“I’ll try,” he told her as he buttoned his shirt.
“You’re a lucky man, Quito. A lesser man would have died from the wounds you suffered.”
He shook his head. “I’m not any tougher than the next guy, Victoria. It was all those candles that were lit for me. All the prayers said.”
Smiling, she patted him on the shoulder. “I think you’re probably right, Quito.” She looked at him with thoughtful concern. “How have you been doing otherwise? Nightmares? Trouble sleeping?”
“It’s getting better,” he said. Although, he didn’t admit to lying awake most of the night last night. That problem had occurred because his mind had been consumed with Clementine, not the thug who’d shot him full of holes.
“I can prescribe something for you if you need it. Just let me know,” she offered. “Or if you need to talk to someone other than a man wearing a badge, just pick up the phone and call me.”
He nodded. “Thanks, Victoria. I’ll remember that.”
She folded her arms across her chest and looked at him with renewed interest. “Uh, now that we’ve got the medical stuff out of the way, I heard through the grapevine that Clementine Jones is back in town. Is that right?”
His gaze slipped to the toes of his black cowboy boots. “Yeah. That’s right.”
“Have you seen her yet?”
He nodded. “We spent a little time together yesterday,” he admitted. He lifted his gaze back to Victoria. “Have you seen her?”
Victoria shook her head. “No. Where is she staying? Out at the Jones house?”
“No. She’s at the Apache Junction.”
Frowning, Victoria said, “That’s not necessary. I’ll see if she wants to come out to the ranch and stay with us while she’s here. Uh, how long does she plan to stay?”
The question caused him to stiffen inside, but he tried to sound as casual as he could as he answered, “I don’t know. Probably not long.”
Victoria’s brows lifted ever so slightly and Quito wanted to curse. The woman was just too sharp. No doubt she’d picked up on the tinge of bitterness in his voice.
Her expression suddenly grew empathetic. “I’m sure seeing her again was tough on you.”
Quito did his best to appear cool. That’s the way a lawman had to be when he was under fire.
He released a long, weary breath. “A little. But it was good to see her, too. I’m glad she’s come back. I think it was about time.”
Victoria studied him thoughtfully. “So you’ve always expected her to return someday?”
Had he? In the deepest part of him, he knew he would see her again one day. He’d just not known how long it would be before she came back to this corner of New Mexico, back to the call of his heart.
“I did. Don’t ask me why. But I did.”
“Well, I won’t ask you what this means to you. You probably don’t even know yourself.”
“Thanks, Victoria.”
He was sliding off the examining table when nurse Nevada Ortiz knocked on the door and poked her head inside the room.
“Victoria, Mrs. Grayson is getting so irate about waiting on you that she’s threatening to get dressed and go home.”
The doctor tossed Quito an amused look. “Excuse me, Sheriff, I believe you know how it is to deal with irate citizens.”
The two women quickly disappeared and Quito left the building feeling happy about his medical report, but troubled about his thoughts of Clementine. It didn’t matter that he was still in love with the woman and had been for the past thirteen years. That was an affliction he would never get over. It was something he had to live with no matter if she was miles and miles away from him or just across the room.
He couldn’t allow himself to start thinking, hoping that she would somehow change her mind and decide she wanted to live here with him. She’d been born into wealth. She didn’t know any other lifestyle. If she tried to live here permanently, she’d be a fish out of water. And he’d be a sucker fish to think she could change.
When Quito returned to the building that housed his staff of lawmen and the jail, he stuck his head into Juliet’s cubbyhole to collect any messages she might have taken for him, then quickly walked down the hallway to his office. The door was ajar and he was a little more than surprised to hear voices from inside.
Without bothering to knock, he entered the room and was taken aback to see Clementine sitting in the chair in front of his desk. And in his own chair Jess was leaning back with his boots crossed and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Well, it’s good to see you’ve been taking care of my office while I was away,” he said to Jess.
Laughing, the under sheriff rose to his feet. “Sorry, Quito. Clementine wanted to see you so I brought her back here. I knew you wouldn’t be long. My wife doesn’t have time to dally around with her patients. Especially the male ones.”
Rolling his eyes at Jess, he said, “You don’t deserve that woman.”
Jess chuckled. “I know it.” As he started out of the room, he glanced at Clementine. “See if you can get him in a better mood, will you?”
She nodded in a conspiring way. “I’ll do my best.”
The under sheriff disappeared out the door and Quito walked over to where Clementine sat with her long bare legs crossed and an impish smile on her berry-colored lips.
“Jess has been catching me up on all the news around here.”
“I’m sure. That was easier than handing you a copy of the Aztec Gazette.”
His dry comment pulled a soft laugh from her, which only made Quito frown more.
“I’m not talking about that sort of news,” she said. “I mean personal stuff. He told me that he and Victoria has been married for nearly two years now and that they have two children. A girl, Katrina, and a baby boy, Sam. He also told me that Ross got married, too. I always remembered him as the wild one of the Ketchum boys. I guess the years have settled him down.”
“He has a beautiful Apache wife. I think she’s settled him down more than the years,” he said, then looked at her pointedly. “Are you here to chat about the social goings on of Aztec or was there some other reason?”
The smile fell from her face. “Boy, did they give you a shot over at the doctor’s office? You’re behaving like you’ve been jabbed with something.”
Realizing he was sounding out of sorts, he let out a deep breath and lifted the gray Stetson from his head. Running a hand over his crow-black hair, he said, “Sorry. I’ve had a lot of distractions this morning.”
Her blue eyes were full of concern as they flicked over him. “What did the doctor say? Are you healing?”
At least that was something he could be happy about, Quito thought. “She says I’m well enough to do pretty much anything I want.”
A bright smile replaced the serious expression on Clementine’s face. “That’s wonderful news. So that means you’re well enough to have a picnic.”
Quito stared at her. “A picnic! Hell, Clem, I’m too old for that sort of thing.”
She rose to her feet and Quito’s breath lodged somewhere in the middle of his throat as her face came dangerously near to his.
“Old?” she murmured.