Free Texas Twilight by Caroline Fyffe Page B

to
yourself?”
    Tucker watched the exchange with
interest.
    Feeling sheepish over his actions this
morning, John shrugged. “I guess I did come off that way. But,
after today, I see there’s merit in the idea of you staying around
for a while, just while I get settled. Show me the ropes. Is there
enough room upstairs for me?”
    Bixby’s eyes narrowed a bit behind his
spectacles. “Well, Tucker lives up there, too. But, there’s a free
bedroom. We might be able to fit you in.”
    “What about my medical things and books?”
    “Push mine aside, make room.”
    John groaned inwardly as he tried not to look
around and draw attention to the mess. But he knew this was how it
should be played out. Besides, maybe he and Tucker could get this
place straightened up a bit more. It wouldn’t be half as bad. He
nodded. “I’ll bring my things over later this afternoon.”
     
    ***
     
    After her confrontation with the banker, Lily
took her time going back to the hotel room, not knowing what she
was going to tell her aunt.
    She crossed over Main Street and crossed
again at Dry. Where the streets intersected, a black iron bench was
placed surrounded by two olive trees and a tall saguaro cactus that
stood a couple of feet above Lily’s head. It also had a beautiful
six-foot-tall clock making it one of the prettiest spots she’d seen
in town. And, with its pinch of much needed shade, it gave
pedestrians a spot to get out of the heat on the sun drenched
street. Coincidentally, it was also one building over from the
doctor’s office that John had pointed out to her this morning. Was
John over there now? She stopped for a moment, looking.
    Shouts drew her attention down to the
swinging doors of the Black Silk Garter Saloon where a man
staggered out and stumbled back and forth. Luckily he hooked a post
with his elbow, swinging around a couple of times before sitting
down hard on the edge of a watering trough, spooking several of the
horses tied there. A voice shouted from within that he wasn’t to
come back until he’d sobered up.
    Darn. She’d crossed Main Street too early.
She should have remained on the bank’s side of the street and
crossed in front of the hotel. Now, if she wanted to go back to her
room she’d need to pass by the saloon, and the drunken cowboy, on
the way. She glanced south at the two wagons coming her way, and
north at the three mounted riders. Pondering her situation she
didn’t hear the footsteps approaching.
    “Looks dangerous to me.”

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    “T urning, Lily
found a tall cowboy standing a few feet away on the boardwalk. He
was nicely dressed, and clean. His eyebrows arched over his eyes,
amused, as he gestured to the man swaying on the trough, loudly
giving the horses a dressing down.
    “I wouldn’t want to walk past him alone,
either. Never underestimate a man in his cups.” There was a tinge
of humor in his voice and Lily couldn’t help but smile at her own
actions, clearly evident to others. “You’re staying at the Union
Hotel?” he asked.
    “I am.”
    The cowboy stepped closer when she answered
and she noted his crisply ironed red shirt and expensive looking
boots. He tipped his hat. “I’m Dustin McCutcheon. Didn’t I see you
arrive on yesterday’s stage?”
    She was so surprised at his name she had a
hard time finding her voice. “Why, yes. My aunt and I traveled from
Boston. My name is Lily Anthony.”
    “I heard what happened on the way here—with
the Comancheros. I’m sorry. It must have been frightening for
you.”
    Dustin McCutcheon looked much too young to be
John’s uncle, so Lily deduced that they must be cousins. He was
taller by an inch or two, a handsome man in his own right, though
not nearly as handsome, charming, or wonderful as John. His hair
was dark and wavy, and there was a lot of it if she judged by what
she could see around his collar. His smile was attractive, to say
the least.
    “It was. Miss Smith and I had become friends
during our