said I had to eat. I want to go back and help Changying.”
Serenity didn’t believe that the healer needed any help. Frances’s fascination with the man was becoming worrisome. Under the circumstances, Serenity might have to forbid Frances to go anywhere near the barn.
She waved the younger woman away and went on, measuring each step. She would deal with this man. She would allow him to stay until he was fit enough to be taken into town and not a moment longer. She would keep him tied up at night, and at least one woman would guard him at all times.
It was a damned waste of precious resources, and Serenity hated him all the more for that.
A shout brought her out of her grim thoughts. Caridad rode with her usual flourish into the yard, Zora and Judith right behind. Caridad leaped from the saddle, removed her hat and unbound her straight black hair with a flick of her fingers. She studied Serenity’s face, her grin giving way to a frown.
“What is it, mi amiga?” she asked. Zora came up behind her on silent feet. Her sun-bronzed face showed little expression, but Serenity could see the concern in her eyes.
Serenity told them in as few words as possible. Caridad’s face went slack with astonishment. Judith shot a wary look toward the barn. She was the oldest woman at Avalon and didn’t say much, but her disapproval was manifest.
“I need to talk to Victoria,” Judith said. “I’ll take the horses.”
Once she was gone, Caridad burst into an eloquent string of curses. “Madre de Dios! How can this be, mi amiga, that you should bring such a man here?”
“I am sure Serenity had her reasons,” Zora said. She met Serenity’s gaze. “Do you think he is dangerous?”
“Dangerous enough to warrant careful watching,” Serenity said, glad to dodge Caridad’s incredulous question. But the former bandida wasn’t finished.
“If only I had been with you,” Caridad exclaimed. “I would have stopped you from making such a mistake.”
And Serenity would have been forced to defend the man, which would have been unbearable.
“I’m glad you weren’t there, Cari,” Serenity said, touching the woman’s arm. “You would have gotten yourself killed.”
“Ay! To miss such a good fight…”
“There may be another, if those outlaws decide to come after us.”
“We will be ready.” Caridad glanced at Zora. “We can ride out again and watch.”
“I don’t think they’ll come at night, but we’d better be prepared in the morning. If they haven’t shown up in a few days, we should have no reason to worry.”
“And by then we will know who this man is,” Caridad said. “And whether or not we must be rid of him.”
For a woman who had once ridden on the wrong side of the law in her native land, Caridad was far from merciful to one who might be in the same profession. But then, she had no reason to be, no more than did Serenity herself.
“I may need you in the morning,” Serenity said. “You should sleep, Cari.”
“Not yet. I must see this man.”
Serenity knew better than to argue. Caridad charged ahead, and Serenity might have been worried if she’d thought for a single moment that the Mexican woman would act against her wishes.
But she wouldn’t. For all her wild talk, Caridad accepted Serenity’s leadership, just like the others. Sometimes, in her darkest hours, Serenity wondered why.
“Do you want me to come?” Zora asked behind her.
Serenity shook off the desire to lean on Zora’s quiet, seemingly unshakable strength. “At least you should get some food and rest. Helene has a pot of beans on the stove.”
Zora obeyed without protest. Serenity went on alone, her feet as heavy as Victoria’s anvil. The barn door was open, spilling light from the lantern hung just inside, and she smelled the comforting scent of fresh straw, the warm bovine bodies of their two milk cows, and the newly sawn planks where Victoria and Judith had made repairs to the back wall. A horse nickered from the stable on the other side of the far door.
Ordinarily it was a place of peace, but not tonight. Changying, Nettie and Michaela had settled the stranger in one of the unoccupied stalls where they kept ailing cattle, or calves needing special care. From the look of him, he hadn’t improved. Caridad stood with hands on hips, staring down at him with a ferocious scowl.
“Don’t waste your time, Changying,” she was saying as Serenity approached.
The Chinese woman looked up. “He has taken a bit of water,” she said. “I believe he will be well.”
Serenity closed her eyes. Changying was too good at her craft to speak up if she didn’t believe it.
“Has he been awake?” she asked, joining Caridad.
“Only for a moment,” Changying said. “But he is already better than he was.”
“He is an evil-looking man,” Caridad said. “Un hombre malo.”
It was exactly what Serenity had been thinking, yet the words seemed far more harsh than her private thoughts. Now that the man was out of the glare of sunlight and in such quiet surroundings, he didn’t seem nearly so terrible. Still potentially dangerous, to be sure, and never to be trusted. Hard as the New Mexico desert. Yet his face wasn’t quite so much like a villainous mask, and there was an easing around his mouth as if he knew, even in his sleep, that he was safe.
The inexplicable impulse to defend him against Caridad’s harsh judgment frightened her. She couldn’t afford to let down her guard. Not ever.
“If he is all right for now,” she said to Changying, “you should go and get your supper. I’ll watch him.”
“And I,” Caridad said.
“You just rode in,” Michaela said. “Let us do it.”
Serenity shook her head. “He’s my responsibility. Cari, get a little sleep. I’ll need you and Zora to do some scouting in the morning.”
Caridad heaved a great sigh. “If you insist, jefa.” Adjusting the twin bandoliers crossing her chest, she strode out of the barn. Nettie and Michaela followed reluctantly.
“If he wakes, try to give him a little water,” Changying said as she got to her feet. “I have treated his wounds as best I can, but he must take proper nourishment if he is to heal.”
“I’ll see to it,” Serenity said. She couldn’t do less than Changying, even though she loathed the idea of touching him again.
Moving almost as quietly as Zora, Changying left. Serenity leaned against the partition between the stalls, refusing to look at the man’s face again, unwilling to see anything in it she hadn’t already judged to be there.
But when she looked down and away,
