Chastity (6 page)

    Response beyond her, Chastity watched as Dr. Carr repacked his black bag,
then
walked toward the door. His hand on the knob, he turned back briefly and said, "I'll be back after I tend to some other patients. In the meantime, I'll tell Sally to bring up some food."

    The door closed behind Dr. Carr, and Chastity waited. She did not have to wait long before Reed grated, "All right, what's this all about?"

    "I don't really know how it all happened." Chastity Lawrence stared at him through those ridiculous spectacles. She looked tired and disheveled, and not as prim and proper as she had appeared when she first approached him on the train. He saw the uneasiness with which she continued, "I was experiencing some uncertainties about my journey. I saw your collar, and I thought you might be able to help me sort them out. And then when I approached you, you…"

    Her words dwindled away and Reed felt impatience soar. He was beginning to feel weaker, and his stomach was beginning to turn. He had no time for this woman or the unexpected complications in his plans. For all he knew, Morgan had already left the territory. He needed to meet his contact before that fellow left town, too. The question was
,
how was he going to do it?

    Chastity took a breath. "I thought you could help me." She paused. "Then, when I got closer, I saw you were sick."

    "I told you I didn't want your help."

    "You needed
someone's
help."

    "I could've taken care of myself."

    "You collapsed on the platform!" She shook her head. The amazingly bright spirals of hair that made a mockery of her formerly austere hairdo bobbed ridiculously against her neck. "I saw you go down!"

    Chastity's final statement struck a raw nerve within him, increasing Reed's frown as he spat, "So you ran to my rescue."

    He felt her wince. "That's right… fool that I was."

    "Why?"

    Chastity blinked at his question. He noted that she was momentarily at a loss for a reply. He sensed that her response came as much as a surprise to her as it did to him when she said, "I approached you thinking that I needed your help… and then I discovered that you needed mine, instead."

    Reed's head was growing light as he pressed, "So, you came to my aid. You got me to the doctor's office, but then you stayed on. Why?"

    Her reply was curt. "I've been asking myself that same question." Her look was pure disdain.

    "It certainly wasn't because you have a pleasant nature. To the contrary, you are one of most
un
pleasant and
un
appreciative men I have ever met."

    "You told Dr. Carr you were my wife."

    "I did not!"

    He returned her look of disdain.

    Chastity's light skin flamed. "Dr. Carr
assumed
I was your wife when I brought you to his door. We didn't have much time for conversation and I didn't think to explain the situation. And then it was too late."

    Reed's thinking was beginning to blur. He shook his head.
"Too late?
For what?"

    "This situation… this whole affair is embarrassing! I was afraid my reputation would suffer if I tried to clarify it!"

    He stared.
"Your reputation?"

    
"An unmarried woman spending the night two nights in the same room with a man.
Good heavens, what would people think?" She reached up to grasp the locket exposed in the open neck of her dress, and Reed's memory jogged at the strangely familiar gesture as she continued, "I couldn't let that happen."

    "So, why did you stay?"

    "How could I go? You begged me not to."

    "I begged you…"

    "You thought I was… Jenny."

    Reed steeled himself against the sound of that name. "What else did I say?"

    
"Nothing much.
You mumbled something   about your mission and that someone was waiting for you."

    "My mission…"

    "A man named Morgan."

    Reed stiffened. He nodded. "Oh, yes."

    Chastity took a step closer. The thought occurred to Reed through his growing confusion that the loss of the drab bonnet she had worn was an improvement on her appearance even though the ugly spectacles remained in place and the morbid color of her dress still made her skin look like watered milk.

    He knew something was coming the moment she raised her chin that almost indefinable notch. He inwardly nodded as she began, "Whether you're willing to admit it or not, I did you a service."

    So, he was right. A strange disappointment nudged him. "You want something in return, right? What do you want?
Money?"

    "You
are
insufferable!"

    He pressed, "What do you want?"

    Her chin
rose
another notch. "I intend to leave Sedalia as soon as I can. It would save me considerable embarrassment if you would wait to explain the truth about this situation until after I go. I'll be happy to write a letter explaining everything to Jenny if you think she might not understand the situation."

    "Jenny's dead."

    "Oh. I'm sorry."

    Reed closed his eyes. He wasn't feeling well at all. He felt a soft palm on his forehead
and  jerked
his head back, his eyes snapping open.

    ''You feel cool."

    "Do I?"

    
"Too cool.
You're feeling weaker, aren't you?"

    Damn her…

    "You need to eat."

    Reed's stomach churned harder. "No, I don't."

    "Dr. Carr said"

    "I don't care what Dr. Carr said." He closed his eyes. "Go away. I want to sleep."

    He felt a glass against his lips. He opened his eyes to meet determined brown-green eyes staring into his.

    "Drink this. Dr. Carr left it for you."

    "What is it?"

    "It'll make you sleep. He said to give it to you if you feel distressed."

    "I'm not distressed."

    "Yes, you are."

    "No, I'm not!"

    "Drink it!"

    So, the soft-spoken little wren had a sharp edge. A strange satisfaction rising within him, Reed emptied the glass.

    "Good." Chastity Lawrence paused. "We can continue our conversation when you wake up."

    "As far as I'm concerned, I've made my feelings plain."

    He saw the tenseness that entered Chastity's gaze as she waited expectantly for clarification of his words. That peculiar satisfaction expanded as he deliberately closed his eyes.

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   Trembling with aggravation, Chastity drew back from the bed and stared down at the infuriating parson. All right, if that was the way he wanted it!

    Chastity turned resolutely toward the chair in the corner where she had dropped her bundles. He said he wasn't sick. He said he didn't need her help. He had ended their conversation without even bothering to respond to her request. He
was
an odious man!

    And she was a fool for maintaining that he needed her help when he so adamantly declared that he didn't! Well, she could remain a fool for only so long.

    Snatching up her bundles, Chastity started toward the door, her head high. She reached up unconsciously to clutch her locket. Caldwell, Kansas, was her destinationher first step toward finding the sisters she had lost in a flooded river so long ago. They were alive, somewhere, she was certain of it. Unlike her courage, that conviction and her determination to be reunited with them had never faltered. This stop in Sedalia was an interruption in the path she had set toward that goal, and she would not allow it to stand in her way any longer!

    Chastity looked back at the exasperating Reverend Reed Farrell. He would sleep until Dr. Carr returned later that afternoon. He had already gone totally limp, revealing that the sleeping powder had taken effect. She would leave it to him to tell the doctor the full story. It
would  doubtlessly
give him great pleasure to tell the physician what a fool she was.

    Chastity drew open the door, pausing with her hand on the knob as the sound of deep, even breathing filled the room. So what if Dr. Carr had been depending upon her to tend to this man's wound? So what if the fever returned to rage unchecked while she was gone? So what if the infection gained control again… if, because of her, the battle to save his leg was lost?

    Oh, Lord!

    Chastity clutched her packages tighter. She stared at the Reverend Reed Farrell's still face. That hideous brown beard hid his features as efficiently as a mask. She remembered its coarse texture when she had touched his cheek. She wondered if Jenny had approved of that beard. And she wondered if losing Jenny had turned him into the offensive person that he presently was.

    Yes, despite his collar, he really was an odious man.

    Her decision made, Chastity stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind her.

    Reed winced, awakening slowly from a muddled dream to the sunlight of afternoon. He reached up to swat the mosquito nipping at his cheek, only to hear a soft protest in his ear. The mosquito nipped again, and he turned away from its annoying attack.

    He heard a curt warning when he moved. He   recognized the female voice that issued it. He opened his eyes to see brown-green eyes only inches from his face…
and a razor at his throat
!

    His spontaneous withdrawal was met with a sharp, "Don't move!"

    Chastity Lawrence was staring at him through those grotesque glasses, her teeth locked together, her eyes narrowed. He could feel her breath on his lips as she tilted up his chin to expose his throat,
then
lowered the razor toward it.

    He heard her mumbled words.

    "
Don't move
, or I'll cut you again."

    
Again…?

    He raised a tentative hand to his cheek. It was cleanly shaven! The beard that had been as efficient a part of his disguise as the collar he had worn was gone! "What in hell are you doing?" he asked.

    "I'm shaving you."

    "Who told you to shave me?"

    "Dr. Carr said to clean you up."

    His head was beginning to pound. "Get away from me."

    "I'm not finished."

    "Oh, you're finished, all right."

    Reed felt a warning prickle up his spine as she stepped back, responding coolly, "Anything you say."

    He didn't like the way she said that.

    Touching his clean-shaven cheek again,
Reed  then
touched the other to find it still fully bearded. "Give me that razor."

    "No."

    "I said, give me that razor!"

    "And I said, no."

    Oh, hell! Reed's head was beginning to spin. His stomach was empty and his throat was as dry as a desert, but he'd be damned before he'd let her near him with that razor again.

    Reaching out with
a strength
he did not realize he possessed, Reed grasped the slender wrist so close to his face. Catching her off balance, he pulled her abruptly toward him, knocking off her glasses and sprawling her across him as he rasped, "I want that razor."

    The female warmth of her was pressed against him, the curve of her surprisingly rounded breasts tight against his chest. Her disturbingly sweet breath brushed his lips

    A sharp knock on the door diverted Reed's attention the moment before it opened. Freezing in the doorway, Dr. Carr emitted a low growl of disapproval,
then
snapped, "That sort of thing is off limits for a while!"

    Refusing to release Chastity even as her face flamed a beet red, Reed grated, "I want that razor."

    Dr. Carr stepped farther into the room, stopping short again when he viewed his patient more fully.