Copper Chameleon Read online

  *****

  Ann woke in slow stages, unsure why she had a loud ringing in her ears, a terrible headache, and heavy hands. Slowly she lifted her right hand and tried to focus on whatever was covering it. Her eyesight was blurry and just beyond the hand she held up; she saw a slumped figure in a chair next to her bed. She must have made a sound as the shadow jumped awake and rubbed its face. Straining her vision, she could barely make out the stubbled jawline of Bergmann in the waning light. She startled again. What had happened? How did she get here? What time was it?

  “Shhhh lass. You’re fine. Rest Blaze. Rest.” The words were a quiet reassurance from Bergmann which only succeeded in confusing her more.

  “Water.” She uttered brokenly between cracked lips.

  Bergmann jumped awake and immediately poured liquid into a glass. He gently held it to her lips as she drank eagerly.

  Slow down. Just take sips. You’ll upset your stomach by gulping it after not eating for so long.

  “So long?” She managed to whisper.

  “You’ve been unconscious for three days now and the Doc said it’s been touch and go. You’ve had a lot of people worried.” He cleared his own dry throat. “And when you are up to it, we are going to have a discussion about this.” A frown marred his handsome face.

  She shut her eyes in shame. Her ruse had been discovered. Now how was she going to support herself? Pay her bills? Pay off the loan against Mama’s tub? She had been so close... “I do what I have to do to survive.”

  “Mining?” The word was uttered more harshly than he had intended as he had not realized how the situation had affected him until he watched her for three days in that bed, pale and unresponsive. He had tended her himself. He had dripped sugar water in her mouth, past those pale yet alluring lips. He had wiped the smooth perfect brow, assisted the physician in the assessment of those perfect limbs. What had she been thinking?

  “I had to do what I had to do. I am a survivor.” She turned her head away at his obvious disapproval.

  “Oh no you don’t.” He gently turned her to face him again. “Blaze Ann, you have almost scared the life out of me, and I told you when you woke up, you owed me this.”

  He bent over her and his lips captured hers gently as his hand pulled her in closer. His hand strayed with familiarity to the tips of her hair and softly rubbed her neck. She gasped inwardly as his tongue invaded her mouth, chasing hers with purpose. Her heart began beating rapidly, sounding deafening to her own ears. Blaze’s mind was numb. She had never been kissed quite like this.

  Abruptly he pulled away with labored breathing. “I’m sorry. You’ve just had everyone so worried. How do you feel? Are you in pain? Does your head hurt? Your hands? Legs? Tell me.”

  “I feel... odd. What’s wrong with my hands?”

  “You don’t remember the blast?” He continued to rub her neck with care.

  Blaze shut her eyes with a sharp intake of breath. “You said it would not blast until I was behind the safe wall.”

  “Technically, that is how it should have happened but Elbert, with his lack of faith in new ideas, loaded the charge with black powder. When you shoved it in the hole, it must have sparked against a rock and exploded prematurely. The only thing that saved your head was the hard hat you wore underneath your hat. Thank God you are hard headed too... to choose to listen to someone else’s ideas and carry through. God, Blaze Ann, you have scared the life out of me. Why? Why didn’t you come to me and explain? I would have helped you, given you a position in my household...

  “Never.” Her eyes turned hard. “I will never be any man’s mistress. I can support myself in an honest manner. I have been educated as any fine lady yet I am as strong as an ox and make a pretty darn good miner.”

  “Mistress?” Dirk’s shocked reply echoed awkwardly. “You think I am that type of man?”

  “What am I to think?” A tear slipped down her cheek.

  Noting her distress, he began to shush her. “Hush. You have just come to. Now is not the time for this. I assure you, Blaze Ann, you are worth much more than being some man’s mistress. I would never ask such a thing. I consider myself a gentleman.”

  “Not every man is a gentleman.” She replied curtly before closing her eyes to avoid further conversation. "I would like to rest now."

  Not wanting to upset her further, Dirk changed the subject. “I’m going to get you some chicken broth. I need to send for Ralph. Poor man has been on pins and needles. And there is someone here who has been very anxious to see you.”

  “Who?” Her eyes popped open in curiosity and... fear.

  Dirk eased the room door open. Tiger sauntered in and jumped onto Ann’s chest, managing to nuzzle to her nose before settling in beside her. “He has been yowling constantly since your accident.”

  Uttering a relieved giggle, she cuddled her feline friend closer to her. A shudder of apprehension rippled through her body. What if Keith Roberts really insisted on claiming his winnings from their agreement? She had been so naive and foolish. This accident had caused her forfeit as she had missed this week’s payment by being unconscious. She was late on a payment, and she now owed Roberts the additional collateral. She shivered again.

  “Are you chilled?”

  “No.” She smiled sweetly to him. He could not know. He would think she was an immoral person. Ralph could not know. He would kill her! She had made this mess; she would have to be the one to live with the consequences.

  “I’ll be right back with broth.” Dirk eased from the room, pausing for a moment at the door to examine the pale young woman in the bed. He had learned much from her delirious ramblings over the past few days, and he wanted to know more about her. She was troubled by something. That something seemed to involve the town moneylender. Whatever the conditions of the loan, they troubled her, even in her subconscious state. He vowed to find out what he could.