“She’s fine, Joshua, not to worry,” Molly murmured, Charles stepping away so Joshua could move in closer to the settee as another wave of relief swept him.
“Yes, you can see for yourself,” Charles interjected. “Her color’s good, her temperature back to normal. A drop of laudanum eased her through the worst of it, but she’ll be waking up before nightfall.”
Joshua felt a catch in his throat looking down at her, never having seen a woman look more angelic than Ingrid with her silken blond hair and porcelain skin—though her flashing blue eyes earlier had been anything but serene. Without a word he leaned down and gathered her into his arms, the softest sigh escaping her that made him stiffen, his heart skipping a beat.
“Don’t worry, you won’t wake her,” Molly said, misreading his reaction though Joshua was glad of it.
He felt strangely unsettled as he carried Ingrid through the house to a side door that led into the adjoining infirmary, but he didn’t want the Davises to think he was doing anything more for her than he would any woman in similar circumstances. He had been charged to protect the citizens of Walker Creek after all. He was just fulfilling his duty.
“Right there, that bed,” Charles bade him, Joshua taking great care to lay Ingrid down gently, her soft curves not lost on him, either.
Beauty, intelligence, spirit, determination…Ingrid possessed attributes any man would find appealing, but not him.
Not him! He had vowed the day his wife had died that he would not inflict the dangerous occupation that had so tormented Mary on any other woman, and that he’d remain a widower the rest of his life. Stiffly, he stepped away from the bed.
“If there’s nothing else, I should be going. I’ll send out a rider to Walker Creek Ranch to notify Caleb, Seth, and your daughter-in-law that Miss Hagen is here. I’m sure they’ll come straightaway to visit her.”
“Very good,” Charles agreed while Molly ushered Joshua to the infirmary door.
“Your quick thinking saved her life, Sheriff, especially since she was hallucinating.”
“Well, I can’t say for sure that she was,” Joshua said as he stepped outside and turned back to face her. “She claimed an older lady stood in her way and saved her from being struck by a wagon, but I didn’t see anybody. I told her so, too, and that I’d been the one that shouted for her to look out. Yet when I pulled Miss Hagen onto my horse, I saw a tiny slip of a woman come out of a nearby store and cry out for me to hurry. Oddest thing.”
Joshua turned to go, shaking his head, but Molly stayed him with a hand on his arm.
“Joshua, I know it’s a year today since your wife passed. We’re grateful for all you do for our town—even on a day like this one.”
He swallowed hard and nodded, not as much from grief but overwhelming regret that Mary had been so unhappy. “It’s an easier job now that Caleb seems bent on reforming the place. Earlier closing hours at the Red Dog so less riffraff on the streets late at night, drunk and spoiling for a fight. Shutting down the brothel and shipping Beatrice Dubois and her girls to Austin, well, except for one trying to make a new life here and helping out at the mercantile. The town’s never been so quiet.”
“Yes, it’s a miracle,” Molly agreed. “My son, Seth, would attest to that. He and Kari couldn’t be happier, thanks to Caleb holding to his vow to make amends all around for being such a mean cuss for so long. My brother’s a changed man, there’s no denying it. Speaking of Caleb, I don’t want to delay you any longer from sending word to them about Ingrid.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’d better be going—what in blazes?” Joshua spun around at the sound of a carriage clattering full speed down the street, only to come to an abrupt stop right in front of the Davises’ house. As the sweaty horse snorted and bobbed its head, Old Man Beckham, the town’s longtime undertaker, waved frantically at them.
“Sheriff, your son’s lying in a ravine near the cemetery! We were driving by and heard him crying. I think his leg’s broke! I left my assistant, Ben, with him—we were afraid to move him. Mrs. Davis, call your husband quick!”
Joshua didn’t wait for Molly to alert Charles, but was already sprinting to his horse, his heart pounding.
Dear God, Davy, hold on, hold on!
Chapter 3
Ingrid fluttered open her eyes, her blurred vision making it difficult to make out the shapes hovering around her.
“Oh, Seth, look! She’s awake!”
Ingrid turned her head toward her sister Kari’s voice, but a sudden throbbing in her temple made her grimace.
“You’re in the infirmary where we’ve been tending to you, Ingrid. The pain will soon pass. It’s from the laudanum. Just lie still another few moments.”
Ingrid did as Dr. Davis bade her, recognizing his low soothing voice, too. Vaguely, she remembered hearing his wife, Molly, saying something about laudanum to her husband just before she had drifted into oblivion. Ingrid felt slender fingers squeeze her hand—Kari, she guessed, Ingrid’s vision gradually growing more focused to find her bed surrounded by familiar faces.
Her lovely sister looked so concerned while her husband, Seth, as tanned and dark-haired as Kari was fair, stood next to her with his arm around her waist.
Charles and Molly Davis were there, too, though the doctor quickly moved away to a bed on the other side of the room. Another patient? Feeling certain that must be the case, Ingrid didn’t dare to move her head—not yet—to see who might be lying there.
“Your suggestion that Ingrid remain at the infirmary overnight is a good one, Caleb,” Molly said to her brother, who had crossed from the opposite bed to look down kindly at her.
Ingrid could not help but be struck anew by the familial resemblance between Caleb, Molly, and Kari, the three of them bearing the honey-colored hair that had set her sister apart from her younger siblings. Ingrid had always wondered why Kari looked different than the rest of the Hagen family, but of course, that had all been explained when Kari discovered they didn’t share the same father at all.
