“Thanks,” Blake said, softly.
“Blake,” Reese called down the hallway and Blake sprang into motion trotting toward him. “She’s asking for you.”
Blake skidded to a stop at the door stepping inside and slowing.
“Where’d you go Turnip,” Darcy whispered. “Your uncle’s nice enough, but I hope you don’t plan on leaving me here with him.”
“I’m not going anywhere Darcy,” Blake grinned, taking the hand she waved in his direction. “I’ll stick with you until you’re well then I’ll bring the gang down.”
“That’s the plan.” Darcy smiled weakly. “Now tell me who that good lookin’ cowboy standing in the doorway is.”
Blake turned waving for his father to join him. “This is my pa,” the young lawman said, still clutching Darcy’s cold hand. “Clayton Allen, I’d like you to meet Darcy…” he stopped swiveling his head back to the woman. “I don’t know your last name.”
“Darcy Stanley,” she offered sagging with the effort.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Clay drawled. “Blake speaks highly of you.”
Darcy’s eyes widened as she looked at Blake, whose ears grew red. “You spreading falsehoods about me Turnip?”
“Only giving credit where it’s due.”
Clay raised a brow at Darcy calling his son Turnip but didn’t say anything about it. “I’ll leave you to rest,” the old cowhand said, his southern twang smooth. “We’ll be praying for you.”
“Another do-gooder huh?” Darcy met Blake’s golden gaze. His eyes were almost the exact amber brown of his father’s, and she could see where he got his good looks, though there was something more to Blake, a firm line to the jaw and those hints of red in his dark locks that the sun was turning to fire.
“I guess it’s a weakness in my kin,” Blake teased releasing her hand and tucking the quilt tighter around her. His uncle had said to keep the window open but the air seemed to chill the room. “You need to sleep,” he said, gently. “You need your rest.”
“Are you leaving?” Darcy’s brown eyes shimmered with doubt and Blake reached for her hand again.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured. “I’ll have to run down to see my mother later, but for now I’m all yours.”
Darcy’s eyes grew heavy and she found that for some strange reason she believed the man. She drifted off to sleep his hand still in hers.
Chapter 16
Blake paused, stepping up to the fence line and letting Darcy rest. Reese had agreed to let him show the woman around the Broken J saying that after two weeks of rest and recovery in the house, walking would be good for her.
They had been on the Broken J for such a short time, and Darcy was recovering well. Blake only hoped that she would have her strength back soon. Reese continued to declare the fact that the bullet, that had punctured her left side, hadn’t hit anything vital was nothing short of miraculous.
Looking down at Darcy who leaned heavily on the fence, Blake took in her pallor, and the pinched signs of pain around her eyes. He knew that just walking slowly along the fence was draining, but she was determined to get her strength back and insisted on getting outside and seeing the place he called home.
“Do you want to go back?” Blake asked. “You should rest.”
“No, I won’t get my strength back if I spend all my time in bed. We still have a job to do Turnip, and I’m not ready to give up yet. And you are not going on your own, so don’t even start with that nonsense.”
Blake rested his arms on the top fence rail folding his hands together as he gazed out at the horses grazing peacefully in the pasture. It felt good to be back in his own clothes, as if he had fit back into his real skin, instead of the persona he had been living while working for Pierce.
The soft flannel of his freshly pressed blue and white plaid shirt was warm, comfortable, worn in.
“You’re still determined to bring the gang down?”
“More than ever,” Darcy all but growled. “They tried to kill me. There is no other explanation. Pierce had decided I had out lived my usefulness and arranged for those dirty cops to take me out. I’m sure of it.”
Blake looked down at the slim, almost frail, woman next to him seeing the flush of anger touch her cheeks. “You don’t have to go back though. It’s my job. You could stay here where it’s safe or go home to your family.”
“My family won’t have me back,” Darcy huffed derisively. “As for being safe, the minute Pierce finds out I’m still alive, he’ll find someone to finish the job. Unless of course I can find him first and convince him that I’m clueless to what really happened. Then again if he’s already found another woman what will be the point?” She looked up into Blake’s eyes, her lips twitching slightly. “Turnip, if I don’t do this, I’ll never be free. I know several of the locations that Pierce uses as a base for his business. In short, I know too much to be allowed to live.”
Blake turned his whole body toward Darcy his hand straying absently to her arm. “Right now he already thinks you’re dead. Why not let him believe that is true and start over?”
Darcy took a step back, breaking the connection between them and turned back to gaze over the pasture. “If I don’t do this, I’ll never be able to put it behind me. I’ll forever be what I was the day I stepped into that bank, the property of a bad man. If I help you bring this gang down, maybe I’ll be able to find some peace in this life.”
“Darcy, that isn’t how redemption works,” Blake
