'Ten or fifteen minutes, but you sure don't look like any prize with your face all scratched up.'
Longarm turned his lamp down low. 'Better?'
'Turn it out and it would be even better yet.'
'Once Willa gets here and I've had my supper, I'll try to get her to help me do that,' Longarm said, knowing that he was bluffing and in no condition to do much more than lie still and breathe.
'In your pitiful condition, a woman like Willa would send you to an early grave.'
Longarm suspected that the doctor was only half serious, and so he clamped his mouth shut and resolved to stop the banter.
'Nothing but food, lots of liquids, and rest,' Hubbard warned as he headed for the door again.
'Be sure and lock it on your way out,' Longarm croaked.
'What's the matter, having second thoughts about Willa?'
'Nope, but a man in my line of work makes a lot of enemies over the years,' Longarm explained. 'And I just don't feel up to killing any bad men today.'
'Understandable,' Hubbard said. 'Willa can get her key at the front desk.'
Longarm thought that was just fine. He drank a little more elixir, turned down the bedside lamp even lower, smoothed his hair, and wished he felt up to a shave and a bath. He was a dirty mess, with mud still caked in his hair and the creases of his skin. No doubt about it, Willa Handover wasn't going to be dazzled by his pitiful appearance.
She arrived in fifteen minutes, just like Dr. Hubbard had predicted, and the moment Willa sashayed into his room, Longarm felt a whole lot better.
'Marshal Long,' she said, setting a big tray of steaming food down on his bed, 'you look awful.'
'I feel even worse.'
Willa's soft, warm fingers touched his bruised and battered cheek. 'I'm going to help you feel better, Marshal.'
'For the money?'
She laughed. 'Partly, but also because my father was a lawman and he was the finest person that ever walked the streets of Tucson, Arizona.'
Willa leaned forward and kissed Longarm on the forehead. 'You're burning up and it isn't with desire for me.'
'It could be.'
'Not a chance,' she told him as she got a napkin out and spread it across his raspy chest. 'Now, we'll start with the vegetable soup with bread, not crackers.'
'Sounds good.'
'And then we've got some beef stew, and we'll finish up with some vanilla pudding. How does that sound?'
'Everything you say sounds good.'
She laughed. A nice, throaty, sexy laugh. Longarm felt like laughing too, only he knew better than to try. 'Tell me all about you,' he said as she dipped a spoon into the vegetable soup and brought it to his lips.
'I'm a girl who likes strong and wealthy men.'
Longarm took a gulp of the soup. It was excellent. 'I'm neither.'
'You're at least strong,' Willa said, looking into his eyes. 'And as for the wealth, well, a girl can't have everything.'
'I sure am glad you're not the Widow Wallace,' Longarm whispered.
She gave him a quizzical look and then kept the soup coming.
CHAPTER 17
Longarm wrapped himself in Willa, his body thrusting mightily as the young woman moaned under his weight, breasts heaving as if she had climbed some great mountain. When Willa began to cry out with passion, Longarm covered her sweet lips with his own and then their bodies stiffened, fire coursing into fire.
'Oh,' Willa gasped, 'I can't get enough of you, Marshal.'
'You're wearing me down to the bone,' he said with a smile. 'You seem to have forgotten that I'm a sick man.'
'Yeah, sure,' she said, hugging him tightly. 'If you were completely healthy I think you might have put me in my grave, but I'd be there with a smile on my face.'
Longarm chuckled. 'I don't know how to thank you for taking care of me this past week. I wish I didn't have to board that stagecoach this morning, but I've no choice.'
'I know,' she said. 'But you'll be back through, won't you?'
Longarm's answer was hesitant. 'I might, but I can't be certain. My original orders were to return a bunch of prisoners to Denver.'
'Why won't they let you have a few weeks of vacation with me?' Willa asked. 'You need rest.'
