Lilly: Bride of Illinois (American Mail-Order Bride 21) by Linda K. Hubalek

running, and slammed down on my side, which made it worse.”
    “Think you can walk until we can hire a carriage to take us back to the hotel?” Seth was ready to pick her up and carry her back, but thought that might hurt her ribs more.
    “Yes, just give me time. I can walk along the pens and lean against the fence if I need to.”
    ***
    Lilly was so glad when the carriage pulled up to the hotel. Besides shivering from the cold and numb from fatigue, she was faint from hunger and lack of sleep.
    “Mr. Reagan, I shouldn’t be going up to your room,” Lilly had whispered this more than once, but he refused to hear her arguments.
    “My parents taught us boys to help others in need, so you’re my current case. My room has a private bathroom, complete with a bathtub and running water, which you need to soak in as soon as we get upstairs,” he reminded her again as they slowly walked side by side up the hotel entrance steps. But Lilly hardly heard him as she took in the lobby, tastefully decorated with expensive–looking overstuffed chairs scattered in groups for visiting. She had never been in a place this nice.
    Mr. Reagan touched her shoulder to stop her once they were inside the foyer. “We’re in luck. There’s a different clerk at the desk now instead of the one the policeman talked to about us. Stay on the opposite side of me when we go up the stairs in case he looks our way.”
    Lilly never thought it would be hard to go up a staircase, but right now each step was work. Mr. Reagan ushered her down the hall, looking both ways before inserting the key in his hotel room door and opening it for their entry.
    “Before you wilt on the floor in a dead sleep, let me get the bathwater running so you can enjoy a nice, soaking bath,” Mr. Reagan remarked as he opened the door of the bathroom. Lilly sighed when she heard the sweet sound of hot water hitting the bottom of the bathtub.
    The room was clean . No questionable stains on the bedspread, a thick area rug she couldn’t wait to sink her toes into, light streaming through polished glass…she had to be hallucinating.
    “Are you going to be able to undress and get in the tub by yourself?” Sean asked while pulling off his hat and coat and tossing them onto the overstuffed chair by the window.
    “Uh, yes…I’ll manage.” It may have taken effort to say those four words, but she’d get her icy cold clothes off because a hot bath was waiting for her. Thank you for electricity and modern plumbing in this hotel.
    The dirty Emporium room had a kerosene lamp, a chamber pot, wash basin and a pitcher of water in it—and a bed with a repulsive odor. Lilly needed to rub the reminder of that room and the smoky saloon off her skin and hair as much as she needed to warm up.
    “All right. Umm ...while you’re bathing, I’ll go down to the dining room for coffee and food for us.” He lifted the door key. “I’ll let myself back in, so don’t be surprised when you hear me.” When Lilly heard the soft click of this door locking, she felt safe instead of scared, as she had at the Emporium.
    Lilly stood in the bathroom doorway a minute and watched the steam coming off the tub water. How did I get so lucky to have a decent man help me after this terrible week?
    Piece by piece she shed the men’s clothing, and her wet undergarments, cringing at the pain it caused her left side. She gasped as she turned and looked in the mirror above the sink. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her face was as pale as the snow outside the hotel.
    She moved farther from the mirror to see more of her body and gingerly raised her arm to view the bruise on her side. It was an ugly combination of shades of purples and reds, but it would heal, thanks to her escaping and Mr. Reagan finding her.
    Lilly turned the knobs to shut off the water. She’d add more when the water cooled, because she planned to soak for a long time. Her feet stung when she stepped into the tub. After a minute, she eased