The Accidental Lawman by Jill Marie Landis Page A

memory was as vibrant and alive as when it happened a year ago.
    “There’s no surgeon nearby? No real doctor?”
    She broke stride and turned to meet his eyes. “ Real doctor?”
    “Yes.”
    “My father was a real doctor, if by that you mean a man with a medical degree. He taught me everything he knew.” She recalled sitting beside her father as he quizzed her on anything and everything that would come to mind.
    They’d reached the compact black buggy outside his newspaper office. A black gelding was harnessed between the traces.
    “If you care to loan me your rig, I’m perfectly capable of driving myself out to the Rocking e.”
    “I’m certain you are, but I’d prefer taking you.”
    He’d spent the remainder of yesterday introducing himself around and getting to know the store owners along Main Street. Late in the day he had finally wandered into the Silver Slipper Saloon. In deference to his new position as sheriff, he asked for a sarsaparilla.
    After a few minutes of conversation, Denton Fairchild, the barkeep, mentioned a group of young hotheads had been in and out of town the past month.
    “They’re a bad lot,” Denton told him. “As a matter of fact, I know one kid who’s been in here with them more than once. Everybody knows Evan Hawthorne’s a troublemaker.”
    It struck Hank as odd that if everyone in town knew Amelia’s brother was a troublemaker, not a soul except the bartender had mentioned it.
    Truth be told, he’d rather do anything than drive her out to some ranch to practice her trade on some innocent woman and her unborn babe, but the journey would give him the perfect opportunity to ask about her brother. There was always the chance she might let somethingslip. After hearing about her brother, his suspicion that she might somehow be involved had only deepened.
     
    Amelia paused beside the rig for no more than a heartbeat before Hank reached for her heavy medical bag and tossed it into the buggy as if it weighed no more than a feather.
    She reached for the side of the carriage, put her foot on the small iron step and pulled herself up. She was in the act of tucking her skirt neatly around her when she glanced over and realized he was staring. His expressive eyes were shuttered, hiding his thoughts. He hurried round the buggy and climbed in on the opposite side.
    “I’ve upset you somehow,” she said as they headed out of town.
    He glanced over. She watched him closely from beneath the wide brim of her straw bonnet.
    “It’s nothing. Let’s just enjoy the ride, shall we?” He kept his hands steady on the reins and followed her directions. They turned onto what appeared to be a well-traveled road leading out of town. Beyond them, the land opened up and the horizon rolled away beneath the sky for as far as the eye could see.
    She thought back over their conversation as they’d hurried down the street.
    “Am I to understand you think male physicians are better skilled at delivering babies than midwives?” she asked.
    He remained silent, staring down the road. His expression had grown so dark, so closed, that she wondered if she really wanted to hear what he was thinking.
    Her father had warned her of the prejudice against women doctors. Ninety percent of his class at the university were against having women students among theirnumber. But he was convinced she had a God-given talent for medicine and could do as much good as someone whose only qualification was a piece of paper.
    She thought of all the babies she’d delivered in the years since her father had passed away. Remembered how hard she had prayed over mothers struggling to bring forth healthy children and how thankful she was for God’s help and blessing each and every time she heard a newborn’s first cry.
    “I may not be a physician, but I know a woman’s body better than any male doctor. What’s more, I know a woman’s heart. And I never forget that I am but an instrument of God’s will. He’s the one who