“Lee?” she called, and there was no answer. She got up from the bed, went to the door and opened it. Leander stood there with his shirt dirty, torn, bloody. “What’s happened?” she asked, instantly alert. “Who’s been hurt?”
“I have,” Lee said hoarsely and staggered into the room.
Blair felt her stomach fly into her throat and, for a moment, she just stood there and watched as he staggered toward the bed.
“You’re going to have to help me,” he said, as he started to pull off his shirt. “I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s bleeding a lot.”
Blair recovered herself in a rush. She took her medical bag from the closet floor, removed scissors and began to cut away Lee’s shirt. She propped his arm on her shoulder and looked at the wounds. There were two long bloody furrows close together on his right side, tearing the skin away from his side, in one place exposing the ribs. She’d seen enough bullet wounds to recognize them as such. Since he’d bled a great deal, she didn’t think there would be an infection.
Her mouth was dry when she spoke. “It needs cleaning,” she said, as she began to remove instruments and disinfectant. Her hands were shaking badly.
“Blair,” Lee said, and the only sign he gave that he was in pain was the sound of his ragged breathing. “You’re going to have to help me more than this. I think the men who shot at me suspect who I am. I think they may come here to arrest me.”
Blair was so intent on his wound that she didn’t quite understand what he was saying. It was the first time she’d ever worked on someone she loved—and she hoped she’d never have to do it again. She was beginning to sweat and her hair was plastering itself to her forehead.
Lee put his hand under her chin to make her look at him. “Are you listening to me? I think there will be some men here in a few minutes, and I want them to think that I’ve been here all night. I don’t want them to think that I’ve been shot at.”
“And hit,” she managed to rasp out, as she finished cleaning the wounds and began to bandage him. “Who are these men?”
“I…I’d rather not say.”
She was worried and afraid because he was hurt, but part of her was becoming angry that he’d ask for her help, but not tell her what she was helping him do. “They’re Pinkerton men, aren’t they?”
At least, she had the satisfaction of seeing the look of total surprise on Lee’s face. “You may think I don’t know anything, but I know more than you think.” She put the last of the bandages around his ribs. “If you move about much, it’ll start bleeding again.” Without another word, she went to the closet and withdrew the gown and robe that she’d worn on her wedding night, then hurriedly stripped and dressed in it. Lee sat on the bed and watched her, obviously not sure what she was going to do next.
“We’ll see how much time we have,” she said as she pitched him a clean shirt. “Can you get into that by yourself? I need to hang upside down.”
Lee, in too much pain, too shocked at what Blair had already said to him, did not question her, but tried his best to stuff his injured body into the shirt, while Blair hung herself head down across the bed.
They both froze when the pounding on the door downstairs started.
Blair stood. “Take your time. I’ll keep them occupied for as long as I can.” Quickly, she glanced into the mirror and ruffled her hair in a becoming way. “How do I look?” she asked, as she turned back to him. Her face was flushed from hanging upside down, and her hair was down about her shoulders in a pretty disarray. She looked for all the world like a woman who had just been made love to.
Blair was surprisingly calm when she reached the front door to the house. When she opened it, there were three big, mean-looking men standing there and they rushed past her into the house.
“Where is he?” one of the men demanded.
“I can go with you,” Blair said. “I’ll just get my bag.”
“We don’t want you,” said the second man. “We want the doctor.”
Blair stood on the second step, so that she was above eye level with the men. “You will get what there is,” she said angrily. “I have had about all I can take of this town. Whether you believe it or not, I am a doctor just as my husband is, and if you need help, I can give it. Leander is very tired and he needs his rest, and I assure you that I can sew a wound quite as well as he can. Now that that is settled, I’ll get my bag.” She turned to go up the stairs.
“Wait a minute, lady, we ain’t here for no doctorin’. We’re here to take your husband to jail.”
“Whatever for?” she asked, turning back to them.
“For bein’ where he ain’t supposed to be, that’s what.”
Blair took a step down toward them. “And when was this?” she asked softly.
“About an hour ago.”
Slowly, with great show, Blair began to tuck her hair into some semblance of order. Most of the time, she wasn’t concerned with how she looked, but right now, she wanted to look as seductive as she could. She let the gown fall a little bit off one shoulder, and she began to smile at the men. “Sirs, one hour ago my husband was with me.”
“You got any proof of that?” one of the men asked. The other two were looking at her with their mouths slightly open.
“Absolutely none.” She smiled graciously. “Of course, I am giving the word, of a Chandler in a town named for my father. Perhaps, if you’d like to challenge what I say…” She blinked innocently as the men looked up at her.