“Mr. Lawson, was there something you wanted?”
He released her hand. “There is, yes. I rode three days to get here.”
“Well, you are here now. What is it that you came for?”
“You.”
Sage stared at the man, noting the hip-hugging faded blue jeans, the travel-stained tan shirt, the red bandanna looped inside the open neck.
“Me?” She tried to keep the alarm from her voice. “Why?”
“You’re the doctor. Leastways, you said you were.”
“Asamatteroffact, Iam the only doctor in town.”
“Only one in the county, it would appear.”
“Oh, no. Dr. McGlothlin has a practice over in Dixon Creek.”
“That’s sixty miles from here. Besides, he’s not available. Gone to visit his sister in Missouri for the month. That leaves you.”
She swallowed in annoyance. “What seems to be the problem, Mr. Lawson?”
“Not my problem, someone else’s. Been shot.” He moved through the gate and gathered up the horse’s reins. “Come on.”
Good Lord, her very first case and it had to be a gunshot wound. Such injuries were often fatal because of sepsis.
“Just where is the patient?” she inquired.
“Three days ride north. You got a saddle horse?”
Three days! “I—no, I don’t have a horse. I’ve only just arrived from the East. I planned to rent a buggy from the livery to make my calls.”
“You’ll need a horse, not a buggy. Mount behind me and we’ll go get you one.”
“I will do no such thing! Just who do you think you are, ordering me about?”
He leveled a look at her that made her cold all over. His eyes were an odd gray-green, and hard, like jade. “I’m a man who needs a doctor.”
“Well, I cannot just traipse off with you. To begin with, it would cause a scandal, and besides, I have duties to attend to, patients….”
He swung into the saddle and gazed down on her without smiling. “I’ll bet you haven’t had a single patient since you hung that brand-new shingle on your fence.”
Speechless, she gaped at him. She would never, never admit that he was correct. In the fourteen days since she had moved into her new house and opened her medical practice, not one person had sought out her services. Not even Ruth Ollesen, who just three nights ago had delivered her third baby with the help of only her mother, Clara Ramsey, and her sister Essie.
“Get your medical bag,” he ordered.
“Now?”
“Now. You can ride double with me, or you can arrange for a horse at the livery. Either way, it’s now.”
“But—are we going… I mean, alone? Just the two of us?”
“Miss West, I suggest that unless you want to lose your first patient, you get moving.”
Sage drew in a breath to the count of five. She couldn’t refuse. She had taken an oath to serve when called upon. It would be far worse to let someone die than risk being the butt of Mrs. Benbow’s busy tongue or Friedrich Stryker’s newspaper editorials.
“What about—?”
“Whatever is on your mind, we’ll talk about it on the trail.”
Chapter Two
Cord stared at the young woman when she marched back out of the house. She could scramble when she wanted to. One minute she was swishing through her front gate looking custard-soft in a ruffled pastel dress, the next she was striding down her porch steps in a newfangled skirt split up the middle, a red-plaid flannel shirt two sizes too big for her, and what looked like brand-new shiny boots. Her hair was hidden under a battered gray Stetson with a godawful purple feather stuck in the band, and she lugged a bulky black leather bag in one hand. Under one arm she’d squashed a thick-looking bedroll and a black rain poncho.
“That all you’re taking?”
“You said five minutes, Mr. Lawson. This is the best I could do in the allotted time. I trust you are taking care of the meals.”
It wasn’t a question, so he didn’t answer it.
She shoved the black bag and the bedroll into his lap, stuck her foot on top of his and swung up behind him. “The livery’s at the other end of town. I’ll want my own mount.”
“That figures,” he breathed. He flapped the reins and the horse stepped forward. “Probably too ladyfied to ride double,” he muttered under his breath.
“Mr. Lawson, I have very acute hearing. I am not too ‘ladyfied’ to do anything that is required.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I will want to select my own horse.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said again.
“There’s the livery. Just past the barbershop. Do you see it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“A spunky little mare, I think. Something with spirit.”
“No, ma’am. You get something slow and sure-footed, like a mule. Trail’s treacherous in places.”
“Oh.” Disappointment sounded in her voice. “I do not like mules. I prefer horses.”
He guided his mare past the barbershop and turned in to a well-kept livery yard. “Mules can carry more.”
“With only five minutes to pack my things, there’s not much that needs carrying.”
“Suit yourself. Just remember I warned you.” He reined in and she slid backward off the horse’s rump. The look on her face made him chuckle. Her wide mouth was pinched, as if she’d bit into a sour lemon, and her blue-violet eyes snapped with indignation. She could hustle when she had to, but she liked having her own way.
Cord made it a point to figure out how a trail companion’s mind worked; it spared arguments and allowed him to keep one jump ahead, no matter what. He’d ridden with some humdingers in the past. He’d learned the hard way what being on the trail could do to an otherwise civilized relationship.
“Arvo,” she called to the stocky older man who strode toward them. “This is Mr. Lawson.”
Cord tipped his hat at the man’s nod.
“Vat I can do for you, Mr. Lawson?”
“Lady needs a horse. One that—”
“One that’s surefooted and steady,” she interrupted. “But not dull, Arvo. There’s nothing I hate worse than riding a horse with no intelligence.” “Sure t’ing, Miss Sage. Maybe Ginger or Light-foot. How far you going?”
“Into the Bear Wilderness area,” Cord answered. He watched the liveryman’s thick eyebrows jump. “Be gone ten, maybe twelve days.”
“Ginger, then. She got better wind for a long trip.” The liveryman gave Cord a thoughtful look. “Miss Sage, does your pa know you’re going up into the wilderness?”
“Not yet, Arvo. I thought maybe you could ride out and tell him. Tell Papa I’ve gone to answer a medical call with Mr. Lawson.”
“Cordell Lawson,” Cord interjected. “The marshal will have heard of me.”
Arvo’s eyebrows jumped again.
“Don’t tell Mama, Arvo. Please. She’ll worry herself into a conniption fit. Just Papa.”
The