Especially now that her marriage was over. She’d hold onto those weeks of happiness forever. Even if Hale no longer wanted her now, he’d given her the most incredible gift she’d ever received.
Love.
Izzy wiped a tear from her eye before it could fall. She loved Hale. It didn’t matter if he loved her back.
It had been wonderful while she had it.
Chapter Nineteen
THE LARGE HAT HALEhad given Carter Sutcliffe to wear on the train looked downright comical. But it did its job—hiding the hair that would make him a target for anyone who might be looking for him.
Carter rubbed a hand over the top of his leg, grimacing as he did so. While he could hide his hair, there was no hiding the limp he’d obtained from a gunshot wound. He’d told Hale all about the shoot-out the night before. Hale frowned as the other man’s face contorted in pain.
“Are you certain that’s healed?” He’d never met Carter before, but he felt an unexpected sort of protective instinct toward him, simply for being Isabella’s brother.
“The doc said it was.” Carter leaned back in his seat across from Hale, stretching out the afflicted leg as he did so. “He was on the verge of releasing me, after all.”
Hale nodded, not sure he trusted that doctor. Carter had told him last night that the wound was in a bad place, and that he’d nearly died before the law in Roebuck had finally taken him to the hospital in Cheyenne. It had taken months—and a few threats of amputation—but by some miracle, it had healed. He’d been due to be transferred to the prison the next day, so he’d taken his chances and run off in the dead of night instead.
“Do you suppose they’ve left Cañon City yet?” Carter asked, his eyes on the passing scenery.
Hale consulted his pocket watch. “Yes, unless they’ve encountered some difficulty.” What he wouldn’t give for a delayed train or for that bounty hunter to have contracted some terrible illness. He tapped his finger against the watch, willing time to speed up.
“Well, let me know when you settle on a plan.” Carter pulled the enormous hat further down as he closed his eyes.
How the man could sleep when he knew lawmen were looking for him—and when they were headed back to the one place he ought to avoid—was beyond Hale. But he took advantage of the lack of conversation and the soothing click-clack of the rails to think.
When Carter had caught him outside the boardinghouse last night, Hale at first thought he was someone who wished to take a room for the evening. It had been dark, after all, and he was distracted.
“I’m looking for Izzy Sutcliffe,” Carter had said in a low, urgent voice. “She’s married to the boardinghouse owner.”
He immediately took Carter for another bounty hunter. “You’re too late,” he said the most unwelcome voice possible. “Your friend already got her.”
“My friend?”
“Sampson. Surely all you bounty hunters know each other. If you’ll excuse me.”
He started to push past Carter when the other man stumbled and grabbed onto his shirt sleeve. Hale yanked himself out of Carter’s grasp and fixed him with a glare.
Carter righted himself and held up both hands. “I don’t mean her any harm. I’m not a bounty hunter.”
Hale was running out of patience. He needed to get inside, talk to Tansy, and make a plan. “Then who are you to be asking about my wife?”
“You’rethe boardinghouse owner.” Carter looked years younger as relief shifted his features. “I’m Izzy’s brother. Carter Sutcliffe.”
