Mystic Cowboy(83)

She paused for a second. This was unfettered access to her back account. But then, he’d already had unfettered access to her body. Was this any different? And she was desperate. Behind her, the wet sound of projectile vomiting hit her ears. Desperation in a nutshell. She gave him the check, and he tucked it in his back pocket. “If he gives you any crap, you have my permission to beat the hell out of him.”

He caught her eyes and held her gaze for a long moment. She tried to read his eyes, but all she could see was something that might be admiration, professional respect.

“I’m going,” he said, his voice low and suddenly intimate.

“Go, then.”

With a nod of his head, he turned and stepped over patients on the floor.

But come back, she added silently as Jesse’s truck peeled out of the parking lot.

Come back.





Chapter Sixteen

Normally, it took Rebel about an hour and fifteen or twenty minutes to get to Rapid City. Today, he made it in under an hour, which, unfortunately, left him with seven minutes to sit in the Terstrip Medical Supply parking lot and figure out how he wanted to handle this. Madeline had gone in with both barrels blasting, but he wasn’t Madeline. And he’d never met any of these people, so he didn’t know what was coming. Who would he need to be? Rebel or Jonathan?

As he debated, he looked around. He’d never been on this side of the city. When he came in, he stuck to the gallery neighborhoods and the Super-Mart strip malls. A corner grocery that looked like it catered to Mexican immigrants was up the block and a manufactured-home sales lot was across the street. Terstrip Medical Supply took up most of a whole block all by itself. Together, they gave the place a desolate, industrial feel at nearly nine on a Sunday morning.

He wondered what time the grocery opened. No one had eaten anything since he’d shown up, and Madeline probably wouldn’t let anyone eat anything that had already been in the clinic for fear of cross-contamination. But everyone would need something to keep going, or they wouldn’t be any better off that the patients. His stomach managed a small growl in agreement.

At exactly nine, a smooth black sedan with dark windows pulled into the lot and an ill-tempered man who looked dressed for church got out and slammed the door. His comb-over ruffled in the slight breeze as he stalked up to the door, unlocked it and wrenched it open.

He’d have to go in as Rebel, he decided. Nothing about Terstrip said he could be flattered into anything right now. He followed Terstrip into the store.

“Well?” Terstrip snarled, his lip curling up in distaste. “Who the hell are you?”

“Jonathan Runs Fast. Dr. Mitchell sent me to pick up the supplies.” No need to give this man more to glare about. He held out the list.

Terstrip looked at him like he’d taken a dump in the middle of the sidewalk. “You’re an associate? You look like a dirty hippie. A girl hippie.”

So much for politeness. He knew it didn’t have much on Madeline’s sneer, but he didn’t have to look mean. He just had to look a little dangerous, so he smiled. Terstrip froze. Smiling always threw people off. “I’m just here for the supplies.”

Unfreezing, Terstrip scooted behind the counter. Gun or baseball bat? Rebel hoped baseball bat. They were a lot easier to dodge than bullets. “You dirty Indian, you’ll probably just steal the stuff, try to get high or something. I outta call the police on you, on all your kind.”

To hell with looking dangerous. He was feeling a whole lot of dangerous. Terstrip started to duck under the counter, but Rebel moved before he could get anywhere and had the man by his Sunday-best lapels. “Too bad that they’d never find me. You know Indians. We all look alike. But they would find you.”

“Take your hands off me!”

That’s better, Rebel thought. Proper fear. Terstrip started to stink with it.

“I’m just here for the supplies,” he repeated, aiming for more menacing this time. Too bad he hadn’t brought Nobody. Nobody could do menacing like nobody. The man was a professional at it. Rebel was a rank amateur in comparison. However, Terstrip didn’t know it. His eyes widened even more. “And then I’ll leave.” He let go of the man and got ready to dodge lumber.

“What’s going on in here?”

The sound of a soft voice whipped him around to see a petite woman with big, artificially blonde hair standing in the doorway. She had the kind of sweetheart face that said she’d turned a lot of heads back in her time, Even now, her generous curves were still a sight to appreciate.

He felt a sigh of relief try to escape. A woman like that—even if she was married to this asshole—was someone he could handle with his eyes closed. He whipped off his hat and let Jonathan’s eyes do the talking for him. She blushed. Oh, yeah. He knew how to handle a pretty woman. “Ma’am, I was just thanking your husband for opening up for us today.” He let his accent drawl on a little. Most every woman he’d ever met had a secret thing for a tall, dark, mysterious stranger. “The clinic has just been flooded with sick children.”