The sheriff laughed, relief making him look ten years younger. ‘‘I’ll do that.’’

Adam leaned over Victoria. ‘‘How are you feeling?’’ He placed a hand at her throat.

Victoria pushed him away. ‘‘How do you think I’m feeling? Like a horse kicked me in the ribs. The fingers on my right hand feel like they’ve swelled double, and my brain has taken up playing the tom-tom. Pester me no more with your silly questions, Doc.’’

‘‘You need rest, Miss Victoria. I’ve ordered you a warm mixture to soak your hand in before I set the fingers. And there’s tea made that should help you sleep.’’ Adam tried to replace the cloth on her forehead.

‘‘I didn’t live this long by giving in to a little pain. I’ll sleep after I talk to Maxwell.’’ She raised her head. ‘‘Maxwell, are you still here?’’

‘‘I’m here, Victoria.’’ Despite the pain, he stretched to touch her elbow. ‘‘I’m right beside you.’’

‘‘You did a lousy job of protecting me.’’ She slowly moved her head back and forth. ‘‘I thought I was dead for sure up on that walk. And you were nowhere near.’’

‘‘I’m sorry, Victoria.’’

She frowned. As she took a deep breath, the pain showed in her face. ‘‘You’ve never let me down before,Maxwell. You’ve always been there when I needed you. But you were nowhere in sight.’’

‘‘Now, wait a minute!’’ Wes interrupted. ‘‘You’ve got some nerve, lady. The sheriff’s got a busted leg and-’’

‘‘I know perfectly well what the sheriff has and doesn’t have, young man.’’ Victoria’s voice rose slightly in anger. ‘‘Maxwell, shoot that husband of my granddaughter if he says another word.’’Maxwell lifted his Colt. ‘‘All right, Victoria,’’ he answered, as if she’d asked him to pass the sugar at a tea party. ‘‘But he’s got brothers. I may have to reload.’’

‘‘And that goes for anyone else in this room. If you value your life, keep quiet. I wish to talk to Maxwell, no one else.’’ She might be lying on her back, wounded, but she was serving notice that she was still on the throne in her own kingdom.

Wes walked to the windows and turned his back to everyone. If the sheriff was dumb enough to volunteer to shoot him for standing up for him, Maxwell Hardy deserved the dressing-down he was getting.

‘‘The thing I’ve always been able to depend on is you, Maxwell. All my husbands let me down in one way or the other, but you were always there. My knight in shining armor, ready to fight any battle.’’

‘‘The knight’s getting old, Victoria, and the armor’s more bandages than steel.’’

‘‘I’ve noticed,’’ Victoria snapped. ‘‘You were the handsomest man I’d ever seen in those early years. I remember how you used to ride in here when I sent word and swing off your horse at my steps. I always thought, no matter what the trouble, you could battle it for me. You’d fight all my dragons.’’

A sadness settled over Maxwell. ‘‘I liked it when you asked me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done for you, Victoria. Not from the first time I saw you until now.’’

‘‘I know,’’ she answered. ‘‘But I don’t need a knight any more. All my dragons are dead.’’

Maxwell nodded, pushing his thinning hair from his wrinkled face.

‘‘What I need now is much more than I’ve ever asked of you.’’ Victoria lowered her voice. ‘‘Maybe a hundred times more.’’

‘‘Name it,’’ Maxwell answered. ‘‘I’ll do my best. Though there’s not much fight left in me, as long as I’m breathing, I’ll try.’’ He lifted his leg, trying to move it to a more comfortable position. But the splint made that impossible.

‘‘I want you to stay with me,’’ Victoria ordered. ‘‘For whatever time we have left on this earth, I’d like to spend it with you. Live here with me, Maxwell.’’

The sheriff wiped his hand over his eyes. A slow smile crawled across his wrinkled face. ‘‘Why, Victoria, I’ve never known you to live with a man you weren’t married to.’’

‘‘Of course not, it wouldn’t be proper. I guess we’ll have to marry, also.’’ She smiled, looking suddenly younger. ‘‘And after we pass on, I want to lie next to you in the family plot for eternity. That way I’ll know you’re still looking out for me.’’

‘‘I’ll do that, Victoria.’’

‘‘Allie.’’ Victoria’s voice was calm, as if allowing another to come into her private world. ‘‘Tell that brother of your husband we need a wedding ceremony at sunrise. I’ll not allow Maxwell to heal enough to change his mind and ride out of my life as he’s done a hundred times. Gideon, make all the arrangements. It’s not as if you haven’t done it before.’’

‘‘Victoria?’’ Maxwell seemed unwilling to think about there being anyone else in the room. ‘‘You know I’ve always loved you.’’

‘‘Of course,’’ she answered resolutely. ‘‘As I do you. But until tonight, you never fell to earth.’’ She stretched her hand toward him.

‘‘One thing.’’ Maxwell frowned, showing a touch of uncertainty. ‘‘You’ll take the name of Hardy, not stay Catlin this time.’’

Victoria opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. ‘‘Yes, dear,’’ she said simply.

Maxwell closed his fingers around her small hand. ‘‘Until tomorrow, Mrs. Hardy.’’

Victoria nodded slowly. ‘‘Until tomorrow.’’

TWENTY-SEVEN

THE BRIDE WORE A NIGHTGOWN, THE GROOM MOREbandages than clothing. But no one seemed to notice. Just after dawn the windows to the courtyard were opened, and all the Old Guard witnessed as Miss Victoria took not her next husband, but her last husband.

Though Wes watched the ceremony, his mind wasn’t on what Daniel said. The promise he’d made to take Allie to her cave filled his thoughts. He guessed she wanted him to come along to protect her until she was safely there, then she’d say good-bye.

She’d curled next to him the few hours they slept last night, and he’d held her tightly. There had been no passion, only the sweet feel of her at his side.

He’d been a hard man all his life. The war molded him as such, and he never complained. He always thought men who fell hopelessly in love were fools asking for heartache. But when he looked at Allie… Lord, when he looked at Allie.

‘‘Wine?’’ Gideon offered a tray.

Wes blinked. He’d been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed the wedding was over. ‘‘No, thanks,’’ he managed to mumble. ‘‘We need to be going.’’

When he knelt to say good-bye to the newlyweds, Maxwell wished him well, but Victoria grabbed his hand and towed him close to her side.

‘‘Will Allie be all right?’’ she whispered. He would swear the blind old woman looked directly at him.

‘‘I hope so,’’ he answered. ‘‘

‘‘Hope simply won’t do, young man. You’re her husband. You should know and see to her well-being.’’

Wes tried to pull his hand away, but Victoria’s grip was iron, rusted like a clamp around his fingers.

‘‘I invited her to stay here, but she says she has to go back to that damn cave she lived in for five years.’’ The aging queen frowned. ‘‘I don’t like the thought of her being alone there. Promise you’ll keep her safe with you or bring her back here to us.’’

Wes shook his head. ‘‘She’s as headstrong as you. I doubt I’ll ever take her anywhere she doesn’t want to go.’’

Victoria leaned back and released her grip. ‘‘Then tell me, young man, how many husbands will she have to bury before she finds one to love her completely?’’

Talking to the old woman was like poking at a red ant bed. Eventually, you knew you were going to get stung.

When he didn’t answer, Victoria added, ‘‘Maxwell said you signed on to this marriage with Allie only ’til she found a home. Well, she has a home here, but she’s not staying. Maybe she thinks the marriage ends if she stays. Does it?’’

‘‘I’ve offered to take her back to my ranch.’’ Wes couldn’t help but wonder if the old woman spoke the truth.

‘‘Did you tell her it was just until all was safe, or did you promise her forever?’’ Victoria shook her head. ‘‘Sounds to me like you’ve got some proposing to do before you’re really a married man. Maybe a few days alone will loosen your tongue and make that knee of yours bend easier.’’

‘‘I don’t need any advice.’’ ‘‘

‘‘Then get on with your trip to the cave. I’ve a wedding to celebrate. But you’d better not come back across my land without my granddaughter at your side, or I’ll have you stripped, tied, and left as live buzzard meat.’’

Wes stood, thinking it must be something in the Catlin women’s blood that made them so hard to reason with. What bothered him more than the fact that he thought the old woman might carry out her threat, was that she might be right about Allie believing the marriage to be over when she found a home.

Wes said his good-byes to the others as quickly as he could. Daniel and Adam were already in the saddle by the time he reached the barn. Wolf had left before dawn to take Louis’s body to town. He didn’t think a body should be anywhere near a wedding. He’d left word that he’d catch up to Adam on the road. It seemed seeing his niece outweighed going with Wes to look for gold.

‘‘Change your mind about taking Allie back to the cave?’’ Adam asked when he saw Wes walk in alone.

Wes shook his head. ‘‘I gave my word. She’s getting her things together now.’’

‘‘She belongs with you,’’ Daniel said. ‘‘Much as I feel sorry for her. Surely you’re not planning to leave her in some cave in the middle of nowhere.’’

‘‘She doesn’t want to be with me. She wants to be alone.’’ Wes loved his brothers but sometimes resented them following his life as though it were the weekly installment of a dime novel. ‘‘I’m not sure what I’ll do.’’

Adam settled his horse. ‘‘Well, big brother, as soon as Jason gets here, we’ll say good-bye. We ride north. Keep an angel on your shoulder and your fist drawn until we’re together again to cover your back.’’

‘‘I’ll do that.’’ Wes laughed at the old saying they’d always used when parting. ‘‘Give Nichole and the baby a hug for me.’’ He turned to Daniel. ‘‘And those twins.’’