Chapter Nineteen
Tully kicked open the door to his office then shoved Dugan and Seth inside. “I don’t know what put a burr under your blankets, but I’ve had about all I’m gonna stand. Now, start talking!”
Seth leaned against his desk and glowered at Dugan.
Dugan, in turn, glared at Seth as he clenched and unclenched his fists.
“He won’t stay away from my girl,” Seth said, taking a step forward.
Dugan met him halfway across the floor, glowering as they stood toe to toe. “The problem is Delilah isn’t his girl. I saw her first.”
“I can’t help it if you’ve dawdled and missed your chance to take what was right in front of you. Be a man and step out of my way,” Seth taunted.
Dugan punched him in the gut and Seth landed another blow to his jaw.
“Children, children, that’s enough of this,” Tully said, shoving them inside the jail. He opened two cells and pushed Dugan in one on the right and Seth across the aisle on the left. “You two are staying here all night and when I come back in the morning, I expect all this stupid, senseless fighting to be behind you. Am I understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Dugan ground out.
Seth nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Have a nice evening,” Tully said, turning off the light.
The sound of his boots on the planked floor echoed into the jail, along with the creak and slam of the door as he left.
Dugan sank onto the edge of the thin mattress covering the narrow cot and sighed. He shouldn’t have gone to the dance. A whole pile of shouldn’t-haves weighed down on him like a stack of bricks dumped on a ripe berry, squashing the anger right out of him.
Shouldn’t have antagonized Seth.
Shouldn’t have started the fight.
Shouldn’t have danced with Delilah.
Shouldn’t have waltzed her outside.
Shouldn’t have been so intent on kissing her.
Yep. That was a great big shouldn’t right there.
She’d looked so danged beautiful in that summery dress, he’d been beside himself the moment he set foot in the warehouse and saw her sipping punch with Seth. The cozier Seth got with her, the more it irritated Dugan until he could hardly contain his temper.
The fact he had no right to lay any sort of claim on her never entered his mind. All he could think about was how much he wanted to be the one holding her close, making her smile, listening to her laugh, walking her home.
Him.
Not Seth. Not anyone else.
Frustrated, disappointed, and out of sorts with himself for thumping all over his best friend in front of half the town, Dugan couldn’t explain what had gotten into him. He’d done his best to avoid dancing with Delilah but a point came when he found himself walking to her side and taking her for a spin across the dance floor.
The next thing he knew, they were outside where the setting sun wrapped her in a glorious, golden glow that made the sparks flickering in her eyes look like fireflies. How was he supposed to resist her beauty and charm when he had no desire to do anything but surrender to them — to her.
It wasn’t like Delilah had paid him any attention, anyway. She’d barely said more than a few words to him all evening as she kept her focus on Seth.
Dugan sighed. Seth had been the one to ask her to the dance and it was only right she pay attention to him. Still, it made Dugan want to ram his fist through a wall each time she smiled at Seth or laughed at something amusing he said.
Why hadn’t he just gone home after the fiasco with the boxed supper? That would have been the mature, intelligent thing to do. Nevertheless, maturity and relying on his smarts hadn’t been a strong point for Dugan when it came to Seth and Delilah, particularly this evening.
How had Seth not known which boxed supper she’d made, anyway? If Dugan hadn’t bid on it, he was sure the muttonhead would have never figured it out. He’d known at a glance which box she’d made because of the little ribbon bird tucked in among the flowers. Besides, he’d been with her when she’d gathered the flowers that morning on their way back from the weather station. She’d said she wanted to sketch them, but he’d recognized the posies topping the box and wondered if that was the real reason she’d chosen them.
Had she wanted him to recognize the box? Or had she counted on him not paying enough attention to know it was hers?
At any rate, Dugan couldn’t believe he’d just slugged and punched his best friend because of a woman who didn’t care about him enough to even allow him to take her to a silly spring dance. Was she worth losing the friendship of a man who’d stood beside him since the day they’d met?
Seth had saved his life numerous times over the years and he’d done the same in return. Up until Delilah arrived in town, Dugan would have said nothing would ever challenge their friendship.
Yet, here they were, locked in cells like common criminals because they’d both allowed Delilah Robbins to turn their heads.
It would be easy to cast the blame her direction, but that wasn’t entirely fair. She’d done nothing. In truth, he’d never actually witnessed her flirting with Seth, only graciously accepting his attention; the same way she did his. Perhaps she was just too polite and mannerly to tell them both she had no interest in romantic relationships with them.
Confused and growing quite livid with himself for acting like a fool, Dugan stood and began prowling back and forth across the confines of the cell.
There weren’t any windows in the jail, but Tully had left one light on in his office and the door open. A sliver of that light trickled into the jail, giving Dugan the ability to see Seth sitting on the cot in his cell, watching him pace like a wild animal caught in a trap.
“If you’re planning to wear a groove through the floor and tunnel your way out, you won’t make it before morning,” Seth commented with a hint of humor in his voice.
Dugan stopped and leaned his arms on the bars of the cell. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts enough to speak, but he eventually cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Seth.”
“For which thing? That punch to the gut was a little uncalled for.”
A grin kicked up the corner of Dugan’s mouth. “Agreed. I’m sorry for trying to horn in on Delilah this evening. She clearly made her choice and I should have respected that. I’m sorry for losing my temper and for the things I said about you.”
Seth stood and walked over to the bars of his cell. “What did you say? I don’t remember hearing you call me any names.”
“Well, I was shouting in my head the whole time I was wailing on you.” Dugan’s grin broadened. “I really am sorry, Seth. I don’t know what came over me.”
“I’ve got a good idea,” he said wryly. “If you promise to never, ever do that again, I reckon I can forgive you.”
“Thank you.” Dugan felt humbled by Seth’s quick acceptance of his apology and willingness to forgive him. He wasn’t sure he’d have been as big-hearted as his friend.
“Say, did you hear about the farmer who decided to plant…” Seth and Dugan talked for hours, laughing and joking like they’d always done, before sleep finally claimed them.
Tully arrived early the next morning. Dugan could smell cinnamon and hoped that meant Tully had brought a basket of muffins from the café. He listened to the sheriff making a pot of coffee before the man flicked on the lights and walked back into the jail.
Dugan felt like he had sand in his eyes and Seth didn’t look any better when Tully unlocked their cells.
“Are you two boys done behaving like a couple of scrappy dunces?” he asked, glaring from one of them to the other.
“We’re just fine, Tully,” Seth said, offering him a cocky grin. “Nothing a little time in a jail cell couldn’t cure.”
Tully nodded. “Glad to hear that. I’ve got some muffins and coffee for you numskulls.”
They followed him into the office and helped themselves to breakfast. After they’d each eaten a muffin, Tully leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Since you two made such a public spectacle of your differences of opinion, I feel compelled to tell you if either one of you ever again do such a thing, you’re fired on the spot. Understood? I can’t have my deputies being the cause of fistfights at a community event, especially with womenfolk and children in attendance.”
“I’m sorry, Tully. I wish I knew what got into me, but I just…” Dugan released a sigh. “I’m truly sorry and I won’t let it happen again.”
“Me, too, Tully,” Seth said, grinning first at the sheriff and then Dugan. “Now that Dugan has worked up the gumption to fight for his woman, I can quit pretending I want her to be my girl. Delilah’s a sweetheart, but not the one for me. See you both later and thanks for the grub.”
Seth snatched another muffin as he hurried out the door while Dugan stared after him slack-jawed. Tully made a noise that could have been a snort and quickly turned into a chuckle then a full-out belly laugh. The sheriff laughed so hard, he plopped down on the corner of his desk and had to fish a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the moisture from his eyes.
“What is so all-fired hilarious?” Dugan asked, feeling his ire bubbling up again.
“You. Seth.” Tully wheezed and slapped his leg. “That’s what I did to Ian.”
Dugan glared at him, vaguely recalling Tully pretending to be interested in Maggie to spur Ian into declaring his intentions toward her.
With the realization he’d been duped by his best friend, Dugan sank onto a chair. “Seth doesn’t really want to court Delilah? He never did, did he?”
Tully shook his head and attempted to curtail his guffaws. “Nope. That boy’s a darn fine actor.”
Amazed by the effort Seth had put into getting Dugan to realize how much he cared for Delilah, he didn’t know whether to track down his friend and give him a bear hug or another punch to the nose.
Tully reached down and squeezed his shoulder. “Why don’t you go home and clean up? You might want to ice that hand, too.” He pointed to the bruised knuckles on Dugan’s right hand. “And before you get in a panic, I escorted Delilah to and from the weather station this morning. She’s quite distraught about your and Seth’s shenanigans last night. You might want to give her a little time to calm down before you head over there.” Tully grinned at him. “Just not too much time.”
“Yes, sir.” Dugan rose and headed for the door. “Thank you, Tully, for everything.”
“Anytime, Dug. But I meant what I said. I can’t have you two tearing around town like a couple of hooligans, so don’t let it happen again.”
“We won’t, sir.” Dugan hurried out the door wondering just how long he should wait before going to apologize to Delilah.
Dugan rushed home, did his chores, then took a chilly bath to ease the aches caused by several well-placed blows from Seth. He still couldn’t believe his friend had been egging him on to admit his feeling for Delilah the whole time.
Then again, Seth knew him about as well as he knew himself.
He’d just pulled on a clean pair of denims when he heard the pounding of hoofbeats pounding up his lane. A glance out the bedroom window showed one of the other deputies racing toward his house.
Quickly yanking on his socks and boots, he grabbed a shirt and his gun belt and hurried downstairs.
“Sheriff needs you at the office, Dug. Shootout at one of the mines!” the man yelled then spun his horse around and raced back down the road.
Dugan grabbed his Stetson and a vest on his way out the door to saddle Barton. It appeared groveling to Delilah was going to have to wait.