Depending on the Doctor (Nevada Bounty Book 2) (26 page)

The thundering of hooves passed by, and my stomach twisted with every shriek and yelp.

I went to the door and peeked my head out. The sky was a sharp, cold blue. I pulled my coat from a peg on the wall and shrugged into it, then stepped out into the trampled snow.

The loudest commotion seemed to be in the center of the camp, so I hurried in that direction, staying close to the lodges to hide myself from view. I wanted to know what had happened before heading for the women’s lodge to see how I could help.

When I got close enough to see, my heart sank. I peeked around the last lodge to find Clyde and his gang, but it looked like he’d been recruiting because there were a lot more men than he’d had when we left him. Maybe another of the gangs from the hideout had joined up with him for this raid.

They’d made a run through the camp, shooting and injuring several of the men, slashing some of the lodges, and generally laying waste wherever they could.

I scanned the melee for Emmett, and found him engaged in fighting with Slim and Lyle, while the rest of the bandits grappled with the Indians. Clyde wrestled with Yellow Hair Woman while Sitting With tried to pry him off, and Walks Nice herded children into a protective knot. Clyde punched Yellow Hair Woman and yelled at her. That got my blood boiling. I didn’t care what the consequences were, I couldn’t let him hurt my friends.

I took a step to join the brawl, but a hand grabbed my arm and held me in place. I spun to give that person a piece of my mind, only to find Billy looking sheepish.

“Sorry, Miss Lydia. But I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it? When Clyde decided on this raid, getting hurt was inevitable.”

I yanked my arm from his grip and he had the decency to look ashamed.

“Clyde’s pretty furious about what you and the Doc did to him and the hideout. He vowed he’d hunt you both down and make you pay. That’s all he’s talked about, and all we’ve done, since you left.”

I straightened my coat. “What are you doing here? You don’t usually go on raids, do you? You could get hurt.”

He stood straighter and his lips pinched as if he were incensed. “I’m not a child. I was a soldier, and I’ve been on my share of raids. I can handle myself.”

“Then why aren’t you out there fighting? Maybe you’re as brave as Clyde, and you’d like to take on some of the other women?”

He tensed, then fuming he said, “For your information, I came along this time only for the purpose of protecting you however I could. Clyde’s done right by us, but he’s got a sore temper. I don’t think you deserve his vengeance.”

Billy was a good man and didn’t merit the ire I held for Clyde. His desire to protect me from Clyde only reinforced what I’d told Emmett before we left the hideout—that the men, at least some of them, would have stood by me against Clyde.

I placed a hand on Billy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Billy. Thank you for your concern. But nobody deserves Clyde’s vengeance, especially not these innocent women and children. Your friends rode into this peaceful settlement and started slaughtering people.”

“They’re just injuns, Miss Lydia.”

My heart broke with his words. “They’re people, Billy. People who love their families and their homes, who eat and drink and sleep and work the same as everyone else. I’ve only been here a short time, but I care about them, and now you’re here hurting them. I can’t let that happen. If you’re concerned about me, you have to be concerned about them, too.”

A woman screamed and I turned to see Clyde had Yellow Hair Woman down on the ground and had hit her again. I had no time to stand talking to Billy. I left him and ran for Clyde, grabbing a handful of his hair and pulling as hard as I could.

He roared and spun. It occurred to me before his maniacal eyes met mine, that he may have thought I was an Indian about to scalp him. I only wished I was.

When he saw me, his face shifted from a mask of beastly rage to sly pleasure. It made my skin crawl—in fact, the healing burn on my hand actually itched, reminding me of the last time Clyde and I’d met—but in turning his attention to me. He’d let go of Yellow Hair Woman, forgetting all about the women and children. No matter what happened to me, saving them from Clyde’s wrath made it worth it.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Miss Lydia,” Clyde said, full of his own triumph. I had no doubt he wouldn’t let me get away this time.

“Congratulations, Clyde, you tracked us down. It couldn’t have been too difficult.”

My words implied dismissal, but I tried to keep my voice from shaking, though with all the shouting and chaos around us, not to mention his mania, I wondered if he’d even notice.

He grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head back. I squealed despite myself, which made him sneer, baring his yellow teeth at me. “You’ve got a lot to answer for, you and your sweetheart over there. You’ll pay for what you did, the both of you.”

He pulled me around by the hair, forcing me ahead of him through the ongoing fight. I grabbed at his hands, trying to loose myself, but he had a tight grip, and it hurt surprisingly more than I expected.

“Wilder,” he yelled over the chaos.

Emmett had a fistful of the front of Lyle’s coat, and was punching his face. When he heard his name, he paused and glanced over at us. If his face had been angry before, it turned downright black with fury when he saw Clyde and me.

He gave Lyle one last blow, knocking him out cold, and dropped him like a sack of potatoes, then stalked across the space between us, completely ignoring the battle raging around him. He only had eyes for Clyde and me. At that moment, I was glad not to be Clyde. If Emmett had anything to say about it, Clyde would come to an ugly end.

When Emmett was several steps away, Clyde drew his gun and whipped it up to my temple. I’d heard about outlaws who were quick on the draw, but it took me by surprise how fast Clyde had drawn his gun. I hardly had time to register what had happened, and it took a moment or two before my heart caught up to the situation and thundered in my chest.

Emmett realized what Clyde had done and a flash of surprise crossed his face before the wrath returned to his eyes.

“That’s far enough, Wilder, unless you want me to air out the inside of Miss Lydia’s head.”

Emmett stopped, but continued to glower. Despite having a gun to my head, and the chaos around us, something inside me thrilled at Emmett’s desire to protect me. Nobody’d ever cared enough about me to fight for me.

Just as quickly, shame flooded me. I wanted him as safe as he wanted me, and if I could do anything to that end, it was as much my responsibility as his.

“What now, Clyde?” Emmett asked.

“Now I’m going to kill you both like I should have after Ernie died.”

Next to my head I heard him cock his gun and I winced. Nausea filled my gut, but my brain struggled to accept my imminent death.

“Just take me, Clyde. I’m the one who let Ernie die. I’m the one who tricked you and allowed us to escape. Lydia’s only mistake was being on the train with me when you showed up.”

Clyde turned the gun from my head and pointed it at Emmett. I let go of the breath I’d been holding, waiting for a bullet in my brain. But having Emmett in Clyde’s sights was no better.

“You’re blind if you think she’s innocent. She attacked me and burned down my home. She made me a fool, and she’ll pay for it.”

In the heat of the moment I had the thought that he’d been a fool far before I came into his life, and a giggle escaped my lips. I slapped my hand over my mouth. Why would such an inappropriate thought pop into my mind in the midst of the threat of death?

“You think this is funny?” Clyde asked. “You don’t believe I’m serious?”

I’d insulted him again. Apparently, I was destined to continually agitate the man. “No,” I said. “I know you’re serious.”

“You want me to kill you first or him?”

“I don’t want you to kill either of us.”

“Oh, I’m going to kill you both, the question right now is who goes first.”

“Clyde!” Pete’s voice carried over the bedlam. “We need to go!”

Clyde had been so focused on us, he hadn’t been paying attention to the fighting around him. The Indians were getting the upper hand in the fight, and since the outlaws certainly weren’t willing to die in the service of Clyde’s revenge, they seemed to have decided it was time to retreat.

Clyde snarled. He’d likely planned an elaborate execution for the both of us, something he could savor, and he didn’t seem very happy to have been cheated out of it. His gun hand wavered for a moment between us—which of us to shoot first? He finally decided on Emmett, bringing his gun arm up to aim.

Emmett was unarmed, and had little time to react, other than to shift his gaze to mine and smile. I saw the love in his eyes, and the resignation. I wasn’t ready to give up, though.

“No!” I yelled and shoved backwards, hoping to send the shot wild.

My shout sounded loud to me, louder and deeper than it should have, but before I had time to decide why, the gun went off and a male voice grunted.

“Emmett,” I cried, wrestling and straining against Clyde’s grasp. I closed my eyes and using my elbow as a weapon, swinging it behind me as hard as I could.

The pressure on my scalp released and I fell to my knees, scrabbling like a desperate animal to find Emmett’s body.

Everything moved so fast around me that I couldn’t see. There were legs and bodies and screams and grunts, and my eyes were blurred by tears I didn’t even know I’d been crying. I couldn’t lose Emmett now, not after we’d just found each other. Not now that we might have a future together.

I crawled in the snow until I came to a body laying still on the ground.

I clawed at it, my hands trying to hold it and find a way to make it whole again. “Emmett,” I sobbed, burying my face in his coat.

“Billy,” the body whispered.

My eyes popped open and I sat up, looking at the face for the first time. I swiped the tears from my eyes to get a better look.

A quick scan of his body showed a well of blood pouring from his chest.

“Oh, Billy. What did you do?”

He took my hand in his. “I saved you.”

I hadn’t seen exactly what he’d done, but he’d saved Emmett, and me by extension. I leaned down to kiss his cheek. “Yes, you did. Thank you, Billy. You’re a good man.”

He closed his eyes and smiled as the last breath escaped his body. I choked on a sob, and dropped my head to his chest, crying for his loss. Why had he paid with his life to save mine? To save ours? We weren’t worth any more than him. What had he seen in us worth saving? I didn’t understand.

A hand fell heavy on my shoulder. “Lydia.”

It was Emmett’s voice.

He kneeled and I threw myself into his arms, burying my face in his chest. Relief flooded my heart. My man—something I never thought I’d be able to say—was safe, but at a horrible cost. The very selfish part of me didn’t care as I clung to Emmett. My conscience, however, reminded me that I’d have to deal with the guilt. Later. I’d do it later.

Suddenly I remembered the fight, the gun, the shooting. “Clyde?” I asked, using my hands to search his body like I’d just done to Billy.

He grabbed my hands, stilling them. “Dead. Lydia, he’s dead. I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“Billy threw himself in front of me and took the bullet. Scared the sense out of me. You scrambled after Billy, I went after Clyde.”

I didn’t want to know the details of Clyde’s death. That was a story Emmett could keep to himself as long as he wanted. I was just glad he was dead.

As my mind cleared and settled, Yellow Hair Woman, Sitting With, and Walks Nice all came flooding back to mind. “The children,” I said, struggling to get to my feet.

He held on tight to me. “They’re okay. The rest of the bandits left. When they realized they couldn’t win the fight, they ran for it. Some of the braves went after them.”

Only then did I realize that instead of the sounds of fighting, I heard the sounds of retreating hooves, and Indian war whoops.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Leaning Bear comes back with a handful of well-deserved scalps,” he said, a sharp edge to his voice.

I clung to him. “I was so afraid I’d lost you.”

He hugged me. “It’ll take more than a few outlaws for that.”