uh…”
    “Darby,” she said.
    “I cannot leave the cages, Darby.”
    She put her hands on her hips. “Then do not.”
    “Don’t leave town?” He didn’t understand.
    “Do not leave the cages. Are they indestructible?
If you destroy them, will it not buy you some time to get back on your feet?”
    He exchanged a look with Shadow. His friend seemed
just as surprised as he that they’d not thought of that delaying tactic. Of
course there would still be victims, but with the cages out of commission, even
for a few days, Harrigan would be seriously inconvenienced. And with his
operations more complicated, the police might have better luck catching the man
red-handed and be able to deal with him legally.
    “Don’t just sit there, Shadow. Get my clever wife
a drink.”
    “No, but I thank you just the same.” She bent close
to him and lowered her voice. “And let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Mr.
Beauregard. I’m not your wife just yet.” She wiggled her ring finger—her empty ring finger. “Now, who is going to show me how to retrace my steps through this
maze?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
     Darby wished she’d had an audience. Truly.
    As Nero led her back out into the wide alley and
through the labyrinth that would lead her back to Jezebel’s brothel, she had to
imagine the applause she would get if her fellow seamstresses from
Massachusetts could have watched