manner was replaced by a quiet dignity.
Something inside Shane threatened to snap.
How could he want to protect the woman one moment and wish to rest in her strength the next?
Rest in her strength?
For a moment, the foundation of everything Shane thought rocked under him. He was a healer, called by God to treat the sick, a man others turned to in time of need. He did not rely on anyone.
No human, at any rate. Only the divine.
Then again, he’d never met a woman who made him want to release some of his tight control, to admit he might be weary of standing helplessly by as his patients struggled with illnesses that far too often resulted in death.
For the first time in his life, a woman—a fancy, overdressed, far too beautiful stranger—made Shane want to share a little of his burdens with another person.
What did that say about him? About his faith in God as his only guide and one true hope?
“Miss O’Toole, I have an offer I would like to present you, a job offer,” he hastened to add when she sucked in her breath a second time at his words. “What I ask is highly respectable.”
Glancing from Trey’s amused expression to Katherine’s pitiful shaking of her head, Shane shifted his stance and continued. “Would you consider working as my assistant?”
Instead of answering him, she looked at Katherine who tossed her palms in the air and shrugged. The gesture seemed to say: who can understand what men really want from us women?
They shared a smile of feminine understanding. Or maybe it was a grimace. Either way, a thousand words passed between them, words no mere man could hope to understand.
There was another long pause, during which Miss O’Toole released a sigh and turned back.
“You want me to be your assistant, nothing else?” Her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Shane shoved a hand through his hair. “Nothing else, I assure you.”
She blinked at him, opened her mouth, closed it again. And so the staring began again.
What was wrong with the woman?
Clearing his throat, Trey resettled Ethan in his arms and glanced at his wife. “I think we should leave these two to their discussion.”
The marshal’s suggestion was innocent enough, but the casual alertness of his posture said he’d been listening to every word spoken, and a few unspoken, as well.
Nodding, Katherine murmured something Shane didn’t quite catch before she turned to Molly. “Come on, Moll.” She plucked one of her daughter’s pigtails. “Let’s get Ethan home and in bed.”
“But it’s still daylight,” the little boy whined as he struggled in his father’s arms. “I want to stay and play with the kids.”
Kicking with remarkable strength, his face was a contorted mixture of childish rebellion and youthful disappointment.
“You’ve had a bad time of it, baby.” Katherine reached out in silent command to her husband. Trey handed the boy over with the patience of a man used to obliging his wife’s wishes.
As they made the exchange, Shane marveled at the silent harmony between Trey and Katherine Scott. The couple had created a happy, tight-knit family out of impossible odds. If Shane ever doubted God’s ability to heal the wounded and bring about good from tragedy, all he had to do was look at this unified family for proof.
“Please, let me stay.” Ethan’s voice squeaked along the edge of a loud sob.
“You need to rest for a while, little man,” Trey said in a placating tone with a firm hand on the boy’s back. “Then we’ll see how you feel.”
He shot his wife a challenging look over Ethan’s head. “Isn’t that right, darling?”
“We’ll discuss it, after his nap,” she said, her voice no less formidable for its soft tone.
A stalemate began.
But as was often the case, the ruthless lawman who could intimidate murdering outlaws without flinching capitulated under his wife’s unyielding stare. “Whatever you say, dear.”
Katherine gave her husband a pleased smile. “I knew you’d see things my way.”
“What can I say?” Trey returned the look with another long, intent stare. “I’m an accommodating man.”
She giggled. She actually giggled. This, from the same woman who ruled her schoolroom with iron-clad structure.
Shane tried not to gape.
Molly rolled her gaze to the ceiling and groaned.
Silently agreeing with the girl, Shane handed Trey a roll of linen bandages. “Use these to wrap the leg once you’ve cleaned his wound in the morning. I’ll be by to check on him in the afternoon.”
“Right.”
Before the Scott family filed out, Miss O’Toole summoned a brisk air of confidence and said, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do, as well.”
“We will,” Trey answered for them all. “And thank you again, Miss O’Toole. For everything.” One side of his mouth kicked up and he gave her a gallant bow, one more suited for a ballroom back east than a well-worn kitchen.
“It was my pleasure.” She dropped her gaze to Molly, touched the girl’s shoulder. “You were very brave today.”
The little girl flushed. “He’s my brother.”
Miss O’Toole squeezed the child’s shoulder in understanding then dropped her hand. Sighing, she walked over to Ethan and rubbed his back. There was such tenderness in her hands, such sweetness in her smile Shane found himself as riveted as Ethan appeared to be.
“Will you come see me, too, Miss Bella?” the boy asked. “With Dr. Shane?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Katherine patted Ethan’s bottom. “All right, folks, enough stalling. Let’s go.” She touched Bella’s arm and smiled. “Thank you again.”
One by one the Scott family trooped out the backdoor with Ethan waving enthusiastically over his mother’s head.
Once the door banged shut, Shane was far too aware of the silence as Miss O’Toole turned back to face him.
Their gazes locked with a force that nearly flattened him. In that moment, he forgot about steady hands and compassionate hearts and all the other reasons he’d decided Miss O’Toole would do nicely in the role of assistant.
He had one clear goal now: to convince this woman to work with him, by his side, for as long as possible.
What if she says no?
Desperation
