From the way the long rays of sunlight slanted past the lacy curtains in the open window, she guessed it was going on evening. She shifted her shoulder and winced at the twinge of pain, which was nothin’ compared to the gut-emptying agony from before.

“Doc sewed you up and gave you morphine.” Brody dipped a rag in a basin on the bedside table, wrung it out, and then laid it across her forehead.

The coolness soothed her skin, and she closed her eyes, suddenly too weak to do anything other than rest. The morphine was easing her pain, but it was also making her tired and dizzy.

“Is Jericho alright?” She could only imagine how difficult his journey off the mountain had been.

Brody hesitated.

Her heart sped. “Where is he? He ain’t hurt too, is he?”

“Naw, he’s fine.” Brody’s tone hardened.

“You sure?”

“Yep.” The finality to the word told her Brody was gonna be as tight-lipped as a colicky horse.

It didn’t matter. The morphine was fast taking her into a blissful, worry-free slumber. And except for Jericho’s arms, that’s the only place she wanted to be.

Flames flew over her body. She thrashed in an attempt to put them out, but they surrounded her and wouldn’t relent from roasting her.

Had she fallen in the middle of the forest fire? She tried to call out for help, but her throat was thick and wouldn’t work.

“The fever’s gettin’ worse.” Flynn’s voice penetrated the smoke in her head.

Someone ran a cold rag up one arm and down the next, but it only soothed for a moment before the heat rushed back in.

“Seen this a hundred times in the war,” Brody said gravely.

“There’s gotta be more we can do.”

“Not much’ll help once the wound’s infected.”

“Thunderation.” Flynn spoke softly but harshly. “If I get my hands on Jericho, I’m gonna string him up so fast he’ll be seeing the pearly gates before he can blink.”

“Doubt he’ll be comin’ anywhere near here again, not after making him dodge bullets yesterday.”

Dodge bullets? Protest pushed for release. Had her brothers shot at Jericho?

“He never should’ve come back to Colorado,” Flynn said.

Brody was silent for several heartbeats. “Reckon someone has to hunt down criminals.”

“If he suspected Otis was an outlaw, why didn’t he warn Ivy against going treasure hunting with the fella?”

Otis an outlaw? Ivy would have snorted at the prospect if she’d had an ounce of energy. But she couldn’t manage a word, even though she wanted to chaw out her brothers and tell them to stop bullying Jericho. They had to know by now there was nothing they could do to keep her away from the man she loved.