In a Cowboy’s Arms (8 page)

If she hadn’t been attracted to him, then maybe she could continue that ruse. But even if that were so, continuing this deception wasn’t fair to him or to Daisy. Brother and sister deserved to be reunited.

How could she tell him the truth?

She couldn’t. It was too risky to contemplate. He was a lawman, and he’d not rest until he knew her real name. Telling him would just be another loose thread for Whit to pick up on.

No, she’d have to choose a new identity. She’d have to disappear in St. Louis and hope Dade Logan never found her again.

Dade perked up when Doc’s buggy passed the jail, but his relief vanished when he realized that Maggie Sutten wasn’t with Doc. He tossed a disgruntled glance at his snoring prisoner before heading out the door.

He looked over at the general store. He doubted Doc had dropped her off there before continuing on to the livery. Hell, he wondered if she’d even come back to Placid.

Anger boiled in his gut as he strode down the street, his long legs eating up the distance in minutes. Running off was just what he’d expect of a thief. If she had gotten away, he’d likely never set eyes on her again.

Unless he went after her right now.

Doc climbed from the buggy with effort, then reached back to retrieve his black bag. He turned toward the street just as Dade reached the livery.

Before he could fire off a question, Doc raised a hand to stop him. “Daisy stayed with the Orshlins to help thenew mother and babies. She’ll likely be there a few more days. Maybe a week.”

So she hadn’t run off. “That her idea or yours?”

“Mine. She’s needed there, and she wanted to help.” Doc grabbed his cane and started across the street, his gait as shaky as Dade’s thoughts.

He couldn’t fault her for that. Going to the aid of a stranger proved Maggie Sutten had a good heart, even if she was a thief and a liar.

“Yesterday, a bounty hunter came to Placid looking for a woman,” Dade said when he caught up with the doctor. “Margaret Sutten is her name.”

Doc stared at him, his expression conveying annoyance. “Don’t recall hearing the name around town.”

“That’s what I told him,” Dade said, certain if Doc knew Margaret Sutten, his next remark would dredge a confession from him. “What’s interesting is that the woman he described matches Daisy to a T.”

Doc huffed a sigh, or maybe it was a muffled curse. “This bounty hunter move on?”

“Yep, but not far,” Dade said.

“What’d you tell him?” This time, Doc Franklin’s expression was burdened with worry.

“That I hadn’t seen her,” Dade admitted.

Doc didn’t say anything, but Dade caught the slight flaring of his eyes. He thought back to yesterday when Maggie had stolen over to the doc’s. They’d been deep in conversation when he walked in.

How well did Doc know her? Was he helping to protect her?

“Well, go on,” Doc said, seeming more annoyed than interested.

“He said Miss Sutten had stolen money and a family heirloom. Harlan Nowell hired him to bring her back to stand trial.”

“Damn!” Doc resumed limping down the boardwalk.

Dade kept pace beside him, more certain than before that Doc was protecting her. But why was he being loyal to a thief?

“How long have you known Miss Sutten?” he asked, tired of pussyfooting around the truth.

“Since she was a child,” Doc said, not bothering to concoct a story and surely not inclined to apologize for helping to pull the wool over Dade’s eyes. “I was the company doctor at Nowell Mines.”

He wanted to be angry at Doc. But he couldn’t.

The man wouldn’t lie unless there was reason. Dade damned sure wanted to know it all, starting from the beginning.

“I want the truth,” Dade said as he followed Doc into his house.

The old man’s shoulders bowed a fraction. But Dade didn’t draw a breath until Doc Franklin nodded.

“As well you should,” Doc said. “Sit down and I’ll tell you what I know.”

Doc fussed around the stove putting on coffee and stretching Dade’s patience to the breaking point. “What do you want to know?”

“How did Margaret Sutten come to live with Harlan Nowell?”

“Maggie–that’s what she’s always gone by–was one of the last girls on the orphan train that summer that passed through Denver,” Doc said. “Harlan Nowell selected her.”

“As a companion for his crippled daughter,” he said, repeating what Maggie and the bounty hunter had told him.

“Yes.” Doc flexed his gnarled fingers and winced. “Caroline Nowell was afflicted with crippling arthritis. The family consulted me about easing her pain.”

“So you were treating the daughter before Maggie arrived.”

“I was.”

No wonder Maggie had run right to Doc’s place when she got here. He was the closest person she had to a friend. And when she found out her beau had been shot dead, she needed someone to talk to.

“Tell me more about Caroline Nowell,” Dade said, getting right to the heart of the thing nagging him.

Doc frowned. “I thought you wanted to know about Maggie?”

“I do. But right now I’m concerned about finding Daisy.”

“Your sister. Of course,” Doc said. “I can’t see what she has to do with Caroline Nowell though.”

Dade watched Doc closely. “The bounty hunter accused Maggie of stealing Caroline’s cameo, but I know for a fact that the one Maggie was wearing belonged to my sister.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

That didn’t surprise him. If Nowell had taken the cameo from Maggie, Doc had likely never seen her wear it until now.

“Are you sure Caroline is Harlan Nowell’s real daughter?”

Doc bobbed his head. “Without a doubt. I delivered the child myself soon after moving to Burland. She favored her mother, right down to her coal black hair and dark eyes.”

Dark hair, dark eyes. Definitely not Daisy then. If Doc could be believed, and Dade did believe him.

He scrubbed a hand over his mouth and swore silently. He was back to square one looking for Daisy, not knowing what the hell happened to her after she boarded that orphan train. Or was he?

“I need to find out how Maggie came by that broach,” Dade said. “Why did she decide to use my sister’s name? Did she know Daisy? Can she tell me what happened to her?”

“I can’t answer those questions,” Doc said. “Talk to Maggie. If she knows anything about your sister, it’s up to her to tell you.”

He thought that over and knew Doc was right. Maggie held the key to so much.

“You doctored there for a good many years then?” Dade asked.

“Close to twenty years.” Doc leaned back in his chair and cradled his coffee cup that was surely empty now. “Reckon you’re curious why I left Burland.”

Dade nodded. “Twenty years in one place sounds like home to me.” It sure had been for him growing up on the Crown Seven.

“It was a good place to live at the time, and since I served as the company doctor as well as doctor for the town of Burland, I was always busy.”

“Why’d you leave it?”

Doc downed his head, shoulders rounding enough to tell Dade the reasons pained the older man. “There was an accident at the mine. Some men were trapped deep in it. Some of them that got out needed medical attention immediately or they’d lose a limb.”

Dade didn’t have to be told that being reduced to a cripple would threaten a man’s livelihood. The majority would likely prefer death to being lame.

“I set up a makeshift infirmary on the site and got to work,” Doc said. “Harlan Nowell ordered me to stop. Seems his brother had suffered a minor injury, and he wanted him seen first. I refused.”

“Harlan Nowell fired you over that?”

Doc laughed, though the sound held no humor. “He did one better than that. He brought in another doctor and threatened my life if I didn’t leave town.”

Dade studied Doc and knew the man was being honest with him. Harlan Nowell had everyone under his thumb in his town, and woe to anyone who crossed him. Including an orphan?

What had it been like for Maggie living there?

She was likely nothing more than a servant to Nowell. The big house wasn’t a home for her but a place of employment.

“Why’d Maggie leave there?”

“Again, that’s up to her to tell you, but suffice to say she had damned good reason to run.” Doc braced both arms on the table and leaned forward. “No matter what you think of her now, you can’t turn her over to that bounty hunter.”

Dade couldn’t fault the man for being protective of Maggie. Hell, he’d bet there were things about Harlan Nowell that Doc was keeping to himself.

“Never intended to.” Dade pushed to his feet. “Thanks for the coffee and information. I’ll head out to the Orshlins’ and have a talk with Maggie.”

“Don’t,” Doc warned. “You’ll lead that bounty hunter right to their door, and those folks don’t need trouble or upset.”

Patience wasn’t Dade’s long suit, especially when he’d been searching for years for his sister and Maggie could hold the key to her whereabouts. But he understood the doctor’s concern too for the Orshlins and for Maggie.

He was certain Allis Carson would go to any lengths to capture Maggie. All his earlier concerns about that happening rushed forward to needle him again.

“All right then. I’ll stay away from the Orshlin farm until the bounty hunter tires of Placid and vamooses.”

“Even then watch your back,” Doc said.

Dade dipped his chin and left. Yep, Allis Carson would surely kill anyone who stood in his way of taking Maggie into custody.

There was more to this story than what Carson had told him. More than what Doc had said. What the hell had Maggie done to warrant Harlan Nowell hiring a bounty hunter to haul her back?

Anger snapped along Dade’s nerves as he returned to the jail to bide his time until Carson moved on. It was going to be the longest damn week of his life.

Maggie hung the last of the laundry and bent to retrieve her basket. A flash of light from the grove of aspens to her right stilled her.

She stared hard at the place, chills rippling over her skin. The sun had to have reflected off metal. Nothing else made that kind of arc of light.

Someone was out there. Someone was watching her.

She hurried back into the cabin and closed the door, heart hammering too loudly. Had Whit sent someone to find her?

“Mighty fine flapjacks,” Mr. Orshlin said.

“Thank you.” It was a recipe she’d gotten from the cook at Harlan Nowell’s mansion, back in the day when she was thinking ahead to getting married and cooking for her own family.

That was before she realized the depth of deceit Harlan Nowell dipped to when he took her–an orphan–into his home. Though she’d never felt unwanted there, she’d never felt any kindness either.

She was hired help, no different from the cook or the housekeeper or the troop of guards Harlan Nowell employed. Though for her, he had a more devious end in mind. She was to take the place of his crippled daughter in a marriage merger that would be a prison sentence for her.

She turned to the family she’d enjoyed helping out this week. The greatest danger was over for the babies and the new mother.

Now that Mr. Orshlin was home, Maggie was no longer needed. In fact, she could be a danger to these kind folks if she stayed here longer.

Mrs. Orshlin emerged from the alcove with the youngest baby cradled in her arms. Her smile was wide and genuine.

“He is thriving now,” she said, smiling down at the baby she’d come close to losing. “Won’t be no time and he’ll catch up to his twin. I can’t thank you enough.”

Maggie held up a hand. “I’ve enjoyed every minute.”

Simon, the youngest boy before the babies came along, wrinkled his nose. “Even the times you had to change Samuel’s and Em’s diaper?”

She laughed, the moment of fear forgotten in the wide-eyed excitement of a child. “Even then.”

“You have been a godsend,” Mrs. Orshlin said. “I dread to think what would have happened if you hadn’t been here.”

So did Maggie. “I’m sure Doc would have stayed or found a lady from town who’d have done just as good a job.”

“Whether that would have been the case or not,” Mr. Orshlin began as the clatter of an approaching buggy grew louder, “we shall be eternally grateful to you.”

It had been a very long time since Maggie had felt such warmth and love of family. She certainly hadn’t had even a smidgeon of that growing up in Harlan Nowell’s palatial house. She couldn’t remember her own family well–just an aunt who had made it plain she didn’t want her.

“Can you come back?” Simon asked, tugging on her skirt to get her attention.

“I’ll surely try.” But she wondered if she’d ever be free to visit with friends.

Friends. That was another thing she’d been in short supply of. She’d had that with Caroline Nowell, but as Caroline’s health had worsened, she’d even lost that to a degree.

Not for the first time she wondered how Caroline was faring. Had they found another person to care for herdaily needs? Was that person as understanding and gentle with her?

The creak of the buggy stopped just outside, and Maggie quelled the urge to hide. She peered out the window. Doc had returned for her.

“Doc is here.” Maggie moved to the door, paused to steady her nerves, then opened it.

The children rushed out the door and clustered around the buggy, all talking to Doc at once. All sharing a snippet of the week with the new babies with him.

She marveled at his patience with the children, then applauded his grit as he moved toward the cabin. His limp was much more pronounced.

To her surprise, Dade Logan had come along with Doc, following on horseback. Dade didn’t look to be in good temper. Still, just the sight of his broad shoulders and handsome face sent a delicious shiver rippling through her.

She didn’t want to be attracted to him, especially while she was pretending to be his sister. But try as she might, she couldn’t stop it either.

Yes, she had to be careful around him, for at times she was certain he could see right to her soul. He’d surely see the lie if he looked too deeply.

“How is everyone?” Doc asked her.

Maggie tore her gaze from Dade’s probing one and smiled at Doc. “Fine. The babies are growing like weeds.”