Time seemed to slow. The deputy lunged at Maddox—but it was too late.
The shot rang out just half a second before Deputy Caldwell reached Maddox. Maddox went down hard, but Norah barely saw him. Her eyes were on Stuart, who’d slipped off to the side of Chase.
A bloom of red began to spread across his shirt where his coat had fallen away.
He’d been shot.
Chapter Twenty
THE PAIN WAS FIRE-HOT, spreading quickly across his side. Stuart tried to sit up, but his head spun. All he could do was fall backward onto the floor.
Chase was gone. What had happened to him? Stuart tried to clear his head, but it was impossible to think because of the fire.
No.
He’d been prepared to die. But now he refused to let it happen.
Norah fell to the floor beside him, her hands on his, and then tugging at his shirt. Then she was pressing something hard against his side.
Stuart sucked in a gasp of pain and tried not to swear, not in front of Norah.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Say anything you like. Just stay awake. Stay here with me.” Her hand reached for his and squeezed.
Stuart was only vaguely aware of everyone around him. When he tried to turn his head, the pain intensified.
“It’s all right. We’re safe now,” Norah said. “You threw those keys, and I got them to the sheriff. It’s over. They’re putting Maddox and those other men in the cells.” She paused, and when she spoke again, her voice cracked. “You saved us, Stuart. You saved all of us.”
“No,” he croaked. “You . . .”
She laughed, tremulous but sweet all the same. He’d thought before that he could listen to that laugh all his life. If he were bound for heaven now, he only hoped it would be filled with the sound of Norah’s laughter.
“I didn’t shoot anything save for the wall,” she said. “All I did was pretend I could. You’re the one who ended this.”
He wanted to protest, to tell her she was the bravest woman he’d ever known, but the doctor arrived just then and she was showing him where Stuart had been shot.
Doc Wallen pulled away the cloth Norah had pressed against Stuart’s side and peeled back his shirt. He was silent for a few moments while he examined the wound.
