Page 92 of Mail-Order Viscountess

“Two. They’re tied up, and we’ve caught enough horses to cart them all back to Walnut Springs.” His expression softened as his focus honed on Kate. “You two get back to the ranch. Clara’s fever came back, and I’m sure she’d do well to know you’re safe.”

A fresh surge of worry tightened through her. “The fever? No.”

Thomas shifted beneath her, then rose, pulling her up with him. Once they were both on their feet, he wrapped his arm around her waist, tucking her close again. “We’ll head there right now.” But then he halted mid-stride. “The medicine. Did you ever find the doctor?”

Her insides tightened. “I did. He gave it to me right before—” Her voice broke. “I must have dropped it when they grabbed me.”

“We’ll find it.” James was already turning to stride back to the cluster of horses his brothers had gathered. “One of us will bring it straight to the ranch, even if the rest of us have to stay in town a day or two.”

Relief flooded through her, so strong her knees nearly buckled again. Thomas must have felt it because his grip shifted, taking more of her weight.

She didn’t have to fix this alone. Didn’t have to ride back to town herself, worrying about Clara the entire way. She could go to her sister and trust that others were also working for Clara’s good.

She let Thomas lead her to a horse that stood nearby, reins dangling loose to the ground. He helped her up, then swung up behind her. His arms came around her, gathering the reins as his chest pressed warm against her back.

Nothing like Jake’s suffocating weight. Nothing like the crawling fear of being held against her will.

This was safety. This was the man who loved her.

“Let’s go home.” Thomas’s voice rumbled through her, and he pressed a kiss to her temple.

She let herself sink into him, her head resting back against his shoulder as the horse moved beneath them with an easy rhythm.

They were going home, yes. But home would always be with this man. Her husband. No matter where they chose to go.

CHAPTER 31

Sunlight pressed warm against Thomas’s eyelids before he was fully awake.

He lay still for a moment, letting the quiet settle over him. The creak of the house settling, the faint murmur of Mrs. Wang’s voice from the kitchen, the distant low of cattle somewhere beyond the windows.

He reached across the bed.

His hand found only rumpled sheets, already cool. Kate had been here when they’d finally fallen into bed last night—or rather, early this morning. He’d pulled her against him, and she’d come willingly, tucking herself into the curve of his body like she’d been designed to fit there. They’d both been so spent they hadn’t managed more than a few murmured words before exhaustion dragged them under.

Now the space beside him held only the faint scent of her—lavender and that other aroma that was simply Kate.

He sat up, and a dozen aches announced themselves at once. His ribs. His shoulders. Even the raw places on his hands where the reins had bitten during that desperate ride. All would mend.

Kate wouldn’t have gone far. Clara’s room, most likely. Kate would want to be with her sister. That instinct ran deeper in her than breathing.

He pulled on his trousers, a clean shirt, and boots, then headed down the hallway.

The door to Clara’s room stood open, but he stopped just outside. He and the rest of the family had spent a lot of time in this doorway over the past week and a half.

Kate sat on the edge of Clara’s mattress, holding Clara’s hand. And Heidi stood beside the bed, saying something about a tea and its healing properties. Maybe whatever was in those cups on the bedside table.

But Clara…she sat nearly upright on the bed. Looking almost as strong as she had yesterday before the fever returned. Her cheeks carried a flush that looked nothing like fever.

It looked like health. Like life returning to a body that had been fighting hard to keep it.

She was talking—actually talking, not the delirious murmuring or the weak whispers that came with her fever. Her voice still carried a rasp, and she paused now and then to catch her breath, but her eyes held their familiar warmth.

“—and she made me drink every last drop.” Clara wrinkled her nose, though a smile tugged at her mouth. “It tasted like someone boiled tree bark in a mud puddle.”

Heidi’s laugh came low and easy. “That’s because it was tree bark. The Salish have used it to bring fevers down for longer than any of us have been alive.” She lifted one of the cloth bundles from the table. “This one will strengthen your body’s own fight. I’ll brew another batch before I leave.”

“You’ve had scarlet fever yourself?” Kate’s voice held an edge.