Free In a Cowboy’s Arms by Janette Kenny

Burland. She favored her mother, right down to her coal black hair and dark eyes.”
    Dark hair, dark eyes. Definitely not Daisy then. If Doc could be believed, and Dade did believe him.
    He scrubbed a hand over his mouth and swore silently. He was back to square one looking for Daisy, not knowing what the hell happened to her after she boarded that orphan train. Or was he?
    “I need to find out how Maggie came by that broach,” Dade said. “Why did she decide to use my sister’s name? Did she know Daisy? Can she tell me what happened to her?”
    “I can’t answer those questions,” Doc said. “Talk to Maggie. If she knows anything about your sister, it’s up to her to tell you.”
    He thought that over and knew Doc was right. Maggie held the key to so much.
    “You doctored there for a good many years then?” Dade asked.
    “Close to twenty years.” Doc leaned back in his chair and cradled his coffee cup that was surely empty now. “Reckon you’re curious why I left Burland.”
    Dade nodded. “Twenty years in one place sounds like home to me.” It sure had been for him growing up on the Crown Seven.
    “It was a good place to live at the time, and since I served as the company doctor as well as doctor for the town of Burland, I was always busy.”
    “Why’d you leave it?”
    Doc downed his head, shoulders rounding enough to tell Dade the reasons pained the older man. “There was an accident at the mine. Some men were trapped deep in it. Some of them that got out needed medical attention immediately or they’d lose a limb.”
    Dade didn’t have to be told that being reduced to a cripple would threaten a man’s livelihood. The majority would likely prefer death to being lame.
    “I set up a makeshift infirmary on the site and got to work,” Doc said. “Harlan Nowell ordered me to stop. Seems his brother had suffered a minor injury, and he wanted him seen first. I refused.”
    “Harlan Nowell fired you over that?”
    Doc laughed, though the sound held no humor. “He did one better than that. He brought in another doctor and threatened my life if I didn’t leave town.”
    Dade studied Doc and knew the man was being honest with him. Harlan Nowell had everyone under his thumb in his town, and woe to anyone who crossed him. Including an orphan?
    What had it been like for Maggie living there?
    She was likely nothing more than a servant to Nowell. The big house wasn’t a home for her but a place of employment.
    “Why’d Maggie leave there?”
    “Again, that’s up to her to tell you, but suffice to say she had damned good reason to run.” Doc braced both arms on the table and leaned forward. “No matter what you think of her now, you can’t turn her over to that bounty hunter.”
    Dade couldn’t fault the man for being protective of Maggie. Hell, he’d bet there were things about Harlan Nowell that Doc was keeping to himself.
    “Never intended to.” Dade pushed to his feet. “Thanks for the coffee and information. I’ll head out to the Orshlins’ and have a talk with Maggie.”
    “Don’t,” Doc warned. “You’ll lead that bounty hunter right to their door, and those folks don’t need trouble or upset.”
    Patience wasn’t Dade’s long suit, especially when he’d been searching for years for his sister and Maggie could hold the key to her whereabouts. But he understood the doctor’s concern too for the Orshlins and for Maggie.
    He was certain Allis Carson would go to any lengths to capture Maggie. All his earlier concerns about that happening rushed forward to needle him again.
    “All right then. I’ll stay away from the Orshlin farm until the bounty hunter tires of Placid and vamooses.”
    “Even then watch your back,” Doc said.
    Dade dipped his chin and left. Yep, Allis Carson would surely kill anyone who stood in his way of taking Maggie into custody.
    There was more to this story than what Carson had told him. More than what Doc had said. What the hell had Maggie done to