“Get out of here. Both of you,” she said as the familiar anger and shame raged through her.
“You’d turn away three patients, Doc? You’d put our lives in danger because you can’t face the truth?”
Doc. His nickname for her. When they’d been engaged she’d loved it when he called her that. Now it just pissed her off because it reminded her of the wonderful carefree days they’d shared before the Catastrophe. It had been another life. He’d been another man back then. The Catastrophe had changed all that. Changed both of them.
“It’s your truth. Not mine. Now get out,” she spat.
Although it was dark in the living room, she could see the irritation flare in his eyes. Could feel his body tense with fury.
She tried to get away from him, to break his grip. Of course, he wouldn’t allow that.
“She’s a hellfire, that’s for sure.” The words were soft-spoken with underlying lust and appreciation from Landon. Although she’d only known Landon a few short months while he’d worked here, she knew she should have recognized him standing in front of her. Should have realized he would never hurt her. Hell, he was the man who wanted to fuck her while Durango watched. Suddenly her cheeks warmed. It irritated her.
“If you wanted my help, you should have knocked. Now get out, and don’t come back.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have been so deep in your dreams, baby,” Durango said.
Her cheeks grew hot at his knowing comment.
“Besides, you shot me, Doc. The least you can do is fix me up before you send us on our way.”
Liz blinked as a shock wave rolled over her. She’d shot him? Oh my God. She’d shot Durango when the gun went off? Concern washed away her anger.
“Where are you hit?”
Before he could answer, she saw the dark stain on the upper right arm area of his jacket.
Okay, calm down. He was still standing, so it wasn’t that bad. But she also knew how quickly a gunshot wound could get infected.
“Take off your shirt. I’ll get my bag.”
She tried to get out of Durango’s grasp again, but he didn’t let loose. Instead, he nodded to Landon.
“You’ll take care of the others first. Landon, you get her bag. She usually keeps it in the hall closet by the front door. Top shelf.”
Landon nodded, and he hurried away. That was when she realized Landon was limping. Another wave of concern snapped through her. She’d need to tend to Landon, too. Durango had mentioned three wounded. Where was the third man? And was that what her hot dream had been about? A forewarning of things to come?
Liz shook her head in denial. Tried to ignore the intense awareness of Durango and Landon washing through her, but she knew the longer they stayed in her home, the harder it would be to keep them away from her.
She knew they’d joined the Durango Gang. It was a Robin Hood-type gang his oldest surviving cousin, Kayne Durango, had started. Unfortunately in their quest to steal from the rich and give to the poor, every vigilante group that made money off the misery of others wanted the Durango Gang to hang by the neck until they were dead. She’d told Durango if he joined his cousin’s gang and became a desperado, he wasn’t welcome back here. The minute he’d left, she realized she’d never really meant it. She still loved him, no matter how much he’d changed. Or how much he’d tried to get you to confront your own sexual demons.
“We didn’t see your horse in the lean-to out back. Thought maybe you weren’t living here anymore,” Durango said, his grip on her wrist tightening. “I should have known you’d be deep in your fantasies, baby. When you’re dreaming, an earthquake can’t wake you. Much to my annoyance, of course, when I want to make love to you.”
Intense heat flared through her, and she forced herself to ignore his latter comment.
“I loaned the horse to a neighbor.” She’d lent the horse to Teyla and her men for a few days.
She could feel the heat from Durango’s body now. Could smell his scent. Rich and dangerous, yet soothing at the same time. Durango, as she’d always called him, had always kept her off-balance. She loved that about him. At least she had loved him, until his confession that he wanted to make both their sexual fantasies come true. She forced herself to shake away those thoughts. Time to deal with reality.
“You said there are three wounded. Where’s the other one?”
Heavy footsteps from the front of the house made her look toward the doorway where Landon had exited a moment earlier. This time, he’d returned with a man, who leaned against him.
“That would be him, Tyrell Mathews. He’s been shot in the waist.” Durango replied.
“When did this happen?” She would need to know if infection had already set in.
“Just yesterday,” Durango said. “We’re going to need whatever light you have available. Bullets need to be dug out and wounds sewed up.”
Elizabeth nodded and tried to grab a shred of self-control. These men needed doctoring, and she couldn’t allow her anger at Durango to cloud her skills and deny them help.
“You aren’t going to run, are you, Doc?” Durango asked in a cold, determined tone. She could also detect the underlying pain he was trying to hide, too. Pain from the bullet she’d put into him.
Guilt swamped through her, and she shook her head. No, she wouldn’t run. At least not yet. He let go of her, and she moved into action, spitting out orders for Durango to get the fire going in the fireplace so she could boil water for the utensils she’d need. She also instructed Landon to get Tyrell into the first bedroom to the right down the hallway. It was the biggest one and the one she and Durango had used when he’d been here.
Sweet mercy, he’d kept her hot and aroused when he’d lived here, and then later when Landon had come to live with them, her arousal had doubled. Elizabeth pushed aside those unwanted thoughts and hurried to grab some clean linen from a closet.
Chapter Two
An hour later, Elizabeth wiped the perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand and gazed at the two men lying quietly on the bed. The one she hadn’t been able to sleep in since Durango had left. A swell of emotions threatened to tear up her eyes, but she bit back the tears. She wouldn’t let Durango see how much his leaving had affected her. She would need to stay focused on these men’s injuries.
Landon, who she’d cared for dearly, partly due to the fact he’d tried to talk Durango out of joining the gang with him, appeared weak from loss of blood. The bullet had lodged in the fleshy part of his upper thigh, making him lose lots of blood. But the powerful way he’d carried her and tossed her onto the couch and then held her beneath his big body made her realize he was a very strong man, despite his wound. He would be fine given some rest.
Tyrell’s wound was a bit more serious. He would require bed rest for a few days due to his wound. She’d found the bullet dangerously close to his left kidney, but thankfully it hadn’t hit anything vital. He would be sore, and he’d been very lucky. Both men had been very lucky.
Stupid fools. Why couldn’t they have found a more safe way to make a living? She knew why. There were no jobs to be found. Durango had been a mechanic. Since the world was in chaos due to the Catastrophe, and any type of machinery had fried, compliments of the solar flares, his job had disappeared literally overnight.
Durango was the least hurt of the three. He’d kept his mouth shut, thankfully, while she’d tried hard to ignore the wicked beating of her heart as her gaze snapped to and fro along the wide expanse of tanned muscles lacing all the men’s chests and arms while she’d dug out the bullets.
Durango knew her fetish for muscles. How they turned her on so hard and so fast that he’d always joked about her exploding like a firecracker whenever muscles came into her view. She detected traces of pain glazing his eyes as he watched her from his perch on a wooden chair that he’d dragged close to the bed. She didn’t think it was the physical pain. Maybe emotional pain? Had he missed her as much as she’d missed him?
No, he’d made his decision about leaving, and now he would have to live with it.
Unfortunately, now with the two men snoring softly in her bed, Durango didn’t appear in the least bit sleepy as he studied her every move with his sultry light blue eyes. She could tell from the heated way he looked at her that he wanted sex. He always wanted sex, and in the past she’d loved losing herself in the pleasure he gave so easily. But she’d booted him out, and no matter how much she wanted him back in her bed, she needed to stick to her principles. Didn’t she? Yes, she did, she added firmly.
