The very idea that she would hurt Morgan was ridiculous. But she’d just gotten too many questions all at once! And blood in her hair? It couldn’t be from the shoot-out with the claim jumpers two days ago, because Morgan had brushed her hair and would have noticed it. She must have scratched her head last night or today if she did in fact have a fall. Why couldn’t she remember?
“Of course not, dear,” Kayleigh was agreeing with her. “Now, if you don’t have clean clothes in that tattered valise, I can bring you some of mine.”
Her valise wasn’t tattered, it was just dirty like her. But she was out of clean clothes, so she said, “Thank you, mine do need washing.”
“I’ll send the housekeeper for them, but I expect the doctor to be here soon, so we might want to postpone the bath until after he examines you. You should probably stay in bed until he does. If you have suffered an injury, you don’t want to make it worse.”
“You’re very kind.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? You’re one of us.”
What did that mean? Or was Kayleigh being snobbish, because they were both ladies and there were so few of them in Butte? She had denigrated the town, and Morgan, for that matter, though everyone in Butte did the latter. When the woman finally left, Violet got to eat the rest of the meal in peace. But it wasn’t enough.
The door had been left open, so the man with the doctor’s bag didn’t need to knock and simply entered. “You aren’t Dr. Cantry,” Violet said.
“No, I’m not, nor are we affiliated, though we are on good terms,” he said. “I’m Dr. Wilson. The mine owners hired me to tend to their workers, while Cantry sees to the townsfolk. But I deal with his patients when he has to leave town, and he returns the favor when I visit my son in Helena. It works out well.”
“So he’s currently out of town?”
“Not that I know of. Mr. Sullivan sent for me. Now, please be at ease, miss. I’m not going to ask you to undress.”
She hadn’t thought he would. After listening to her heart, gently touching the sore areas on her back, and cleaning the cut on the side of her head, he gave her an encouraging diagnosis. The abrasion on her head was superficial and would heal quickly. Her soreness was due to too much time in the saddle, and he attributed her fainting to the heat and lack of adequate food and water. He recommended a few days of rest. Her body agreed. But she still needed to get a telegram off to her brothers before she could think about convalescing quietly.
At least Morgan wouldn’t look for her in this house—unless she left it. Maybe she could ask Kayleigh to send the telegram for her. She just wanted to make sure her brothers didn’t set out for Montana because she would soon be home in Philadelphia.
Tomorrow or the day after, she intended to buy a train ticket home. She couldn’t impose on the Sullivans for more than a day or two, and she was afraid to check into any of the hotels where Morgan could find her. She didnotwant to be abducted in the middle of the night again. But she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She hoped he would understand why she’d left and not be hurt that she did so without saying good-bye. She could leave a note at his hotel. She knew he ignored notes there, but if he was looking for her, he might check. She didn’t want him to worry or keep looking for her after she left the territory.... Bloody hell, she missed him. She had to stop it! He wasn’t the man for her, and she didn’t want any part of his way of life.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“YOU’RE A MESS, CHILD.Were you really out in that wilderness on your own?”
A different woman had entered the room, a basket on one arm, a dress draped over the other. She was middle-aged and her brown hair was pulled back into a simple bun. Was she the housekeeper? Two boys followed her in with buckets of water that they carried behind a screen in the corner of the room, then left to get more. The basket the woman set on the nightstand had little meat pies in it. Bless her, Violet thought, at least someone knew soup wouldn’t be enough.
“Yes,” Violet replied. “Foolish, I know. I just got in a bit of a panic after some outlaws absconded with me; then they died—at my feet. It was suddenly paramount that I get back to civilization immediately.”
“Oh, you poor dear. I can’t imagine witnessing such violence.” The woman shook her head and walked to the wardrobe to hang the dress she was carrying.
Mentioning those outlaws brought that gruesome scene into her mind, so she quickly did what she’d done during her ride to Butte when those images had plagued her—she thought of Morgan and his lovemaking, her real reason for fleeing. She had some very real regret that she would never see him again. He’d protected her, treated her well, was the bravest man she’d ever known. He was smart, even funny, and he’d given her such an amazing romantic experience. But there was a hard, dangerous side to him that enabled him to thrive in this rough, wild land and that she didn’t completely understand or feel comfortable with. But she really must have been in a panic to set out for Butte without a care for her own safety. In hindsight, it had been a stupid thing to do.
“I’m Mrs. Hall,” the woman said, returning to Violet’s bedside. “Abigail Hall, the housekeeper here, though someone’s been calling me Abby recently and I rather like it, so it’s fine if you do, too, Miss Violet. Do you need help getting to the tub?”
Violet smiled. “I’m not sure, but if there is hot water in it, I’ll definitely manage to get into it somehow. I need to send a telegram today, too. I was going to ask Mr. Sullivan’s sister to do me that favor.”
“Don’t bother her about it. She can be... forgetful. But I’ll bring you some paper and send it for you myself. The doctor mentioned that you need rest.”
“Thank you.”
“Mr. Sullivan expects you to join him and Miss Kayleigh for dinner tonight,” Abigail said. “But I can delay that for a day, if you’re not up to it. He might be in an all-fired hurry to talk to you, but I think the doctor’s recommendation should be taken into account.”
“Why is he in a hurry to speak with me?”
“That man is always in a hurry, but in your case, I expect he’ll make you an offer for your mine, now that you’ve found it. It can be dirt-poor and he won’t care, not if it’s near Callahan’s mine.”
Violet frowned, bothered by the fact that both Kayleigh and Abigail knew she’d been with Morgan and had located her father’s mine when she hadn’t told either of them that, or mentioned it to Sullivan’s men, as far as she could remember. It was beginning to feel a little odd; then again, she hadn’t disabused them of their assumptions, had just evaded confirming them, and she would rather not lie about it if she didn’t have to.
So she simply said, “I can’t sell either mine.”
“Well, then, that’s that. Perhaps for once he’ll take no for an answer.”
