Page 31

D evlin turned over in bed, dragging the light blanket with him, then flipped his pillow, looking for the cool side. And it didn’t work. No matter what he tried, he wasn’t able to sleep, though he had no clue as to why.

He lay in the darkness for a long time then smiled. He knew exactly why he couldn’t sleep.

Mrs. Tresia Morgan.

He shouldn’t have kissed her, but it just felt so right, and he didn’t regret it in the least. He wasn’t sure if she did or not.

She’d seemed flustered, but only for a moment, and when he kissed her again, she responded, her lips conforming to his, the warmth of her mouth like a drug he couldn’t get enough of.

He would have kept on kissing her if Avery hadn’t giggled, reminding him where he was and who he was with.

Avery hadn’t seemed to mind that he had kissed Tresia.

He had to admit that he enjoyed seeing her each morning and then again at the end of the day, their ritual of talking over coffee or playing chess.

Everything everyone had said about her was true.

She was warm and friendly and compassionate and like Hannah, one of the most beautiful women he’d ever known, with her pansy-colored eyes and auburn hair, but she was so much more.

It was her innate kindness, her willingness to accept everyone for who they were—her inner beauty—that drew him.

Avery, who’d barely spoken two words when he’d rescued her from Frances, had become, in such a short time with Tresia, the talkative, exuberant little girl he knew and loved.

Now, she was hardly ever quiet and that was all right with him.

She was joyful again, something she hadn’t been in a long time.

He was happy, too, as impossible as that seemed.

He didn’t think he’d ever feel this way again and yet, here he was, grinning in the darkness like an idiot.

Tresia had done that. She’d used whatever magic she possessed—and he was convinced it was magic—to make them both feel almost whole, like they were worthy of happiness.

I’m in love with her .

The words reverberated in his head, not with thunderbolts and lightning, but with a gentleness that swept through him and brought him peace.

He turned over, punched his pillow one more time, and closed his eyes, but sleep still didn’t come.

He should just get up, get a start on his day, but didn’t want to leave the warmth of his bed.

He rolled onto his back, folded his hands behind his head and let his mind drift and closed his eyes…

until a loud, persistent knocking on the front door startled him.

He darted out of bed, pulled on his trousers and boots, shrugged into a shirt and got his gun belt, then rushed downstairs before the noise woke Avery. He buckled on his guns just before he opened the door.

The flash of light from the lantern nearly blinded him as the figure on the porch raised it up. He blinked rapidly until his eyes became accustomed to the light. It only took a moment more before he recognized one of Josie’s girls. She was half sobbing and there was blood on her dress.

“Corianna? What’s happened?”

“Nate told me to come get you,” she blurted out amid a fresh wave of tears. “Josie’s been stabbed.” She looked down at her hands. “There was so much blood. I don’t….”

“Come in.” He led her into the kitchen and pulled out a chair for her to sit. “Now tell me what happened.”

“A man was trying to get Valentine to go upstairs with him. She didn’t want to.

She was afraid. He was hurting her. She was crying and begging him to stop but he just kept on hurting her.

Josie tried to stop him.” She gulped in air.

“Lily tried to help, too. The man…he…he…he pulled out a knife and stabbed Josie. Stabbed them both.”

“Is that man still there?”

“No. He ran out of the house, almost knocking me down.”

“Do you know who he is?”

“I’ve never seen him before. He wasn’t one of our regulars.”

“Do you know which direction he went?”

She shook her head, gulped in more air, then swiped at her eyes, smearing the kohl a little.

“Where is Nate now?”

“He’s at the house, talking to the other girls. I went to get Doctor Ben before I told Nate what happened.”

“You did good, Corianna.”

“It wasn’t enough.” Whatever calmness she managed to achieve disappeared and she dissolved into tears again. “What if…what if Josie…” She wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

“Doctor Ben is with her, right?”

She nodded and pulled in a shuddering breath. “Oh, I forgot. His wife, Lucy, is coming to watch your daughter. She had to get dressed. I’m sorry.”

A quick knock sounded on the backdoor a few minutes later and Lucy walked into the kitchen. “I’ll stay with Corianna and Avery. You go. I’m sure Nate is waiting.”

Devlin left the house at a run, stopping briefly to pick up Challenger from the stable behind the Marshal’s Office, then rode out to Josie’s parlor house at the edge of town.

He walked into chaos. Josie’s girls were in various stages of tears, sobbing, barely coherent.

Except one, who looked angry enough to spit nails.

Lily, the unofficial protector of the group, had Nate backed into a corner, her voice raised in distress as he tried to take notes, writing as quickly as he could in his little notebook.

“The marshal is here!” One of the girls cried out.

Nate turned to look at him, then pointed up the staircase. Without a word, he took the stairs two at a time and stopped in the hallway. Through an open bedroom door he saw Doctor Ben Hart, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

His gaze drifted to the woman on the bed. Josie wasn’t moving. Her bloody gown was bunched at her sides, as if Ben had had to use scissors to cut her clothes away, and blood-soaked cotton pads were strewn on the floor around him.

Bile rose in his throat. It wasn’t the sight of so much blood that had him swallowing hard—it was the knowledge of what it meant. He’d seen belly wounds before, from both gunshot and knives. What he saw didn’t bode well.

His focus shifted from her belly to her chest. He didn’t see it rise, but that could just be his eyes playing tricks on him. Still, he had hope…until his gaze moved to the woman’s face. He’d met Josie several times in the course of his official marshal duties and liked her very much.

“How is she?”

Ben Hart turned toward him and shook his head.

Devlin didn’t know if that meant her wounds were so bad she wouldn’t survive…

or if she was dead. He didn’t ask, but then, he didn’t need to as the doctor pulled the stethoscope from his ears, wrapped it around his neck and slowly brought the blanket up to cover her.

Anger flared in him. This shouldn’t happen in his town. Hell, this shouldn’t happen in any town. Ever.

He went downstairs to find Nate now questioning Valentina, Lily behind her with her hand resting on the woman’s shoulder. It wasn’t going well.

“Did he give his name?”

She shook her head as fresh tears consumed her.

“What did he look like, Val?” Nate asked, his voice gentle.

“Mean,” Valentina responded, which wasn’t helpful at all. Her eye, which was all red, was beginning to swell and close. Her lip had been split and trickled blood. He could see the marks on her arms where he assumed the man had grabbed her.

“Dark hair or light?” Nate persisted, but it was obvious he was becoming frustrated.

“Dark.”

“Tall or short?”

She looked at him as she pulled her ripped wrapper closer around her body as if to protect herself, her eye, the one not swollen, shiny with tears and looking glazed from shock. Devlin didn’t think she would be able to answer any more questions or even give a decent description.

He approached cautiously. “Let me try,” he said, careful to keep his voice calm though he felt anything but calm. He crouched down in front of Valentine but never had the chance to say a word.

“Why are you asking her all these questions? Can’t you see she can’t answer them.” Lily didn’t yell, but her voice was strident.

He couldn’t say he blamed her. Someone taking advantage of soiled doves wasn’t out of the ordinary. It happened though it shouldn’t.

“You’re not going to do anything, anyway. You don’t care if one of us gets hurt.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Lily.” He rose up and looked her straight in the eye. “I’m not like other lawmen. Neither are my deputies. We’ll take care of it.”

She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “I don’t believe you.”

“Doesn’t matter if you believe me or not.

” He turned his attention to Valentine. “Will you come down to the Marshal’s Office with me?

I want you to look at some Wanted posters we have.

If you don’t see the man who did this in one of them, we can talk to Merrill.

He’s pretty good with a pencil and paper.

If you can describe the man to him, he can draw him.

” He raised her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Can you do that for me?”

Valentine shook her head but didn’t speak and he knew she wouldn’t be able to do as he asked. She was too distressed, too distraught, to remember things clearly. He turned his attention to Lily. “You saw him.”

Lily nodded as her lips tightened and redness crept into her cheeks.

She didn’t look like she’d shed any tears.

In fact, her eyes were sparked with fury.

It was then he saw the wound. She was holding a square of medical cotton, which he assumed Doctor Ben had given her, against her skin between her shoulder and her neck.

The square was bloody. She didn’t seem as concerned for herself as she was for Valentine.

“Maybe you should sit down, Lily.”

“That’s what I told her,” Nate said from across the room as he spoke to another one of the girls.

Devlin led her and Valentine to a sofa. “Sit.” He waited until they did, then said, “Talk to me.”