it, though. Even Pecos Martin drew the line at climbing over rail cars. His fearless hero would have used guns.
Grasping the sides of the hatch, Daniel lowered himself into the compartment below. A faint light at the far end of the car showed that he was in some kind of hall between the parlor and presumably, the bedchambers. Calculating that the front of the car would be the public rooms, he made his way toward the rear.
He had two doors to choose from. The tiger or the lady, he muttered to himself as he contemplated this decision. Judging the tiger didn't have very sharp teeth, he threw open the right-hand door.
She was asleep. Hints of light caught in the silver-blond length of hair spilling across the pillow. She had always worn it in a braid when she had gone to bed with him. Daniel hovered a minute, just enjoying the sight. But when she moved with a restless moan, he sprang into action.
Kneeling beside the bed, Daniel shook her slightly. "Miss Merry, you have to wake up. We need to get you dressed and out of here." Even as he said it, he was scanning the room for clothes. As much as he enjoyed seeing her in a chemise that appeared to be untied, he didn't mean for any other man's eyes to see her that way. He would wrap her in a sheet and carry her first.
Georgina lay suddenly still. Daniel glanced down at her and saw that her eyes were open, but they didn't seem to be focusing on him. He handed her a wrapper he found on a nearby chair. "Sit up, Georgie, and put this on. It isn't much, but we don't have time for more."
She continued staring at him in some confusion.
She didn't resist when he pulled her up and put her arms in the sleeves of the wrapper. She allowed him to pull it into place and tie it firmly. Her quiescence made Daniel uneasy. Georgina was many things, but quiescent wasn't one of them.
She stood obediently at his urging, then hesitated. He had his arm around her, guiding her, but she pulled slightly away, staring at him with a flicker of something in her eyes. Daniel wished he had more light to see by, then the one faint lamp on the far wall.
"We're getting out of here, Georgina," he reminded her. "I won't let them take you away."
She touched his face with her left hand as if uncertain of his reality. Then catching sight of her ring on the wrong finger, she set her mouth grimly, clenched the hand into a fist, and glanced around.
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief when she caught up a pair of shoes and took his hand. He almost had her back.
He couldn't take her out on the roof, however. He would have to take her right down the middle of the car and out, and to hell with everybody in it.
The guard posted at the door had his chair tilted and his feet propped against the wall and across the opening as he dozed. Daniel kicked the chair's legs out from under him.
The man yelped and reached for his gun while trying to untangle his feet from the chair, but the car door behind him swung open with more force than was necessary. It connected neatly with his elbow, sending the gun skittering down the hall toward Daniel.
Daniel grabbed the weapon and gave Tyler a curt nod of thanks just as a bedroom door behind him burst open with a yell. Calmly palming the gun, Daniel jerked Georgie behind him, against the wall, and turned to meet the furious gaze of the bewhiskered, stout old man standing in his nightshirt.
"You! What in hell are you doing here? Get away from my daughter, you animal, before I have the guards shoot you."
A second guard staggered sleepily from the rear of the car and halted. Hanover stood between the gunman and Daniel. The narrow corridor wasn't made for athletic displays. The gunman glanced to where Tyler was neatly occupying his partner, and shrugged.
Still holding the gun, Daniel nodded acknowledgment of the wisdom of the guard's decision not to interfere, then turned his attention back to Hanover. "Apparently someone failed to inform you that your daughter is now my wife. Killing me may temporarily solve Georgina's financial problems, but not yours. I'd recommend that you take a nice long vacation while we go back and straighten out whatever you've told