Relentless (13 page)

Dusty hung on tightly to Grant as they covered the long miles toward Bluff Mesa. It was a rough ride in the stifling heat, but they finally caught sight of the town at mid afternoon.

“We’re almost there,” Grant told Dusty.

“Doesn’t look like much of a town,” she remarked.

“It’s not, but the last time I rode through they did have a doc.” He didn’t mention that there was also a stage that came through a couple times a week. His plan was to make sure she could get back home on the stage, while he rode on after Jackson. It wasn’t going to be easy to get away from her, but he would do it. He had to. There was no way he could concentrate on doing his job when she was so close. Why, just riding now with her holding on to him so tight was a constant reminder of the temptation she was to him. He knew she would be furious with him when she discovered what he’d done, but he would make it up to her by bringing her father’s killers to justice. “How’s your head feeling after all this riding?”

“It’s hurting, but nothing like what it was. I’ll be all right.”

“I don’t want to take any chances with you. We’ll see if we can find the doc first thing.”

Dusty didn’t say a word. She just kept her arms wrapped around him as they rode the final distance into Bluff Mesa.

“And I’m going to call you ‘the kid,’ ” he told her. “It’ll be easier that way to keep up your disguise.”

She had wondered what they were going to do. She wondered, too, if they would be sharing a room at the hotel. She wasn’t sure what his plan was, but she was certain he’d already thought it all through.

The townspeople who were out on the sidewalk stopped what they were doing to watch them pass by.

Grant reined in out in front of the hotel and helped Dusty down before dismounting himself. He led the way into the hotel, leaving her to follow him up to the desk.

“Afternoon, Ranger,” the clerk said, spotting his badge right away. “What can I do for you?”

“I need two rooms. One for me and one for the kid,” he said.

“For just one night?”

“That’s right. We’re just passing through.”

Dusty was surprised Grant was getting her a room of her own, but she was also grateful for it. It was one thing sleeping at a campsite together. It would be another to share the more intimate space of a hotel room—and since she desperately wanted to take a bath, it would prove awkward.

The clerk pushed the registration book toward Grant and waited while he signed them in. He eyed the youth standing behind the Ranger and could tell the kid had been through some hard times lately.

“Well, Ranger Spencer,” the clerk said, taking the time to read their names, “that’ll be a dollar.”

Grant paid the clerk. “I was wondering, is there still a doc in town?”

“Sure is. Dr. Benton is just one street over, about a block down.”

“Thanks.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, I’m going to need a bath when we get back, and I think the kid could use one, too. Take care of that for us, will you?”

“I sure will,” the clerk promised, handing him two keys. “Just stop here when you come back from the doc’s and I’ll get your baths going.”

Grant got his gear and rifle from the horse and went up the narrow stairs with Dusty to check out their rooms. They were located next to each other at the far end of the hall and faced the front of the building. Though they were sparsely furnished with only a single bed and washstand in each one, after the last few nights on the trail, they looked like luxury to Grant.

“I’ll take this one,” he said, putting his gear in the room closest to the stairs. He had a plan, and he was going to make it work. He had to get to Gold Canyon as fast as he could—without Dusty.

Dusty didn’t say anything. She went into the
room next to his and sat down for a moment on the welcoming comfort of the bed. “I think I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight.”

“I know what you mean,” he agreed, as he came to stand in her doorway. “Let’s go find that doc, and when we’re finished with him, we’ll stop by the general store to get supplies and see about finding you some clothes.”

Dusty self-consciously glanced down at her dirty boys’ clothing. “I’d appreciate it.”

They left the hotel together and made their way to the doctor’s office. They were glad to find there were no other patients waiting when they went in.

The tall, silver-haired physician greeted them cordially as they entered. He saw the bandage on the youth’s head and asked, “What happened to you, young man?”

It hadn’t occurred to Dusty until that moment that the doctor might need to examine her closely, and she suddenly worried that he would discover she was a girl. She looked at Grant and knew she had to tell the truth.

“It’s a long story, Dr. Benton,” she began.

“You might as well tell him everything,” Grant said, then turned to the doctor. “But we’d appreciate it if you’d keep what we tell you to yourself, Doc.”

“Of course, Ranger—?”

“Spencer, I’m Grant Spencer, and this is Dusty Martin.”

“Actually, Dr. Benton, my name is Justine,” Dusty confessed.

The doctor gave her a surprised look. “I see.”

Dusty quickly told him the whole story of the robbery, her kidnapping and how she’d managed to get away and find Grant’s campsite.

The doctor was impressed as he looked at her. “You are a very strong woman, Justine.”

“I’m my father’s daughter,” she said sadly.

The doctor patted her hand. “I’m sure he’d be very proud of you right now.” When she didn’t say anything in response, he directed, “Come on back here to my examination room and let me take a look at your wound.”

Dusty and Grant went into the other room with the doctor. He helped Dusty to sit on the examining table and carefully removed the bandage.

Grant stood back and was silent while the doctor checked her over. He could see the pained look on Dusty’s face as the physician cleansed the wound.

“You came very close to being killed, Justine,” Dr. Benton told her honestly. He looked up at Grant. “You did a good job patching her up. There doesn’t appear to be any infection. I have some salve that will help the wound heal, and I can give you some laudanum to ease the pain.”

He set about applying medication to the wound and after rebandaging it, he gave Dusty the laudanum.

“Will you be in town long?” he asked.

“No, we’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Grant answered.

“Well, good luck to you both, and Ranger Spencer—”

Grant looked at him questioningly.

“I hope you find that gang real soon.”

“So do I,” he replied seriously.

Grant paid the physician and they started from his office.

“Do you want to go on back to your room or go get supplies with me?” he asked Dusty, noticing that she looked a little pale.

“If you don’t mind, I think I need to go to my room and rest for a while.”

Grant returned to the hotel with her and ordered her bath before leaving to take care of the rest of his business. His mood was serious as he bought the supplies he would need and picked out some new boys’ clothes for her.

“How often does the stage come through town?” Grant inquired of the store clerk.

“There will be one through tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thanks.”

The timing would work out well. He would leave Dusty enough money to pay for her ticket and expenses going home, and he would be long gone before she had any idea what he was up to.

Grant took his horse down to the stable before returning to the hotel to order his own bath. When he asked about getting something to eat, the clerk told him there was a restaurant down the street and Grant decided he and Dusty would go there once he’d gotten cleaned up. As he started to enter his room, he thought about checking on Dusty to give her the new clothes he’d bought her. It sounded
very quiet in her room, though, so he figured that she was probably resting and he decided not to bother her right then.

When his bath was brought up to his room, he stripped down and climbed into the tub of hot water. It had been quite a while since he’d had the opportunity to take a real bath, and he set about scrubbing himself clean.

It was as he was washing up that his gaze fell on the clothes he’d bought for Dusty. Though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he knew he was going to hate leaving her. He tried to tell himself that he wouldn’t miss her company any more than he missed Frank’s, but Grant knew that wasn’t true. He’d never known anyone like her before in his life, and under other circumstances, he knew things could have been very different between them.

Grant was worried about how Dusty was going to react when she discovered what he’d done the following morning. He hoped she’d be smart enough to understand why he was leaving her behind. He grimaced at the thought of how angry she was going to be, but knew it had to be done this way.

He was riding to Gold Canyon alone.

He wanted her safely back home where she belonged.

He would check on her after he’d finished with the outlaw gang, but he didn’t want her along on the chase.

Grant was real glad he wasn’t going to be there the following morning when she got up and found the note he was going to leave her.

Dusty had been thrilled over the chance to bathe. She’d washed quickly and then realized to her disgust that she would have to put her filthy clothes back on until Grant brought her new clothes. Instead, she just wrapped herself in the sheet off the bed and stretched out to wait for his return. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but she had.

Dusty came awake suddenly and stared around the hotel room in confusion for a moment until she remembered where she was. She heard someone in the room next door and knew Grant was back. Eager to get her clean clothes, she threw on the old, dirty ones and hurried over to his room to see what he’d brought her.

“Grant, I heard you moving around and knew you were back—” she was saying as she knocked once, then opened the door and walked into his room.

The sight that greeted her left her speechless for a moment, for there was Grant, sitting in the bathtub right in front of her.

“Oh—my—I didn’t realize—”

Dusty blushed at the sight of his broad, hard-muscled chest, and she quickly looked away as he grabbed the towel he had near at hand and used it to shield his lower body from her view.

“I’ll be done here in a few minutes,” he told her.

Was that laughter in his voice?

“Well, I—um—The clothes—” She still didn’t look back in his direction.

“On the bed,” he directed.

Grant waited as she got the things he’d bought for her and quickly started for the door.

“Thanks,” she muttered, keeping her gaze averted.

“Get changed,” he said. “We’ll go get some dinner as soon as I’m through here.”

He watched her leave the room and close the door firmly behind her. He finished his bath and wrung out the soaked towel, grinning wryly as he thought of how lucky it was that he’d kept it so close by. By the time he got dressed and shaved, he was ready for a hot meal.

Dusty quickly stripped off her filthy clothes and threw them aside, eager to don the new things he’d bought for her. She glanced in the small mirror over the wash stand and saw that it was still Dusty staring back at her, not the feminine-looking Justine she’d been at the dance. Grant had bought her new work pants and a blue shirt rather than a dress

A vision of how she’d looked in the pretty gown the night of the dance came to her, and she winced, thinking that night when she’d been “Justine” had been a lifetime ago. She sighed and turned away, knowing it had been nothing more than a fantasy.

It wasn’t much longer before she heard Grant’s knock at her door, and she quickly answered it. She was surprised to find him freshly shaved and dressed up in clean clothes. She had become so used to seeing him with a rugged growth of beard that she was again struck by what a truly handsome man he was.

“Are you ready?” Grant asked, his gaze going over her new pants and shirt.

“Yes, and thanks again for the clothes. I’ll pay you back when we get home.”

“There’s no need. I’m glad to help. Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Let’s go take care of that. I think we could both use a decent meal.”

“I know we could.”

They left the hotel and went to eat at a small restaurant nearby. The food was delicious, and they ate a hearty dinner of steak, potatoes and greens, along with hot, fresh bread, and apple pie for dessert.

“I take it you liked the cooking here,” Dusty said, smiling at Grant as he finished off the last of his pie.

“It’s been a long time since I had a meal this good.”

“I know. Me, too. My mother was a real good cook, but after she died and I started riding with my father, we never had much time for fixing up big meals.” As always, thinking of her father hurt. She was beginning to wonder, too, what she was going to do with her life after the Jackson gang was brought to justice. “What about you? Did you enjoy meals with your family?”

“My mother died when I was nine. My father was sheriff of the town we lived in, so he wasn’t around a lot.”

“I understand. With Pa driving the stage, we didn’t get to see much of him either.”

Grant paid for their dinner and they started back to the hotel.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“My head is still a little sore, but other than that I feel all right.”

“You might want to take some of that medicine the doctor gave you so you can get a good night’s sleep.” Grant was hoping that a dose of the potent painkiller would have Dusty sleeping soundly all night.

“You’re right. It’s been a while since I’ve slept the night through.”

Grant glanced down at her as she walked by his side in the fading daylight. He remembered the first time he’d seen her at the dance and all that had happened to them since that fateful night that brought them together.

They reached the hotel and went upstairs, then stood together for a moment in the hall outside their rooms.

“Do you need anything else tonight?” Grant asked, concerned about her. He knew he wouldn’t see her again for a while, and, oddly enough, he was beginning to wish he could take her with him. Life was never dull when she was around—why, he couldn’t even take a bath in peace.