After a few sips, his stomach felt sour. He set the bowl aside.
Immediately, Emma Jane turned to him. “Are you all right?”
“Fine. You were right in saying I should take it slow.”
“I just remembered what it was like from my own experience.” Emma Jane stood and straightened her skirts. “I do wish I knew more about nursing the sick. All I know is that I should mop her face with a cool cloth and try to get her to drink some broth. But what if there is more I can do?”
The lines etched in her forehead spoke louder than anything she could have said. How could she be so deeply concerned for a stranger?
“You did just fine taking care of me.”
She gave a half smile, but the lines didn’t leave her forehead. “But I’ve had an injury to my head. I know what that feels like, and I know what helps. With this poor woman, I don’t know what’s wrong or what to do for her.”
Seeing this side of Emma Jane made him question how she would be capable of the deceit leading to their marriage. Surely someone who cared this much about others wouldn’t want to ruin someone else’s life.
But would Emma Jane have seen it as ruining his life?
The door banged open, and Rex McGee, whose face graced a number of wanted posters across the country, entered.
“I hear we got ourselves a special guest. Leadville royalty.” Rex chortled at his own joke, then started toward Jasper. “What kind of ransom do you think you’re worth?”
Emma Jane gasped, but Jasper looked at him as coldly as he could. “I think you know my father has a long-standing and vocal policy that he does not pay ransom.”
Rex grinned. “So tell me why we shouldn’t kill you, then. I don’t run no charity cases, not like that pretty little wife of yours.”
“I think you know. I die, and the ransom on your head would tempt even your most loyal guns to turn on you.”
Jasper continued glaring at Rex, but Rex had turned his attention on Emma Jane.
“I hear you’ve been making yourself quite useful around here.”
Demurely folding her hands in front of her, Emma Jane bobbed her head at him. “I like to be useful. This woman is sick, and she needs a doctor.”
“We don’t need anyone else sniffing around our business.”
“So I’ve been told. Which is why I’m doing the best I can to ease her suffering. Do you know what’s wrong with her?”
“Do I look like a doctor?”
Jasper clenched his jaw. What was Emma Jane thinking, going toe-to-toe with one of the country’s most nefarious criminals?
She looked Rex in the eye, raised her chin and said, “I’ve learned not to judge people by their appearance.”
He grinned. “Well, if that soup of yours is half as good as the other men are saying, I just might have to keep you around. Perhaps you’ll earn the keep for that worthless husband of yours.”
Jasper opened his mouth to speak, but Emma Jane shot him a look. Even if he could remember what he’d intended to say, he was too stunned at this mouse turned into a lioness to say anything.
Who was this woman?
“I’d be happy to get you some.” Emma Jane smiled sweetly at Rex, then walked over to the fire, where she dished out the soup. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me anything about the operation here? The other gentleman acted like he was in charge, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”
She handed Rex a bowl of soup and beamed.
Clearly, Jasper had married a madwoman.
“You know I can’t say anything.” Rex nodded in Jasper’s direction. “I hear tell that Leadville’s newest deputy has a burr under his saddle about having my men in prison, so I’m not likely to help that cause.”
“Actually,” Emma Jane said quietly, “his main interest is finding and rescuing a woman named Daisy, so if you could just confirm our suspicions that the poor woman lying in the bed is she, then most of Jasper’s motivation in pursuing your men would be gone.”
Had he called her a madwoman yet?
“Emma Jane,” he said through gritted teeth.
Rex waved a hand as if to tell Jasper to be quiet. “What would a married man want with Ben Perry’s doxy?”
“Her sister saved Jasper’s life. It was her dying wish that Jasper would save Daisy.”
Rex had the gall to laugh. A full-out belly laugh that rang through the room, causing the baby to stir. Emma Jane immediately went to the infant and picked him up out of the crate.
“Shh...” She held the child close to her, then glared at Rex. “Do be mindful of the baby.”
Jasper closed his eyes. She was going to get them all killed, that’s what she was going to do. He’d heard tales of men being shot for looking at Rex wrong, and here was Emma Jane, chastising him as though he were an errant child.
Opening his eyes, he watched Rex give Emma Jane a little pat before coming to stand over Jasper. “You are one stupid man, you know that?”
As much as he hated to admit it, Jasper was starting to figure that out.
“A word of advice—chivalry only gets a man killed. You want Daisy, you found her. ’Course, you may not live much past this, but you can die with the satisfaction of honoring your promise.”
He hated the bandit’s condescending tone. But worse, he detested the knowledge that Rex was probably right.
Jasper’s head was starting to throb again, and his stomach hadn’t settled after the soup. With Emma Jane’s clear lack of understanding of just how serious the situation was, there was no way he was going to get them all out alive.
He’d found Daisy, just as he’d promised. But the smirk on Rex’s face told him that succeeding beyond this point was going to take a miracle.
Chapter Nine
Emma Jane had never hit
