Cooper's Woman (17 page)

“Alexa? Sweetheart?” he whispered as he cupped her chin in his hand and tapped her lightly on the cheek.

She didn't respond.

Coop pulled himself up behind her on the steed, grabbed Bandit's reins and headed toward Main Street. When he reached the town square, he scanned the area quickly, hoping to locate Dr. Robinson.

“
¡Caramba!
What happened to her?”

Coop glanced sideways to see Miguel and Kate sprinting toward him. Then he searched the crowd to locate Gil. “Find the doctor!” he called to the marshal. “Alexa has been shot.”

“Shot?”
Kate skidded to a halt and her face turned as white as salt. “Is she going to be all right?”

“I don't know,” Coop said grimly. “I'm taking her to her hotel room. Send over the doctor as soon as possible.”

When Coop reversed direction, he heard Miguel swearing in Spanish. Obviously he felt personally responsible, too. Coop kept telling himself that he should have kept close tabs on Alexa because he knew how daring and independent she was. Not to mention how determined she was to prove her capabilities to her father by solving this case.

Damn it, if something happened to Alexa he would never be able to forgive himself. It would be like losing his family all over again and having to suffer all that mental anguish. It had been painful enough the first time. Now it would be worse.

Coop battled to keep a firm grasp on his roiling emotions as he halted the horse at the hitching post outside Walker Hotel. Carefully he eased Alexa's limp body from the saddle and held her in his arms. Her head rolled over his arm and came to rest against his chest. When he looked into her ashen face another flashback from the past robbed him of breath. She looked deathly pale and as lifeless as his father and brother…

Coop clenched his jaw, pushed aside the morbid thought and strode into the empty lobby. It seemed everyone was in the town square, discussing the destructive fire. Everyone except Webster and his paramour, Coop thought bitterly.

Out of breath from hurrying up the steps with Alexa in his arms, Coop pivoted toward her rented room. The locked door didn't slow him down much. With a full head of steam, he used his shoulder like a battering ram. The lock and doorjamb gave way on the second hit. Then he kicked the door shut with his boot heel.

Coop grabbed a towel from the commode. Then, balancing Alexa's motionless body over one arm, he peeled off her bloodstained shirt.

He nearly collapsed in relief when he discovered the bullet wound was on her shoulder, not her chest. He determined that she had a fighting chance, as long as she hadn't lost too much blood. Hurriedly he blotted a damp towel over the injury so he could get a better look at it. After he laid her on the bed, he covered her modestly with a sheet.

His medical skills were rudimentary at best. He knew how to use natural remedies, while roughing it in the wilderness, but he had nothing at his disposal except a tin of poultice that he kept with his belongings.

On that thought, he bounded up to fetch the salve from his room and one of his shirts for her to wear after the doctor treated her injury. He was back in a flash to dab the pasty substance over her jagged flesh.

“Mr. Cooper? It's Doc Robinson.”

Coop never took his eyes off Alexa's peaked face for even a moment. “Come in.”

She'd been so vibrant and active, he mused as he stared at her. It seemed unnatural for her to lie there, bleeding all over herself…and it tormented him to the extreme.

“What happened to the door?” the doctor asked on his way past the lopsided slab of wood.

“I had to unlock it the hard way.”

The gray-haired physician cracked a smile as he sank on the opposite side of the bed. His expression sobered when he got his first look at Alexa. When he inched down the sheet, noting Alexa was bare to the waist, his brows furrowed. “Did you remove her clothing? I'm not even sure you should be here while I examine her, much less while I prepare her for possible surgery.”

Coop stared at the doctor as intently as he'd stared down countless outlaws. “She's my responsibility and my partner. You can try to convince me to leave, but you'll waste valuable time.”

The physician was the first to break eye contact. Clearly he wasn't an expert at showdowns or staring contests. “Well then, let's get her stitched up,” he murmured. “You can guard the door. Her friends are only a few minutes behind me.”

 

Elliot Webster scowled irritably when an interruptive knock rattled the door to Lily's spacious, second-story suite in the brothel. “Who is it? This damn well better be important!”

“It's me, boss…and it is important,” Oscar Denton called from the other side of the door.

Swearing crudely, Elliot leaned away from the bed to grab his trousers. Lily snatched up a frilly robe to cover herself.

“Stay here,” Elliot demanded. “I'll speak to him in the sitting room.”

He stepped into his breeches on his way to the door. “What's so damn important? You know I didn't want any of my hired men in the vicinity on this particular night.”

“Things got complicated,” Oscar muttered as Elliot clamped hold of his elbow and jerked him into the sitting room.

“This can't be about the fire because I could see the flames and smell smoke from here,” he said impatiently. “So what is it? A problem with planting the stolen cattle for the marshal to see?”

“No, it's about your fiancée,” Oscar replied.

Elliot frowned, bemused. “What about her?”

“You got more than you bargained for, I'm afraid. I caught her in your office, dressed in men's clothes. I pulled her out from under your desk. She'd been snooping before I noticed her.”

“What?”
Elliot howled incredulously. “Alexa?”

“She ain't your usual bit of fluff,” Oscar assured him. “She stuffed a pistol between my eyes and then backed me into the closet so she could escape. Me and some of the men chased her and fired shots. I don't know if a bullet found its mark because she plunged into the trees beside the creek. It was hard to track her in the dark.”

Elliot's head spun like a carousel, trying to assimilate the startling facts with the socialite he thought he knew.

“She claimed she was checking your finances to make sure you were what you appeared to be before she married you.”

Elliot's eyes widened in horror. “She saw my ledger?”

Oscar shrugged his buffalo-size shoulders. “Don't know about that, boss. I was too busy trying to figure out how to disarm her without getting my head blown off. Then I had to break down the door because she locked me in the closet.”

Dozens of worrisome scenarios rushed to Elliot's mind. His grand visions of gaining financial, political and social prominence, by riding Harold and Alexa Quinn's coattails, were flying out the window. Alexa had duped him and had acquired incriminating information that would ruin what was left of his reputation and strip him of his dwindling wealth.

The thought sent wild desperation and panic coursing through him. He had to do something—and quickly!

“I have to silence her,” Elliot mused aloud as he paced from wall to wall. “All the better if you managed to shoot her. Maybe she's lying on the ground somewhere. We have to find her and dispose of her.” He lurched around to face Oscar. “Send one of the men to the town square. I need to know what rumors and speculations are spreading about the fire and about Alexa's whereabouts. That Mexican bodyguard who follows her around like a devoted pup should know something.”

Oscar spun on his heels. “We'll see what we can find out.”

“I hope the hell you do a better job with this than you did of apprehending my cunning fiancée,” he said darkly. “You can be replaced at a moment's notice, you know.”

The moment Oscar closed the door Lily stepped into view. Apprehension etched her milky-white features. At least
she
cared what happened to him, Elliot consoled himself. That devious bitch of a fiancée didn't care. She was out to get him and he had to stop her before she ruined his life.

“Damnation, everything is going to hell,” Elliot burst out.

Lily rushed forward to smooth the agitated frown from his face. “Don't fret, darling. I can make the necessary contacts if the situation here spirals out of our control.”

“Ha! A hell of a lot of good your contacts have done thus far,” he muttered resentfully. “I've done everything imaginable to set us up for life. Now that wily bitch is ruining us.”

“We'll find her,” Lily assured him. “You can still use her to your advantage, but in a different way than you did before. Don't let anger confuse your thinking. We can figure a way out of this if we don't panic.”

The prompt relieved Elliot's outrage and jolted him back to his senses. “You're right. All isn't lost,” he told himself while she bobbed her head in agreement.

If worst came to worst he could always leave home, change his name and make a new start. However, he needed capital and a head start to prevent being caught.

“You are far too clever and intelligent to let that prissy blonde outsmart you,” Lily encouraged him. “I know I can depend on you to work through this temporary setback.”

When she lowered her hand to cup the placket of his breeches then rubbed against him, the feverish need she never failed to arouse had the power to energize him. He craved her bold advances, the erotic passion she instilled in him. He'd wanted Alexa's money and connection, but he'd always lusted after Lily's ample curves and her unabashed sexuality.

“I'll turn this to our advantage somehow,” he whispered before he kissed her—hard, hungrily.

“I'm counting on you, darling,” she whispered back. “I know I can always depend on you, Elliot.”

T
he moment Miguel and Kate reached Alexa's room, Coop was there to turn them away so the physician could finish stitching her back together.

“Is she going to be okay?” Kate and Miguel asked simultaneously.

Coop nodded. “Doc is finishing up right now. Fortunately for the little daredevil, the bullet passed through her shoulder and didn't lodge against bone. But she lost a considerable amount of blood during the time it took her to reach town from wherever she was tonight.”

“Webster's place is my guess,” Miguel said, and scowled. “As soon as she gets better I'm going to kill her for scaring me half to death.”

Coop smiled for the first time in hours. “My sentiments exactly. You stab her and I'll shoot her a couple of times.”

“I'll bring the poison,” Kate volunteered. “We'll make sure she doesn't make us fret like this again.”

Coop glanced back at the doctor. “I'll be back in a minute.”

He stepped outside then requested that Miguel open the door to his adjacent room so they could speak privately. “It is your responsibility to notify Harold so he'll know about Alexa's injury,” Coop insisted. “Harold doesn't know that I know who hired me and we don't need to complicate the problem right now.”

Miguel grimaced. “I'm dreading the telling.”

“I'll do it,” Kate spoke up. “This certainly isn't Miguel's fault. I love Alexa dearly, but she spent the past two weeks trying to ditch Miguel in her effort to single-handedly solve this case and prove to Harold that she's more than a hostess for his political engagements.”

“But she's still my obligation,” Miguel insisted. “I'll send the telegram.”

“In the meantime, I'll find Webster,” Coop declared. “With any luck, he still thinks I'm on his payroll and that I'm not a threat to him.”

Miguel smiled wryly. “Are you planning to wrench a confession by force? I'd like to be there to help,
gringo.
”

Coop had to admit that if he managed to get his foot in whichever door the bastard was hiding behind, he'd be tempted to exact immediate revenge. But he needed more evidence to convict Webster. Coop had to maintain a professional detachment. He'd have to satisfy his personal vendetta later.

“Tell Harold that Alexa was injured and that giving her time to recuperate will delay her return to Santa Fe,” Coop instructed. “We won't worry him with the whys and what fors of a gunshot wound since we don't know the particulars ourselves.”

Nodding agreeably, Miguel and Kate hurried off together to inform Alexa's father of the mishap. Coop inhaled a calming breath and prepared to face Alexa. Until the day he died, he'd never forget the alarming pallor of her skin and the excessive amount of blood that stained her arm and chest. The image triggered too many painful memories from his past.

“We're all set now,” Doc Robinson announced when Coop reentered the room. “She awakened momentarily and asked for you. Although I offered to relay the message, she's very determined to speak privately with you.” He handed Coop a bottle of laudanum. “Give her another dose after you speak to her.”

The physician exited, promising to return first thing the next morning. Coop sank on the edge of the bed, waiting for Alexa to wake up. He speared his fingers through her silky blond hair, combing it away from her waxen face.

“You drive me crazy, princess. You know that, don't you?” he murmured before he kissed her gently.

To his surprise she whispered, “I know and I'm sorry if I've worried you.”

He was so relieved to know she was conscious that he grinned at her. “I hope that whatever you were doing to earn this souvenir-of-an-injury was worth the pain. The only positive point for me is knowing you're going to be flat on your back in bed recuperating, rather than flitting around on horseback endangering your life again.”

“You think this piddly little ole gunshot wound is going to slow me down?” she rasped, and smiled impishly.

That was Alexa through and through, he knew. “Apparently the doctor couldn't find a way to remove your fighting spirit before he stitched you up,” he remarked as he helped her slip into the loose-fitting shirt he'd brought for her earlier. “So tell me, princess, what the hell happened tonight and who do I have to kill for shooting you?”

 

Kate gasped in alarm when an unseen hand shot from the dark alley, jerking her sideways. Miguel had no time to react before the woman he loved was trapped in Oscar Denton's bulky arms. The sight of the knife at her throat sent rage bubbling through him. He growled a curse when Elliot Webster stepped up beside Denton.

“You're in on this betrayal, aren't you?” Webster sneered at Miguel. “You helped that wily bitch you work for play me for a fool, didn't you?”

Miguel's anxious gaze darted back and forth between Kate and Webster. He silently calculated his chances of attacking Webster and forcing him to release Kate—or lose his own life. Unfortunately he hesitated to take the risk when Kate's life hung in the balance.

“What do you want,
señor?
” Miguel gritted out begrudgingly.

A goading smile thinned Webster's lips. “I'm glad you have enough sense to admit defeat.” He inclined his head toward the boardwalk. “I want you to trot down to the telegraph office and send Harold a message. Tell him to grant me the government contract to deliver horses and beef, plus a sizable bonus—or else.”

“Bonus? A ransom, you mean,” Miguel muttered bitterly.

Webster shrugged carelessly. “Call it whatever you want, but ten thousand will prevent your friend, Kate, from dying a tormenting death.”

Frustrated fury assailed Miguel. He shifted his attention to Kate, who didn't flinch at the threat. She was too damn much like Alexa, he reminded himself again. Beautiful, courageous, loyal. She would make the supreme sacrifice if it ensured that Webster hanged for killing her and for trying to discredit and ruin her father.

“I want the money left in a water bucket dangling inside the well behind Harold's stables. My courier will pick it up day after tomorrow at eight. If he's detained, Kate will suffer fatal consequences.”

“And where will I retrieve Kate?” Miguel asked sharply.

A sinister grin curled Webster's lips. “If Harold doesn't meet my demands, it really won't matter, will it?”

“Where…will…she…be?” Miguel snarled succinctly.

Webster flicked his wrist. “I'll drop her off near her father's ranch. You'll find her sooner or later.”

Miguel tarried, weighing his chances of slitting Webster's throat and then burying his dagger in Denton's heart so Kate could go free. But she was watching him very closely, silently willing him not to risk his own life to rescue her.

“Do as he says, Miguel,” she insisted.

“Indeed,” Webster seconded. “And be quick about it.” He gestured for Denton to back into the shadows of the alley.

Fury marked Miguel's steps as he stormed down the street to send the telegram. No matter how confident Webster felt, surrounded by his armed guards, he'd better not harm a single hair on Kate's reddish-gold head…

Miguel's spiteful thought evaporated when it occurred to him that he had to convey this unfortunate complication to Percy and Meg Hampton. He swore first in English then in Spanish, but it didn't help. The Hamptons were already upset about the rustling accusations and fiery destruction of their store. Learning their daughter had been kidnapped might be too much for them to bear.

 

“I'll ask you again, princess,” Coop said sternly. “Who did this to you?”

Alexa appraised the determined expression on Coop's face as she shifted to find a more comfortable position on the bed. There wasn't one. Her shoulder hurt something fierce and her ankle was still sore. Fortunately, however, the dose of laudanum Dr. Robinson had given her a half hour earlier was beginning to take effect.

“I can see by the look on your face that you intend to avenge me,” she said hoarsely. “But that isn't important now. We have to get word to my father that I have concrete evidence of Elliot's unethical practices, his connection to Norville Thomas and his method of receiving privileged information.”

Coop blinked in amazement then cracked a smile. “Damn, you did have a productive evening, didn't you?” He gestured to the bandages that covered the painful shoulder injury. “Well, except for this small inconvenience. Now where the hell were you while you left a lantern burning by the window to throw me off track?”

Clearly he was annoyed by her deception, but she'd obtained rewarding results, even if they'd come at the expense of a gunshot wound. “I sneaked into Elliot's office.” She paused while he scowled and muttered a pithy curse. “Elliot has not only used Norville Thomas to deliver information but he also purchased black market goods from the commissary post between Santa Fe and Albuquerque,” she explained.

“After I read the inserts in Elliot's ledger I realized where I have seen Norville Thomas,” she continued as she absently rubbed her throbbing shoulder. “He's the quartermaster in charge of dispensing supplies to forts and reservations in the territory. According to what I saw in the ledger, he's selling goods to people like Elliot for his own profit.”

“There is too much of that going around,” Coop said sourly. “The soldiers and Indian tribes suffer extensively, just to pad the pockets of greedy bastards like Webster and Thomas.”

Alexa nodded in agreement then added, “Norville is also the man I saw with Elliot the night of the party in Santa Fe. I didn't get a clear look at him at the time. Also, I was distracted by the prospect of Elliot's forthcoming proposal. Now I recall that Norville was in military uniform, but he kept to the shadows to protect his identity. Although his short stature and lean physique seemed familiar, I didn't make the connection. He threw me off track when I saw him from a distance at the line shack because he wore homespun clothes and a cap.”

She yawned tiredly and sighed. “I don't know when the two men made initial contact, but they've been partners for several years, if the notations in the ledger are anything to go by.”

Coop smiled approvingly as he offered her a sip of water. “Good work, princess. That ledger will prove invaluable in court, especially with your testimony to go with it.”

After she wet her whistle, she told him how and where she had left the ledger for safekeeping. “You need to retrieve the leather-bound book immediately,” she insisted. “If it falls into Elliot's hands it will be my word against his.”

“Did you figure out who is the traitor on your father's committee?” Coop asked.

“No, but I did figure out how the system works,” she replied, battling the pain and exhaustion that threatened to zap what little strength she had left. “It's the flower sisters.”

Coop blinked, puzzled. “Come again?”

“Gil mentioned to me recently that Lily Brantley and her two sisters ran brothels in the territory. I kept thinking there was something familiar about the name of Lily's Pleasure Resort. It dawned on me that I once overheard Ambrose Shelton and Ben Porter, two of my father's associates and advisors, discussing their mistress from Rose's Pleasure Parlor in Santa Fe. Then I recalled—”

“—Daisy's Pleasure Haven,” Coop finished for her. “I remember it. It's in Albuquerque, but I haven't been in it.”

“I passed by it a few times while I was in boarding school,” Alexa murmured, struggling to overcome the lethargy that was steadily dragging her down. “The three sisters are taking advantage of their prestigious clients' connections and selling information.”

“Obviously they've had a network operation in place for years, in addition to catering to upper-class clients,” Coop added while she struggled to keep her eyes open. He bent down to brush his lips over her forehead. “I commend your investigative skills, but you never had to impress me. I can see you have the knack. Now get some much-needed sleep. I'll handle the arrests and contact your father about your recent discoveries.”

“I don't want to miss out on this phase of the case,” she complained. “I did all the legwork and you get to have all the fun.”

“You bet, princess. And I'll take all the credit, too,” he teased as he dropped a kiss to her lips. “Now get some rest.
Please.
”

A quiet rap rattled the broken door. Alexa rolled her head to the left to see Miguel enter the room.

She expected him to nag her incessantly for getting hurt when he wasn't on hand to protect her. However, he made her feel even worse than she did already when he blurted out, “Webster and Denton abducted Kate while we were on our way to telegraph Harold. They took her hostage and ordered me to tell Harold that she'd die a torturous death if he didn't give Webster the contract for cattle and horses, plus ten thousand dollars as a ransom for Kate's safe return.”

“What! Ouch!” Alexa reared up—and instantly regretted her reaction. The pain in her shoulder made her light-headed and she wilted back to the bed. She clutched Coop's hand, demanding his attention. “You have to help Kate before you pursue this investigation. She's in danger because of me. Please, Coop. I'll never ask anything else of you. Ever. Just find her.”