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He seized Eden’s wrist and drew a small pistol from beneath his coat.

“Back,” he ordered.

Jesse’s heart pounded. Eden did not cry out. She kept her feet planted and her eyes on Pike.

The door to the examination room opened.

Whit Hartman stood there with a revolver trained on Pike. Marshal Davis was behind him.

“Let her go,” Whit said.

Pike hauled Eden closer. “I have done nothing that requires a gun, Sheriff.”

“Then put yours down.”

Jesse looked at the pitcher on the bedside table. Too far for his right hand. He could reach the edge with his left, but Pike stood close enough to hurt Eden if the wrong thing startled him.

Eden’s gaze met Jesse’s.

He could not save her by charging across the room, but he knew her now. Knew she would look for a chance, and that she would take it.

He slid his left hand beneath the blanket, where Pike could not see it, and found the edge of the bedside table.

“Pike,” he called.

The man glanced toward him.

“Josiah Whitcomb is walking again.”

Pike’s expression changed, just enough.

Eden drove her heel down on his foot and wrenched her wrist free.

Jesse shoved the little table with every bit of strength he had. The water pitcher toppled and struck the floor between Pike and Eden. Pike flinched toward the crash.

Whit crossed the room in two strides. He knocked the pistol aside and drove Pike against the wall. Marshal Davis caught the man’s other arm and pulled it behind his back. The pistol clattered under the chair.

“Don’t move,” Whit said.

Pike struggled once. The marshal tightened his hold, and Pike stopped.

Eden stood beside the bed, her hand against her chest. She was breathing hard, but she was standing.

“Are you hurt?” Jesse asked.

She looked at him. “No.”

He had never been so glad to hear a word.

Bass filled the doorway a moment later. His gaze took in Pike, the gun beneath the chair, Eden’s face, and the broken pitcher.

“I was told to wait,” he said to Whit.

“You did,” Whit answered. “Long enough.”

Bass did not look pleased, but he kept his hands at his sides while Marshal Davis marched Pike past him.

“You’ll hear from me,” Pike told Eden.