The Beholding, page 26
“Hey, be still!” Tommie ordered. Suddenly the tree looked very big and where he sat seemed far away from the trunk. “Better hurry’n get down.”
Just as Tommie strained toward the reins, a dark-haired man appeared over the hill bathed in sunlight. Mr. Nugget! With the fear of knowing he would get in trouble, Tommie grabbed for the reins, heard the branch break away from the tree, and felt himself falling, falling, falling.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Luke blinked away the remnants of the dream he didn’t want to finish. He had heard someone calling, calling, calling to him… at first from a long way off, then closer. But just as Luke reached out, the person’s face took form and contorted. Tommie’s mouth rounded into a scream. Cold sweat dampened Luke’s hairline and brow as he jolted up to a sitting position. The dream seemed too real.
Nugget had already risen. His blanket was rolled and stacked in one corner with a few other belongings. The cavern darkened considerably since Luke had fallen asleep this afternoon, and the air was much cooler. He would take a walk, stretch the soreness from his muscles and decide what his next move would be. Although Tess could make him leave her property, he was determined not to leave Georgetown until he had proven once and for all her innocence.
The passageway leading to the hillside took several minutes to walk. As he drew near the opening, Luke halted in mid-stride and strained to listen. A sound. Something human. A childlike whimper!
Running as fast as his legs would carry him, the bounty hunter burst through the mine opening and saw what his eyes dreaded. Tommie sprawled on the ground at an awkward angle with Talon pawing the earth next to him. A branch had broken away from the tree. Did he fall?
“Tommie! Son!” A thousand questions raced through Luke’s mind as he ran to the boy. His hands trembled as he checked to see if the child still breathed. Finding Tom alive, Luke tucked the boy under one arm, then mounted Talon. He had no time to make a travois or any other makeshift stretcher, no time to fetch his saddle. In a moment’s hesitation he thought to go get Tess, but even that might take too long. With a quick nudge to Talon’s flank, the bounty hunter spurred the dun into an all-out gallop toward Georgetown.
Tess and Jim walked back to the shack only to see Luke galloping away with something in his arms. “Guess he decided to go, after all,” she muttered, unsure whether or not she was glad about his leaving. She had a few more things to say to the man.
As she noted the breakneck speed at which he traveled, caution crept into her thoughts and made Tess shield her eyes and glare harder. “Good Heavens!” she yelled and began running toward the roan. “He’s got Tommie.”
“I told you he meant to have your boy, Contessa.” Jim ran to keep up. “He’s trying to steal him for you. Maybe use him as blackmail to get your mine.”
“Hurry,” Tess demanded. “We don’t have a moment to lose.” She didn’t allow the gambler time to saddle up in front of her but took possession of the reins and made him sit behind. Flicking the reins, she kicked the roan into a path-eating chase. As she wondered if she might catch Luke in time, Tess prayed with all her heart that her eyes had deceived her.
The going was slow and it seemed that every step forced a moan from Tommie’s lips and a prayer from Luke’s. The bounty hunter flinched with each whimper, feeling responsible for not having gotten to the child sooner. With each mile toward town, he begged for the boy’s life which had come to mean so much to him. Luke offered anything in return if Tommie would only wake and walk again.
When he finally reached town, Luke headed for the Barton House. Lionel rushed out to see what had happened.
“Fetch the doctor! Hurry, man!” Luke did not care that his voice broke and displayed every ounce of fear he felt. He carried the boy in and placed him in one of the downstairs beds. After spreading covers to keep him warm, the bounty hunter heated the stove to boil water and gathered fresh rags for the doctor.
The doctor came quickly. Lionel made swift introductions, then guided Doc Hammond to the boy. Luke and Lionel crowded around the bed as the gray-haired, bespectacled physician examined the boy.
Hammond stared over his glass rims at Luke. “A fall?”
Luke nodded solemnly.
“How far?” Hammond pressed various parts of the small body.
“From a tree. Maybe eight feet.” Dread filled Luke’s tone.
“This boy crippled?” Hammond examined the bruises on Tommie’s hips.
“Yes.”
“How long? One hip always been bigger than the other?”
“All his life, I think,” Luke answered, recalling everything Tess had ever told him about her son, wishing he knew more.
“Well, you’re lucky. Only the big hip’s broken. It would be a good time to take out part of the bone.”
“Then he’s going to live?” Luke’s breath hissed out in relief.
“Got a lick in the head, but thank God in His goodness, He planned on little boys being rambunctious.”
Luke’s shoulders sagged, and he absently wiped his eye.
The doctor placed a comforting hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, mister. Your son’s gonna have a powerful headache, but he’ll pull through. It’s this hip that’s gonna trouble him a lot worse unless you let me break it and set it as it should have been two years ago. He would have a good chance of walking better if you do. Now, I can’t promise to rid him of the limp entirely, but it won’t be near as noticeable as it’s been. Won’t swell so much either, if you’ll make him do all the exercises I suggest.”
“You can do that?” Luke blinked. My son. The doctor’s assumption sunk in. Yes, he loved Tommie Harper as surely as if he were his own.
Hammond nodded solemnly. “It won’t be an easy convalescence. In fact, my suggestion would be to take him, carefully mind you, to Idaho Springs so he can use the mineral water to heal faster. The boy would think he’s having fun instead of exercising.”
“I’ll get him there. You have my word.”
“All I need right now is your approval to correct the bone.” Impatience carved the doctor’s face.
Luke hesitated. He would have hell to pay when Tess found out. “It will make him walk easier?”
“Much easier.”
“Then do it.” The boy’s health was all that mattered.
Minutes ticked by as Luke waited in the parlor of the Barton House watching Lionel pace up and down the carpet. The front door suddenly opened and a barrel-chested man entered, followed closely by Tess and Jim.
“We saw your horse outside, Reeves. Brought the sheriff with us.” Jim wiped his feet on the rug. “Sheriff Mason, this is the man you’re looking for.”
“Where’s Tommie?” Tess’s eyes blazed in anger.
“In there.” Luke motioned with one hand, exhaling a long sigh. “Having his hip reset.”
“Hip reset!” Tess’s face drained of color. “What happened?”
“He fell from a tree, near as I can tell. I saw a broken branch and can only guess that’s what happened.”
Tess waited to hear no further explanations and ran into the room Luke had indicated.
“You sure it was an accident?” Jim’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“What are you implying?” Luke moved toward the gambler, but the sheriff instantly blocked both men.
Mason’s nostrils flared at the smell of the medicines Doc Hammon steamed on the stove. “Now, I ain’t taking sides, but Mr. Daggert here brought up a few questions I’d like to talk to you about.”
Luke flashed Daggert a murderous scowl that warned he would take care of him later. To the sheriff, he replied, “Let’s discuss this outside.”
Mason agreed and noted that the bounty hunter wasn’t armed. He knew for a fact the man was a gunsharp. The accusations the gambler had made against Reeves didn’t seem likely, but Daggert had talked sense too. Every man from here to Silver Plume would try to string up the bounty hunter if he didn’t check out Reeves’s story and pass the word around. When they reached the front porch, Mason propped one leg over the railing and crossed his arms.
“Okay, let’s have it. What is it you want?” Luke stopped several feet away.
“A few answers.”
“Depends on the questions.” Luke’s gaze met Mason’s.
“Did you hurt the boy?”
“No.”
Mason had to look away from the bounty hunter’s intense regard. “Why does Daggert mink you did?”
Luke sized the man up from head to toe and found him lacking. “Ask him.”
“I’m asking you.”
The sheriff outweighed him a good thirty pounds. He had fists the size of bear paws but was probably just as lumbering. “I don’t speak another man’s business,” Luke answered. “Just my own.”
“What were you doing before you found Tommie Harper?”
Luke related how he awakened, thinking he had only dreamed about Tommie, realizing now that he had actually heard the boy yell.
Mason stood and uncrossed his arms, firing his next question. “What are you doing at Harper Hall?”
So this was his real concern. Luke knew the kind of man he faced now. Anytime a man of Luke’s profession arrived in town, the local sheriff always felt a bit threatened. Well, this particular lawman could lay his worries to rest. Luke no more wanted to make this a permanent home than Tess wanted to be bossed. “I guided Mrs. Harper and her boy from Fort Smith to here.”
“Why are you staying now that’s done?”
“I got to have a reason to stay?” Luke’s hands dipped into his back pockets. How much of this was Mason’s curiosity and how much was fueled by Daggert’s?
Mason’s lips compressed and a muscle ticked in his rounded jaw. “There any truth you’re nosing around trying to learn about the salting that’s going on around here?”
Luke faced Mason directly. The Denver Stock Exchange did want to know who was behind planting enough gold in the worthless mines to make certain they drew the attention of gullible buyers. “Maybe.”
Mason looked surprised by Luke’s bluntness. “Then maybe you’ve got reason to want that lady’s mine all for yourself.”
Luke’s hand snapped away from his pockets, and he remembered he no longer wore a holster. “Am I being accused of something, Sheriff? If so, state your charges or let me go. I’ve got a little boy in there who needs me to take him somewhere. If you’re going to lock me up, then do it. If not, then go about your business and let me go about mine.”
“I’ll leave you alone for now,” Mason warned, hitching his holster higher. “Until the boy gets better and can speak for himself. Wanna reconsider telling me about whatever the hell it is you’re hiding?”
Luke noticed Mason observing his weaponless state. Gun or no gun, Luke figured he could take the man if necessary. Mason seemed too interested in the salters. Since the scams had been going on for nearly four years, whoever brought in the culprits would probably become a local hero. Small wonder Mason thought he was trying to grab some of that glory.
He acknowledged the tin star on the lawman’s left pocket. “You talk to him all you want, Sheriff, but after I take him to Idaho Springs and get him well.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Icy fingers of fear gripped Tess’s heart. “What do you mean there’s nothing more you can do?”
“Exactly what I said. I’ll make him as comfortable as possible, but now it’s all up to the boy.”
When the bounty hunter walked into the bedroom unannounced, Tess attempted to hide her distress about the doctor’s verdict, but Luke’s gaze was too piercing, too knowing.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, reaching for her.
She jerked away, moving closer to Tommie’s bed. “Dr. Hammond says there’s nothing more he can do for Tom.”
“What’s she babbling about?” Luke’s attention shifted to the weary doctor.
Hammond’s face paled beneath the bounty hunter’s intense regard. “It’s just that your boy’s color is not good. His body underwent a shock. The bone is set. His hip will heal, but that’s an awful nasty bruise on it. It’ll take time and some gentle exercise.”
Luke scowled. “I meant to ask you. Doesn’t that bruise look a bit strange to you?”
“What are you implying?” Tess asked before Hammond could speak.
“That it was awfully long and funny-shaped. Could a fall do that?”
The doctor nodded. “It’s possible. My guess is the horse shied and kicked him.”
“Not Talon,” Tess and Luke said in unison.
Hammond shrugged. “You said the branch had broken loose about eight feet off the trunk?”
“A rough estimate.”
“Then it’s possible a fall could do it. All I do know is that he’s had an awfully bad fall and he’s lucky it wasn’t worse.” Hammond placed his instruments into the black bag, then handed Tess a paper. “Take this list of exercises and follow them religiously when he gets well enough to move. I wouldn’t count myself much of a physician if I didn’t tell you the truth, little lady. That boy doesn’t need to get a fever now; I doubt he could fight it off.”
Tess rose. “Stay. I know you’re tired, but you can’t just leave.”
“Ma’am, I’ve been at Ogden Perigrew’s place since yesterday, and setting your boy’s bones wasn’t a snap of the fingers, by any means.”
“Maybe if you have some coffee or rest awhile—”
“Tess, don’t do this to yourself.” Luke attempted to comfort her, but she wouldn’t let him.
“You worked on my son without my permission.”
“Your husband said—”
“He’s not my husband.”
“God in Heaven, lady, I didn’t know!” Hammond motioned toward the bounty hunter, braving a direct look at Luke. “He gave me permission. The way he carried on, I thought he was the boy’s father.”
Hammond gathered a few more things, tossing them into his black bag. “I’ll leave you two with the boy. Fetch me if … well, Lionel knows where I’ll be. Keep the child calm and lying flat.”
When the doctor left the room, Lionel stuck his face around the door and asked, “How’s the little fella?”
Luke’s expression never changed. “Keep fresh water coming.”
The lantern jaw lengthened. “Will do,” Lionel whispered, then closed the door softly behind him.
“Tessa, look at me.” Luke gently pushed her away to demand that she face him. “I did the right thing. Tommie will be better for it. You do want him to walk easier, don’t you?”
She blinked back tears, staring into his eyes, wanting to hope, desperately needing to believe. Yet how could she? This man had lied to her. Suddenly she could no longer endure the false comfort of his touch. “You’re right,” she said, gathering strength from deep within and moving away from Luke’s strong arms. “He will, but I’m the one who’ll make sure he does. Tommie will never be yours. Get your lawyers and your judge. Take me to trial. I hope this job’s worth it to you.”
“How did you find out about my investigation?” Luke asked, exasperated because she shrank away from his touch every time he reached out to comfort her. “Are you guilty, Tessa?”
“Does it matter? You’ve obviously assumed I was, or else why did you help us get here? I thought Clifton and my father used me. At least their reasons were to line their pockets. Yours was only to hurt.”
“I never meant you harm, Tessa.”
“You didn’t think it would hurt me to discover that you were playing me for a fool? It wouldn’t hurt to fall in love with you and think I didn’t measure up in some way? That I didn’t mean enough to give you reason to stay? Or that if you turn me in, my son will have to return to my so-called parents?”
“Your parents?” He never considered the possibility that the boy would have to live with the folks Tess mistrusted so deeply. “I never thought—”
“You didn’t care.”
Low and piercing as sharp-edged steel, her words cut him to the quick. “You’ve got every right to feel the way you do,” he told her, holding his palms up in front of him as if to surrender to her justice. “When I started this investigation, I intended to turn you in. But I didn’t count on one thing, Tess.” He stepped closer. “I fell in love with you.”
He took hope in the glimmer of longing written in her gaze when it locked and held his own before Tess began to shake her head slowly to deny his words.
“Then I began to realize you were innocent,” he continued. “The allegations were just that—allegations. You were loyal and caring. You saved my life when letting me die would have made escape much easier. That alone might have persuaded me, but, Tess, I’d lived by my word so long that it was all I could trust. I was afraid not to take you in. Afraid that if I didn’t honor my word, I would no longer have anything to anchor me. Anything to count on.”
“And now?” she whispered.
“I found out there’s something worth trusting more. Not people, not words, but a feeling so strong nothing on this world can break it.” He demanded her gaze and got it. “No matter how many things make you seem guilty, I’m not going to take you in. In fact, I intend to do everything within my power to find the real culprits behind the scams.”
She didn’t say anything, her silence causing each beat of his heart to drum louder in his ears.
Tommie moaned, attempting to turn on his newly set hip.
“Get Lionel in here with some water,” she ordered. “He’ll quit tossing and turning if I can keep him cool.”
Luke stood there staring, wondering if he should leave but laying all his trust in her hands.
“Well, if you intend to save me, then save my son as well. So get on with it, will you?”
The possibility that Luke had spoken the truth warmed the chill that had gripped Tess’s heart since the gambler had showed her the report. Once Tommie’s health improved, she would consider telling Luke everything as well. But would he change his mind about turning her in, after he discovered she was truly guilty of the Hot Springs scams? Could he still love her once he knew?
Just as Tommie strained toward the reins, a dark-haired man appeared over the hill bathed in sunlight. Mr. Nugget! With the fear of knowing he would get in trouble, Tommie grabbed for the reins, heard the branch break away from the tree, and felt himself falling, falling, falling.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Luke blinked away the remnants of the dream he didn’t want to finish. He had heard someone calling, calling, calling to him… at first from a long way off, then closer. But just as Luke reached out, the person’s face took form and contorted. Tommie’s mouth rounded into a scream. Cold sweat dampened Luke’s hairline and brow as he jolted up to a sitting position. The dream seemed too real.
Nugget had already risen. His blanket was rolled and stacked in one corner with a few other belongings. The cavern darkened considerably since Luke had fallen asleep this afternoon, and the air was much cooler. He would take a walk, stretch the soreness from his muscles and decide what his next move would be. Although Tess could make him leave her property, he was determined not to leave Georgetown until he had proven once and for all her innocence.
The passageway leading to the hillside took several minutes to walk. As he drew near the opening, Luke halted in mid-stride and strained to listen. A sound. Something human. A childlike whimper!
Running as fast as his legs would carry him, the bounty hunter burst through the mine opening and saw what his eyes dreaded. Tommie sprawled on the ground at an awkward angle with Talon pawing the earth next to him. A branch had broken away from the tree. Did he fall?
“Tommie! Son!” A thousand questions raced through Luke’s mind as he ran to the boy. His hands trembled as he checked to see if the child still breathed. Finding Tom alive, Luke tucked the boy under one arm, then mounted Talon. He had no time to make a travois or any other makeshift stretcher, no time to fetch his saddle. In a moment’s hesitation he thought to go get Tess, but even that might take too long. With a quick nudge to Talon’s flank, the bounty hunter spurred the dun into an all-out gallop toward Georgetown.
Tess and Jim walked back to the shack only to see Luke galloping away with something in his arms. “Guess he decided to go, after all,” she muttered, unsure whether or not she was glad about his leaving. She had a few more things to say to the man.
As she noted the breakneck speed at which he traveled, caution crept into her thoughts and made Tess shield her eyes and glare harder. “Good Heavens!” she yelled and began running toward the roan. “He’s got Tommie.”
“I told you he meant to have your boy, Contessa.” Jim ran to keep up. “He’s trying to steal him for you. Maybe use him as blackmail to get your mine.”
“Hurry,” Tess demanded. “We don’t have a moment to lose.” She didn’t allow the gambler time to saddle up in front of her but took possession of the reins and made him sit behind. Flicking the reins, she kicked the roan into a path-eating chase. As she wondered if she might catch Luke in time, Tess prayed with all her heart that her eyes had deceived her.
The going was slow and it seemed that every step forced a moan from Tommie’s lips and a prayer from Luke’s. The bounty hunter flinched with each whimper, feeling responsible for not having gotten to the child sooner. With each mile toward town, he begged for the boy’s life which had come to mean so much to him. Luke offered anything in return if Tommie would only wake and walk again.
When he finally reached town, Luke headed for the Barton House. Lionel rushed out to see what had happened.
“Fetch the doctor! Hurry, man!” Luke did not care that his voice broke and displayed every ounce of fear he felt. He carried the boy in and placed him in one of the downstairs beds. After spreading covers to keep him warm, the bounty hunter heated the stove to boil water and gathered fresh rags for the doctor.
The doctor came quickly. Lionel made swift introductions, then guided Doc Hammond to the boy. Luke and Lionel crowded around the bed as the gray-haired, bespectacled physician examined the boy.
Hammond stared over his glass rims at Luke. “A fall?”
Luke nodded solemnly.
“How far?” Hammond pressed various parts of the small body.
“From a tree. Maybe eight feet.” Dread filled Luke’s tone.
“This boy crippled?” Hammond examined the bruises on Tommie’s hips.
“Yes.”
“How long? One hip always been bigger than the other?”
“All his life, I think,” Luke answered, recalling everything Tess had ever told him about her son, wishing he knew more.
“Well, you’re lucky. Only the big hip’s broken. It would be a good time to take out part of the bone.”
“Then he’s going to live?” Luke’s breath hissed out in relief.
“Got a lick in the head, but thank God in His goodness, He planned on little boys being rambunctious.”
Luke’s shoulders sagged, and he absently wiped his eye.
The doctor placed a comforting hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, mister. Your son’s gonna have a powerful headache, but he’ll pull through. It’s this hip that’s gonna trouble him a lot worse unless you let me break it and set it as it should have been two years ago. He would have a good chance of walking better if you do. Now, I can’t promise to rid him of the limp entirely, but it won’t be near as noticeable as it’s been. Won’t swell so much either, if you’ll make him do all the exercises I suggest.”
“You can do that?” Luke blinked. My son. The doctor’s assumption sunk in. Yes, he loved Tommie Harper as surely as if he were his own.
Hammond nodded solemnly. “It won’t be an easy convalescence. In fact, my suggestion would be to take him, carefully mind you, to Idaho Springs so he can use the mineral water to heal faster. The boy would think he’s having fun instead of exercising.”
“I’ll get him there. You have my word.”
“All I need right now is your approval to correct the bone.” Impatience carved the doctor’s face.
Luke hesitated. He would have hell to pay when Tess found out. “It will make him walk easier?”
“Much easier.”
“Then do it.” The boy’s health was all that mattered.
Minutes ticked by as Luke waited in the parlor of the Barton House watching Lionel pace up and down the carpet. The front door suddenly opened and a barrel-chested man entered, followed closely by Tess and Jim.
“We saw your horse outside, Reeves. Brought the sheriff with us.” Jim wiped his feet on the rug. “Sheriff Mason, this is the man you’re looking for.”
“Where’s Tommie?” Tess’s eyes blazed in anger.
“In there.” Luke motioned with one hand, exhaling a long sigh. “Having his hip reset.”
“Hip reset!” Tess’s face drained of color. “What happened?”
“He fell from a tree, near as I can tell. I saw a broken branch and can only guess that’s what happened.”
Tess waited to hear no further explanations and ran into the room Luke had indicated.
“You sure it was an accident?” Jim’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“What are you implying?” Luke moved toward the gambler, but the sheriff instantly blocked both men.
Mason’s nostrils flared at the smell of the medicines Doc Hammon steamed on the stove. “Now, I ain’t taking sides, but Mr. Daggert here brought up a few questions I’d like to talk to you about.”
Luke flashed Daggert a murderous scowl that warned he would take care of him later. To the sheriff, he replied, “Let’s discuss this outside.”
Mason agreed and noted that the bounty hunter wasn’t armed. He knew for a fact the man was a gunsharp. The accusations the gambler had made against Reeves didn’t seem likely, but Daggert had talked sense too. Every man from here to Silver Plume would try to string up the bounty hunter if he didn’t check out Reeves’s story and pass the word around. When they reached the front porch, Mason propped one leg over the railing and crossed his arms.
“Okay, let’s have it. What is it you want?” Luke stopped several feet away.
“A few answers.”
“Depends on the questions.” Luke’s gaze met Mason’s.
“Did you hurt the boy?”
“No.”
Mason had to look away from the bounty hunter’s intense regard. “Why does Daggert mink you did?”
Luke sized the man up from head to toe and found him lacking. “Ask him.”
“I’m asking you.”
The sheriff outweighed him a good thirty pounds. He had fists the size of bear paws but was probably just as lumbering. “I don’t speak another man’s business,” Luke answered. “Just my own.”
“What were you doing before you found Tommie Harper?”
Luke related how he awakened, thinking he had only dreamed about Tommie, realizing now that he had actually heard the boy yell.
Mason stood and uncrossed his arms, firing his next question. “What are you doing at Harper Hall?”
So this was his real concern. Luke knew the kind of man he faced now. Anytime a man of Luke’s profession arrived in town, the local sheriff always felt a bit threatened. Well, this particular lawman could lay his worries to rest. Luke no more wanted to make this a permanent home than Tess wanted to be bossed. “I guided Mrs. Harper and her boy from Fort Smith to here.”
“Why are you staying now that’s done?”
“I got to have a reason to stay?” Luke’s hands dipped into his back pockets. How much of this was Mason’s curiosity and how much was fueled by Daggert’s?
Mason’s lips compressed and a muscle ticked in his rounded jaw. “There any truth you’re nosing around trying to learn about the salting that’s going on around here?”
Luke faced Mason directly. The Denver Stock Exchange did want to know who was behind planting enough gold in the worthless mines to make certain they drew the attention of gullible buyers. “Maybe.”
Mason looked surprised by Luke’s bluntness. “Then maybe you’ve got reason to want that lady’s mine all for yourself.”
Luke’s hand snapped away from his pockets, and he remembered he no longer wore a holster. “Am I being accused of something, Sheriff? If so, state your charges or let me go. I’ve got a little boy in there who needs me to take him somewhere. If you’re going to lock me up, then do it. If not, then go about your business and let me go about mine.”
“I’ll leave you alone for now,” Mason warned, hitching his holster higher. “Until the boy gets better and can speak for himself. Wanna reconsider telling me about whatever the hell it is you’re hiding?”
Luke noticed Mason observing his weaponless state. Gun or no gun, Luke figured he could take the man if necessary. Mason seemed too interested in the salters. Since the scams had been going on for nearly four years, whoever brought in the culprits would probably become a local hero. Small wonder Mason thought he was trying to grab some of that glory.
He acknowledged the tin star on the lawman’s left pocket. “You talk to him all you want, Sheriff, but after I take him to Idaho Springs and get him well.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Icy fingers of fear gripped Tess’s heart. “What do you mean there’s nothing more you can do?”
“Exactly what I said. I’ll make him as comfortable as possible, but now it’s all up to the boy.”
When the bounty hunter walked into the bedroom unannounced, Tess attempted to hide her distress about the doctor’s verdict, but Luke’s gaze was too piercing, too knowing.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, reaching for her.
She jerked away, moving closer to Tommie’s bed. “Dr. Hammond says there’s nothing more he can do for Tom.”
“What’s she babbling about?” Luke’s attention shifted to the weary doctor.
Hammond’s face paled beneath the bounty hunter’s intense regard. “It’s just that your boy’s color is not good. His body underwent a shock. The bone is set. His hip will heal, but that’s an awful nasty bruise on it. It’ll take time and some gentle exercise.”
Luke scowled. “I meant to ask you. Doesn’t that bruise look a bit strange to you?”
“What are you implying?” Tess asked before Hammond could speak.
“That it was awfully long and funny-shaped. Could a fall do that?”
The doctor nodded. “It’s possible. My guess is the horse shied and kicked him.”
“Not Talon,” Tess and Luke said in unison.
Hammond shrugged. “You said the branch had broken loose about eight feet off the trunk?”
“A rough estimate.”
“Then it’s possible a fall could do it. All I do know is that he’s had an awfully bad fall and he’s lucky it wasn’t worse.” Hammond placed his instruments into the black bag, then handed Tess a paper. “Take this list of exercises and follow them religiously when he gets well enough to move. I wouldn’t count myself much of a physician if I didn’t tell you the truth, little lady. That boy doesn’t need to get a fever now; I doubt he could fight it off.”
Tess rose. “Stay. I know you’re tired, but you can’t just leave.”
“Ma’am, I’ve been at Ogden Perigrew’s place since yesterday, and setting your boy’s bones wasn’t a snap of the fingers, by any means.”
“Maybe if you have some coffee or rest awhile—”
“Tess, don’t do this to yourself.” Luke attempted to comfort her, but she wouldn’t let him.
“You worked on my son without my permission.”
“Your husband said—”
“He’s not my husband.”
“God in Heaven, lady, I didn’t know!” Hammond motioned toward the bounty hunter, braving a direct look at Luke. “He gave me permission. The way he carried on, I thought he was the boy’s father.”
Hammond gathered a few more things, tossing them into his black bag. “I’ll leave you two with the boy. Fetch me if … well, Lionel knows where I’ll be. Keep the child calm and lying flat.”
When the doctor left the room, Lionel stuck his face around the door and asked, “How’s the little fella?”
Luke’s expression never changed. “Keep fresh water coming.”
The lantern jaw lengthened. “Will do,” Lionel whispered, then closed the door softly behind him.
“Tessa, look at me.” Luke gently pushed her away to demand that she face him. “I did the right thing. Tommie will be better for it. You do want him to walk easier, don’t you?”
She blinked back tears, staring into his eyes, wanting to hope, desperately needing to believe. Yet how could she? This man had lied to her. Suddenly she could no longer endure the false comfort of his touch. “You’re right,” she said, gathering strength from deep within and moving away from Luke’s strong arms. “He will, but I’m the one who’ll make sure he does. Tommie will never be yours. Get your lawyers and your judge. Take me to trial. I hope this job’s worth it to you.”
“How did you find out about my investigation?” Luke asked, exasperated because she shrank away from his touch every time he reached out to comfort her. “Are you guilty, Tessa?”
“Does it matter? You’ve obviously assumed I was, or else why did you help us get here? I thought Clifton and my father used me. At least their reasons were to line their pockets. Yours was only to hurt.”
“I never meant you harm, Tessa.”
“You didn’t think it would hurt me to discover that you were playing me for a fool? It wouldn’t hurt to fall in love with you and think I didn’t measure up in some way? That I didn’t mean enough to give you reason to stay? Or that if you turn me in, my son will have to return to my so-called parents?”
“Your parents?” He never considered the possibility that the boy would have to live with the folks Tess mistrusted so deeply. “I never thought—”
“You didn’t care.”
Low and piercing as sharp-edged steel, her words cut him to the quick. “You’ve got every right to feel the way you do,” he told her, holding his palms up in front of him as if to surrender to her justice. “When I started this investigation, I intended to turn you in. But I didn’t count on one thing, Tess.” He stepped closer. “I fell in love with you.”
He took hope in the glimmer of longing written in her gaze when it locked and held his own before Tess began to shake her head slowly to deny his words.
“Then I began to realize you were innocent,” he continued. “The allegations were just that—allegations. You were loyal and caring. You saved my life when letting me die would have made escape much easier. That alone might have persuaded me, but, Tess, I’d lived by my word so long that it was all I could trust. I was afraid not to take you in. Afraid that if I didn’t honor my word, I would no longer have anything to anchor me. Anything to count on.”
“And now?” she whispered.
“I found out there’s something worth trusting more. Not people, not words, but a feeling so strong nothing on this world can break it.” He demanded her gaze and got it. “No matter how many things make you seem guilty, I’m not going to take you in. In fact, I intend to do everything within my power to find the real culprits behind the scams.”
She didn’t say anything, her silence causing each beat of his heart to drum louder in his ears.
Tommie moaned, attempting to turn on his newly set hip.
“Get Lionel in here with some water,” she ordered. “He’ll quit tossing and turning if I can keep him cool.”
Luke stood there staring, wondering if he should leave but laying all his trust in her hands.
“Well, if you intend to save me, then save my son as well. So get on with it, will you?”
The possibility that Luke had spoken the truth warmed the chill that had gripped Tess’s heart since the gambler had showed her the report. Once Tommie’s health improved, she would consider telling Luke everything as well. But would he change his mind about turning her in, after he discovered she was truly guilty of the Hot Springs scams? Could he still love her once he knew?
