The Outlaws: Jess (11 page)

Jess was delighted to find an apothecary down
one of the side streets and was able to find everything he needed
for his office, from bandages to laudanum. He made sure the
druggist knew he would be ready to receive patients in a day or
two.

At the grocery store he introduced himself as
the new doctor is town, bought a variety of provisions, and
arranged to have them delivered to his house. He felt strongly that
word of mouth worked almost as well as handbills in advertising his
services. His next stop was the bathhouse, then the barbershop,
where he had a shave and haircut, making friends with the customers
and inviting them to seek his services when illness struck.

One place Jess steered clear of was the
sheriff's office. It was his fervent wish that the local law never
learned that he was a wanted man. Jess's final stop before
returning home was the cabinetmaker, where he ordered a shingle to
hang over his door. The sign was to read,
Jess Gentry, M.D.
The cabinetmaker promised to have it finished the following
day.

Jess spent the rest of the day stowing away
his provisions and setting up his office. The first patient arrived
unexpectedly shortly after dark, before his shingle was up and he
was fully prepared to treat anyone. The patient was a child who
couldn't have been more than three years old. He lay whimpering and
feverish in his father's arms.

"Are you open for business, Doc?" the man asked. "I'm
Ben Dunn, and this here is little Bobby. He's terrible sick, Doc.
Mr. Coleman over at the apothecary told me you were the new doctor
in town. Can't find old Doc Holloway."

"Bring him in, Mr. Dunn," Jess said, ushering
the man into his office.

Jess took the child from his father's arms
and laid him down on the cot. He conducted a thorough examination
before offering a diagnosis.

"It appears that Bobby has the mumps, Mr.
Dunn. It usually runs its course in the young, but I can give him
something to ease his symptoms. Does he have brothers and
sisters?"

"Not yet, Doc."

"Keep him away from other children until the
swelling subsides. "Have you and the missus had the mumps?"

Dunn scratched his thatch of dust colored
hair. "Don't rightly know. Is it dangerous?"

"It can be in adults. Keep checking
yourselves for swellings beneath the ears and in the groin area. If
you or your wife experience fever or any of the symptoms I just
mentioned, see me immediately. Mumps is especially hard on adult
men.

"If Bobby's fever rises, rub him down with
alcohol or cold water. Give him plenty of liquids and keep him
quiet. You should see an improvement in a few days."

"Thanks, Doc. Me and Bobby's ma sure were
worried. This is our first and we don't want nothing to happen to
him. How much do I owe you?"

"Can you pay?"

Dunn's chest puffed out. "I have steady work,
I can pay."

"Very well. Is one dollar too much."

Wilcox dug in his pocket and pulled out a
silver dollar. "It's not too much, Doc. Much obliged. It's about
time Cheyenne had a doctor the citizens can depend upon. My wife
will be over one day soon to welcome you to town."

Jess stared at the silver dollar long after
Wilcox and his son had departed. It was the first dollar he'd
earned at his profession, unless he counted his meager army pay.
He'd joined the army right out of medical school, before he'd hung
up his shingle. And when he'd tried to practice in Dodge City, the
citizens shunned him. It felt damn good to earn money after all
those dry years, even if it was only a dollar.

Business picked up daily. Jess was so busy
administering to the sick he could only spare brief moments to
think about Meg and wonder how she was doing. Jess's reputation
grew until everyone in Cheyenne had either heard about or
personally met young doctor Jess Gentry. His waiting room was
usually filled with patients needing his services, and he was
summoned often to make emergency house calls.

Within two weeks Jess had delivered a baby,
sewn up dozens of wounds, both minor and serious, and treated
various illnesses. He'd also captured the attention of several
unmarried ladies who considered the handsome bachelor fair game.
Invitations began to pour in. He accepted some, turned down others,
but found no woman who could compare favorably to feisty,
unconventional Meg.

The first morning Jess found no patients in
his waiting room, he decided to visit the apothecary to replenish
his supply of medicines. He had just finished his business and was
returning to the office when he saw Zach coming out of the Railroad
Cafe across the street with a woman on his arm. Thinking it was Meg
and eager to see how she was faring, he hailed Zach and hurried
across the street.

"Doc!" Zach greeted. "I was planning to visit
you today. There's someone I want you to meet. Jess, this is Widow
Dowling."

Widow Dowling offered her hand. "My friends
call me Mary. I've heard a lot about you, Doctor Gentry. All of it
good."

Jess must have made the appropriate reply but
he was too dumbfounded to remember. What in the hell was going on
here? Where was Meg? What was Zach doing squiring around another
woman? Zach even looked different with his hair all slicked down
and his beard trimmed.

"May I have a word with you in private,
Zach," Jess said, his voice ripe with disapproval.

"Sure thing, Doc. You'll excuse me a minute,
won't you, Mary?"

"Of course, Zach," Mary graciously allowed.
"I wanted to step into the dry goods store a moment anyway."

"What in the hell is going on, Zach?" Jess
demanded to know. "Where's Meg? Does she know what you're
about?"

"Hell, Jess, a man's gotta socialize once in
a while. Those pills you gave me worked wonders. I feel like a new
man. Maybe my heart isn't as bad as I thought it was."

"I'm glad, but what about Meg?"

"Meg's doing just fine, Doc. Back to her old
self again. I'm doing my best to convince her to give up bounty
hunting."

"You have to do better than that."

"I'm trying, Doc. Got some good news to tell
you. I got me a job. One that doesn't tax my leg or my heart. Mr.
Henley down at the hardware store needs a clerk. It's a far cry
from what I'm use to, but Meg and me need money powerful bad."

Jess sent a dark look at the woman who had
just disappeared into the dry goods store. "What's that woman to
you?"

Zach sent him a puzzled look. "Mary? We've
been friends a long time. Hell, Doc, a widow has needs just like
anyone else."

Gorge rose up inside Jess. How could Zach do
this to Meg?

"Come out to the house sometime, Doc," Zach
invited. "I know you've built up a busy practice in town, but
that's no reason to make yourself scarce. Meg misses you. She
hasn't said anything but I can tell. She needs to be around young
people. Have you thought any more about what we talked about?"

"I'm in no position to marry anyone," Jess
asserted. "I can't believe you'd even suggest such a thing, Zach.
Don't you have feelings for Meg?"

Zach frowned. "You ain't making sense, Doc.
You know how I feel about Meg."

From the corner of his eye, Jess saw Mary
returning and bit back his caustic remark.

"Looks like Mary is done shopping," Zach
said. "We'll talk later, Doc. Why don't you go out and visit Meg?
Tell her not to wait supper for me tonight."

Jess stood with his mouth hanging open as
Zach and Mary strolled off arm in arm.

Jess whirled on his heel and strode away.
Rage blinded him to everything but the grinding need to see Meg, to
learn if she was aware of Zach's betrayal, and if she were badly
hurt by it. Jess reached home in record time. He didn't bother
checking to see if he had patients waiting, but went straight to
the lean-to and saddled his horse. Meg needed to know about the man
she claimed to love, he decided, spurring his horse down the road.
Jess had come to like Zach, but this time he'd gone too far.

Jess galloped his horse all the way to Meg's
house. He knew he'd ridden his poor mount hard but he was mad, damn
mad. At Zach for betraying Meg, and at Meg for letting it happen.
Did she have no pride? No sense at all?

He dismounted, tossed his reins over the
porch railing and charged up the steps. He stormed into the house
without bothering to knock.

"Meg!"

No answer.

"Dammit, Meg, answer me."

Meg came hurrying out of the kitchen, wiping
her hands on the apron she wore around her middle. She looked
beautifully disheveled and flushed.

"Jess? Whatever is wrong?" Suddenly her face
turned white. "It isn't Zach, is it? He's been doing so well
lately."

"You're damn right it's Zach, only it's not
what you think. Do you know who he's with?"

She sent him a puzzled look. "No, but I can
guess. He's with Mary."

Jess sent her a pitying look. "Doesn't that
make you angry?"

"Why should it? Zach is a grown man. He's
free to do as he pleases. So am I."

He grasped her shoulders and gave her an
angry shake. "The man doesn't deserve your love."

"Don't ever say that! Zach saved my
life."

"So you said. And you repaid him by becoming
his lover. He doesn't deserve you, Meg."

"Zach is not now nor has he ever been my
lover," Meg bit out. "You're dense as a doorknob, Jess Gentry!"

Jess stared at her. Her color was high, and
her incredible green eyes glittered like brilliant emeralds. He
could tell she was angry and he wanted to kiss the pout off her
lush lips.

"You're denying you and Zach are lovers?" he
hissed.

"Haven't I always denied it?" Meg charged.
"You're the one who keeps persisting. Let me go."

He pulled her against him. "Zach said to tell
you not to wait supper on him. Though he didn't come out and say
it, he'll probably spend the night with the attractive Widow
Dowling."

"Zach and Mary have been friends for years.
Before I came into his life. Let me go," she repeated.

Jess couldn't explain why he didn't accept
Meg's word and let things go at that. But a devil inside him
wouldn't let the subject rest. He was like a dog with a bone,
digging beneath her denial for the truth.

"If Zach can take another lover, why not
you?"

Meg gave him a startled look. "You're not
offering yourself, are you?"

"Why not? Lord knows I've tried to treat you
as a patient, but I'm not made of stone. I know your body
intimately, Meg. I bathed you, took care of your needs. Every time
I touched you I forced myself to think of you as someone in need of
my services, not as a beautiful woman with a body that would tempt
a saint. I'm not too proud to admit that I want you, Meg Lincoln,
and Zach be damned. Just thinking about you and me together makes
me hard as stone."

Meg realized Jess was going to kiss her, and
she wanted to turn and run. She didn't.

"You liked my kisses once, Meg."

"You just thought I did."

His gaze desire-darkened gaze settled on her
lips. He stared at them for the space of a heartbeat before his
mouth came down hard on hers. Her protest became a pitiful mewling
sound, one that Meg scarcely realized had come from her own throat.
His kiss was hot and intense; a searing mingling of tongues and
teeth and unrestrained longing.

Jess broke off the kiss, the golden flecks in
his eyes glowing like precious amber as he searched her face. "You
want me," he crowed.

Meg expelled a shuddering breath. "No! I
don't..."

"Don't deny it, Meg. "You want me as badly as
I want you."

He grasped her hand and placed it on his
erection. "See what you do to me?"

He grinned knowingly when she snatched her
hand away. Then he kissed her again. He touched her breast, not as
a doctor's impersonal touch, but that of a lover. Meg felt a
coiling fear begin in his stomach and spiral upward. She'd known no
man except Arlo and he'd been brutal. In all those years since,
she'd sworn that no man would ever get close enough to hurt her
again. Yet here she was, acting like a wanton in Jess's arms.

"Jess, I don't want..."

"Yes, you do." His disarming smile turned
into a thoughtful frown. "You're not afraid of me, are you? Is Zach
a brutal lover? Is that why you're so skittish? I promise you, Meg,
I will give you nothing but pleasure. I'd never hurt you. You
believe me, don't you?"

Meg thought about it a moment and decided
that if she could believe any man it would be Jess. If only he
wasn't such a ass about her and Zach. She didn't believe Jess would
knowingly hurt her but he was a man. Arlo had been full of
promises, too, but he'd hurt her terribly and would have continued
to do so if she hadn't had the gumption to do something about
it.

"I believe you wouldn't knowingly hurt me,
Jess, but that doesn't change things."

"Are you denying you want me? Or are you
worried about betraying Zach?"

Meg flushed and looked away. Never had she
experienced the kind of unfulfilled longing that Jess's kisses
roused in her. She'd had so little experience with men that those
feelings frightened her.

"I'm not sure what I want, Jess. And for your
information, since Zach and I aren't lovers, I wouldn't be
betraying him."

Apparently Jess perceived her answer as
permission to proceed, for he swept her off her feet and into his
arms.

Her voice rose on a note of panic. "What are
you doing?"

"Taking you someplace where we can both have
what we want. You're contrary as all get out, Meg, but that only
makes you more desirable in my eyes."

He strode to her room and shoved open the
door with his shoulder. Then he let her slide slowly down his body.
She felt his arousal and fear shuddered through her. She couldn't
let him do this.