Two Wanted Men [Badlands 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (12 page)

“Are you ill?” She searched his person from head to foot for any injuries or something to signal his ailment.

“No. Not at all. You see, I’ve been hired to be the town’s new doctor and I wanted to get a sense of the space available in this house for my practice. The mayor promised to build me a new clinic if this isn’t suitable.” He poked his head inside and swiveled his neck around searching and obviously not impressed with what he saw. “It’s rather modest. Certainly much smaller than the house in my last township.”

Miranda heard the words he spoke, but they didn’t make any sense. Why would a new doctor have been hired? The town wasn’t big enough to need two physicians. She put a hand to her forehead and rubbed a throbbing pain that had just erupted. “I’m sorry. I don’t quite understand. Why are you here again?” It was then that she noticed Mayor Harris and Ben in the street waiting behind Clarence.

Together, they stepped up onto her porch and joined Clarence at the door. The mayor had a sheepish look on his face, but Ben had scorn stamped in his nasty smile.

Miranda summed up the situation in the time it took to snap one’s fingers. The mayor had lied about allowing her to be the town’s doctor. She took a step back intending to slam the door in their horrible, deceitful faces, however Clarence apparently thought she was inviting him inside. He quickly stepped over the threshold and into the parlor with Ben hot on his heels and the mayor following along looking everywhere but directly into her eyes.

“What is the meaning of this Mayor Harris?”

He finally looked at her. His apologetic gaze did not sway her to forgive. “I’m sorry, Miss Miranda, but the townsfolk didn’t take to you as the new doctor like I’d hoped they would.”

“I knew they’d never accept a woman as the doctor.” Ben sneered. “I told you so, Mayor Harris.”

Miranda wanted to slap the smirk off of Ben’s smug face, but turned to the mayor and tried to keep from tearing up. Crying would not help. She allowed the anger seething within her to keep her tears at bay. How dare they treat her this way?

The mayor nodded absently at Ben’s remark and faced Miranda with a regretful expression and a steady gaze. “It’s more than just the townsfolk not being accepting of you.”

“What else is wrong?” Her voice had trembled a little and she took a deep breath to keep hold of her volatile emotions as her dream world crumbled around her.

“Another problem is that your father hasn’t been performing his duties as contracted by the township for quite a number of years now.” The mayor had stopped looking her in the eyes.

“So? What does that mean?” Frustration saturated her mind.

“And he’s been running up quite a substantial tab at both Rose’s Saloon and The Dusty Swallow.”

“Are you saying my father is in debt?” Miranda shook her head. “But I’ve been working for the past six weeks. Surely that has helped.”

“Well, it might have if I hadn’t had to accompany all your patients over here to guarantee you wouldn’t kill them.”

“What?” Miranda’s cheeks heated in anger. “That is unfair. I’ve only given the very best care to each and every person who has come here for treatment.”

Mayor Harris’ hands came up in supplication. “Now you and I know that, but the general population is never going to allow you to be the permanent doctor here in town. I’ve had more than one citizen come to tell me they would quit and leave town rather than have a woman doctor. I’m sorry, but I just can’t allow you to stay on as the town’s doctor.”

Miranda sent a glare over to Ben. His smirk was permanently placed. She had no doubt that he was one who’d threatened to quit. Probably the only one who had threatened, the bastard.

“So you’ve pretended to let me practice all the while you waited for your new doctor to show up and replace me. I think that’s despicable.”

“Now I hope you’ll extend a courtesy to the new doctor and show him where he’ll be working once you move.”

“Move?” Miranda put a hand to her mouth to stop a vulgar word from escaping. “I don’t understand. This is my home. The only one I’ve had since I was five.”

Mayor Harris sighed. “Your father came here and agreed to work for a little salary paid by the town as long as he had a place to practice and a home for his family. The house has always belonged to the town.”

“Tell her the rest of it, Mayor. She needs to know.” Ben crossed his arms and the smile he sported didn’t bode well for her future.

The mayor harrumphed a couple of times. “I’m sorry to inform you, Miss Miranda, but the house and all its contents belong to the township. You may remove your personal items and clothing, but as of the arrival of our new doctor, you’ll have to find another place to live.”

Miranda fairly swooned on her feet. She gripped the doorframe, still having failed to close the door after the three had trooped in. “Where do you expect me to go?”

Ben’s crossed arms dropped and he took an aggressive step closer to her. “Your father is going to jail unless he can pay what he owes to the two saloons in town. Since you took over for him as doctor, I figure you can share in the debt, too.”

“Now, Ben, there is no need to be mean. The bar owners should have known better than to let old Silas run a tab in the first place.”

“Don’t matter. The law is the law. Doc Herrington owes upwards of four hundred dollars between the two saloons.”

“Four hundred dollars! That’s half a year’s wages. How could he have spent so much?”

“He’s been putting it on his tab for almost two years.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Crazy or not, you don’t have too many options here, Miranda.” Ben’s low calculating voice spelled trouble for her. He obviously had a plan in mind and she didn’t think she’d like it one single bit.

“I’ve spoken to the mayor and the two saloon owners and we’ve come to an arrangement. I’ve agreed to pay your debt.”

“My debt?” In her mind that was still up for interpretation. “You’ll pay in exchange for what?”

“Your hand in marriage.”

If he’d announced to the assembled few that he wanted to dance naked around the civil war cannon residing in the town square, she wouldn’t have been as surprised as she was at hearing his proposal of marriage.

Chapter Nine

Miranda curled in a ball in the center of the strange, uncomfortable bed and tried to think of a reason to get up. After being kicked out of her home with barely more than the clothes on her back, her life had changed irrevocably only a week ago when her father died.

Her father, having been summarily cut off completely from his steady supply of liquor, hadn’t lasted. The “new doctor” said it was likely his heart. Miranda mourned him and the man he used to be for the better part of a week and still her tears came.

The funeral had been quick, small, tasteful and poorly attended considering all the people in town who’d known him. Worst of all, the services, memorial, and marker commission had been paid for by her new “intended” Ben. Her eyes closed at the dire possibility that she’d actually have to marry him.

She’d waited endlessly for a message from Luke or Reese, but thus far none had come. She wasn’t sure how long it would take for them to reach their property let alone contact her, but hopefully it would be soon. She couldn’t hold off the hated nuptials much longer.

Worse, doubt regularly crept into her mind about whether they truly wanted her to be with them in
South Dakota
but didn’t last long. Was that why she hadn’t heard from them in all this time? Shaking her head at the horrible idea, Miranda refused to give into melancholy thoughts about their love for her.

They did love her. She knew it.

After being kicked out of her home with two changes of clothing and a few pieces of jewelry from her mother, Miranda had been given the choice of jail or staying with Ben’s married brother on the north end of town. Because it was further away from Ben, she’d chosen his brother’s house. The room she used was tiny, and likely a former storage area, but this arrangement suited her better than being under Ben’s watchful eye at all times.

The plan she formulated still depended on receiving a message from her two lovers. If she’d found herself with child, the circumstances of her life would have been better, but two weeks after Luke and Reese had gone, she knew she didn’t carry their child. At the time, she’d been both relieved and saddened. But she’d still been under the false assumption that the mayor wanted her to be the doctor in town.

A sound coming from the front of the house signaled that the house was waking up. Ben’s brother John and his wife, Hanna, had graciously allowed her to stay until the wedding.

Miranda hated to disillusion them, but she’d sooner die than marry Ben Colby.

She heard louder voices and rose to help out. Tip toeing down the short hallway, she paused when she heard her name whispered.

“I just don’t like it, that’s all,” Hannah said. “What if them letters are from her kinfolk? Her father died. She should get to see them.”

“Ben said they weren’t from kin, but some men she used to know.”

“Where did she meet men? She’s lived here always.”

“They was strangers passing through a couple of months ago. Ben said the letters didn’t say where they were at or he woulda gone after them.”

“Strangers or not, he shouldn’t pry into her mail or hide them from her.”

“It don’t matter, anyway. He’s going to be her husband and he can look at her letters if he wants to.”

“But he didn’t let her even see them. And besides Ben was gettin’ them letters before they was ever engaged to be married. How many does he have now, three? It ain’t right not to let her see them.”

“Don’t raise your voice. You’ll wake her up. She don’t need to know about some letters from other men no matter when they came. She’s marryin’ Ben. Now stop talkin’ about it.”

Miranda realized her mouth hung open and closed it. She retraced her steps back to her small room and hid inside.

Ben was holding her letters. Bastard. The only other person in her family who might write was an elderly aunt in
Philadelphia
. More likely than not, Ben held letters from an address in
South Dakota
.

Seething anger dictated her actions, Miranda packed her single bag with both changes of clothes and all her worldly possessions that consisted of a gold necklace and bracelet from her mother, a battered compass in a small box given to her father once as payment for saving the man’s life and the scrap of paper Reese had given her. She sat on the tiny bed and waited until John left the house. Sneaking past Hanna posed a more difficult challenge, but Miranda was determined.

The knock on her door startled her. She took a deep breath and released it. Calling out loudly, she responded, “Yes.”

Hanna’s voice came through the door clearly. “Do you want some breakfast?”

Miranda’s stomach took the occasion to roll with stress. “No.”

There was a long pause. “Are you coming out?”

Miranda closed her eyes and wished she could run far away. “No.”

“Well, I wanted to tell you that I’m going over to visit my friend, Mary, as she just had a baby, and I’ll be back by lunchtime.”

Miranda’s head spun to stare at the door. A warm feeling of growing delight encompassed her limbs. The new mother Hanna planned to visit was a former patient. Her newborn had been one of the three babies Miranda delivered back when she was still allowed to be a doctor. Had that only been a week ago? Miranda opened the door to see the expression on Hanna’s face was quietly conspiratorial. “Be careful here while I’m gone.”

Miranda smiled. “Thank you. I will.”