Free After Sundown by Shelly Thacker

take this girl out of here before she’s fit to travel and you’ll be the one facing a judge. Because I will shout about it all the way to Indian Territory and Missouri and Washington, D.C.—and your illustrious career as a hero to gullible kids will be finished.”
    Lucas told himself it wasn’t worth the effort, or a bruised hand, to knock the good doctor on his self-righteous ass.
    “What’s in this for you, Holt?” he shot back. “You trying to rescue her? You want to protect her? I’d be careful. The last man who took Antoinette Sutton under his wing got paid back with a bullet in the chest.”
    For a moment, he almost thought the doctor was going to dare say maybe he deserved it .
    Until Lucas let his right hand settle on the butt of his holstered Peacemaker.
    The doctor’s gaze settled on the gun. “All I’m trying to do, McKenna, is save a life. It’s what I do for a living.” He glanced up, returning Lucas’s glare. “Trust me, she won’t be leaving Eminence. She can’t. You go on your way and come back in five weeks, she’ll still be here.”
    Lucas choked out a derisive laugh. “I go on my way, and you and the other hornswoggled people in this town will be buying her a first-class ticket on the next train out of Denver.” He turned on his heel. “I’ll be back shortly—and by that I mean, later tonight.” He stopped at the door. “And she’d better still be here.”
    He yanked the door shut behind him, wondering how in the name of God and all the angels one smallish woman could cause such huge upheaval.
    Outside, a few people lingered, studying the wanted poster and talking among themselves. Frustration and exasperation knotted together inside Lucas.
    Now that he had spared Antoinette’s life, it seemed her life had been made his responsibility. He wasn’t sure whether Holt was telling the truth about her condition, whether she might be able to travel to the nearest train depot—but if he took the chance and things went wrong, it could cost him everything.
    He glanced around. The idea of cooling his heels in this worthless scrap of a town for five weeks almost made him retch.
    But he wouldn’t be here that long. He had seen people in worse shape get out of bed and hit the trail in less time. Hell, he’d had broken ribs himself more than once, and never had he been laid up for an entire month.
    Two weeks, he figured, maybe three, and she’d be ready to go.
    Until then, he had no choice but to stay here. He sure as hell couldn’t trust the townsfolk to keep her in custody. Not when Antoinette had so many of them hoodwinked into believing she was every bit as sweet and good as she appeared.
    Travis stood a few feet away, standing watch over Lucas’s saddlebags like some kind of loyal puppy.
    Lucas sighed and walked over to him. “Where’s the jail in this town, kid?”
    “Uh, we don’t have one, sir.”
    Lucas regarded him for a long moment. “There’s no jail?”
    “No, sir. It’s the truth, sir. Jail burned down this summer and our town marshal left to take a job up north, and we ain’t found anyone willin’ to take his place since. Nearest law’s the county sheriff down in Central City, and that’s—”
    “Seventy miles down the mountain.” Lucas ran a hand over his unshaven face, tried to remember the last time he’d slept, and muttered a word that started with “f” that made Travis blink.
    Yet the admiration in the kid’s eyes only seemed to grow. “So... so what’re you going to do with the prisoner, Marshal?”
    “What am I going to do with her?” Lucas echoed, wondering the same thing as he looked at the shops and houses and stone chapel and abandoned buildings that made up Eminence. For a moment, all he could think about was a hot meal and a decent bed.
    Then an idea occurred to him. He glanced sideways at Travis. “Post office is in the general store?”
    “Yessir.”
    Lucas headed across the street.
    “Marshal? Sir?” Travis followed at his