Dance Partners 3

Thank you everyone for all the reviews. You guys are sweethearts.

Kitty awoke to a headache and a warm hand holding hers. Slowly turning her head to the left, she saw Matt sitting beside her, her small hand ensconced wholly in his big one. Wincing as the bright sunlight assaulted her senses, she closed eyes again tightly for a moment.

"Kitty?" Matt questioned anxiously. "You awake?"

"No." She moaned. "What happened, anyway?"

Matt stifled the grin he felt forming. He doubted it would amuse her as much as it had him. "You were hit on the head with a bottle. Hoke Riley was aiming at Dal Harley and missed. Dal Harley was trying to get you upstairs. Doc says you have a concussion."

"Feels like it," She said. "How long I been here?"

"Since last night. I got to the bar right after Hoke hit ya. I brought you up here, while Festus and Sam cleared the bar out. Me and Doc were beginning to worry though. I know you're a late sleeper but it's nigh on to noon."

"Ha ha." She grimaced again as she pulled her hand from his and rubbed her aching temple. "Guess I'd better get up though and see if I have a business left."

"Oh no, you don't." Matt protested, getting up from the chair and settling himself gingerly on the bed beside her. "Sam's taking care of the bar. You're not going anywhere. You were hit pretty hard, Kitty. I was only half joking, you know. You really had me and Doc worried."

Kitty heard the concern and love in his voice and she relented. She didn't want him worrying about her. "Alright." She agreed softly. "But can you ask Sam to look out after things for me till I can get up without the room spinning?"

"Sam's already doing it." He reassured her as he inclined his head and kissed her tenderly on the lips. "I don't want you to worry about it. You were hurt, honey, and you need to rest. Nothing is more important then you getting better."

Kitty smiled as she raised a hand and lightly ran it across his unshaven cheek. "I'll be fine, Cowboy." She promised. "A little rest and I'll be good as new."

Matt grinned and kissed her again. "You're already good as new. I just want you well. I want to…"

"Well, she won't get well with you in here bothering her." Doc said as he shuffled into the room, carrying a murky looking glass of water and interrupting the invitation Matt was about to deliver. "Here, Kitty," he handed her the glass. "I want you to drink this. It'll help with that headache."

Kitty shook her head though, refusing to take the glass. "It'll also knock me out again." She told him. "I promise to rest for a while but I'm not going to drink that. I need to get up sometime today and go to work."

"You need to do nothing but just lay there, young lady." Doc's voice was stern as well as his manner. "Now, I am not taking no for an answer and you'd just better accept that, or I'll turn you over my knee."

Kitty chuckled as she took the glass and drained it. "I have a feeling you'd do it too."

"You bet I would." Doc relaxed a little and took the glass away, setting it on the table beside her. Looking over at Matt, he nodded towards the door. "You can leave anytime, Mr. Marshal. I'm going to examine my patient and then make sure she rests. You look and smell like you could use a bath."

Matt looked down at himself and ruefully realized Doc was right. Three bar fights in one night, not including sitting up all night with Kitty, did tend to make one a little less than fresh. "Yeah, I guess that's true, Doc." He admitted as he reached over to Kitty and took her hand again. "I'll get on out of here then and let you sleep. But I'm coming back later to check on you."

"You'd better." She smiled giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

Matt nodded and left the room, heading downstairs first to the jail for some clean clothes then the barber shop for a bath and a shave. But he'd only taken a few steps when Festus came running up to him.

"Matthew!" His high pitched twang was in high gear. "They's a rookus over ta the Long Branch. Ya best come quick."

Shaking his head, Matt ran down the street to the saloon, pausing only momentarily at the doors, to assess the situation.

Standing at the bar, gun raised and pointed squarely at Sam's head was Willford Martin. With the name of a lawyer, the looks of a buffalo and the smell of something that died long ago, he was one of a dying breed of men. A buffalo hunter, with very little buffalo left to hunt, legally that is. Of course legalities mattered little to Martin.

"Martin," Matt demanded as he slowly pushed the doors open and stepped inside. "Put that gun down."

Martin spared a glance in his direction but shook his head. "Un huh, not till he tells me what I wanna know." He snarled.

"I've told you all I can." Sam stated with a finality that belied his fear of being shot. "Miss Kitty's not here and I don't know when she'll be back."

"What do you want Kitty for?" Matt asked, steadily coming closer.

Martin turned his graying head and glared at Matt with black eyes full of distrust. "Ain't none of yer bidness, law man. Now git out a here, less'in ya know where Miss Kitty is."

"Well, it just so happens, I do know where Kitty is." Matt said lightly, continually moving closer. "She's resting. She was hurt last night."

Martin lowered his gun and turned fully to look at Matt. "HURT!" His voice rose a decibel. "Who done it? Who hurt her?"

Though he had lowered his gun, he hadn't put it up, and Matt knew it wouldn't be safe until the man was disarmed. "It doesn't matter." He answered as he gave Sam a slight nod of his head. "They've been taken care of and Kitty is safe and being tended to. Now why don't you just hand me that gun, Martin?"

"Un huh, Dillon." He shook his head. "Ain't gonna. I'm gonna go see her and you ain't gonna stop me."

Matt took one last step forward and quickly shoved Martin back, where Sam was waiting with a mallet. Instantly the big man with a bigger smell went down for the count.

"Some of you men, pick him up and get him out of here, would ya?" Matt ordered. "Take him on over to the jail and lock him up. I think it might be safer to have bars between us and him when he comes to." Turning to Sam, he gave him a grateful nod. "Thanks, Sam."

"That's alright, Marshal." Sam returned. "I'm just glad you got here when you did. I wasn't going to tell him where Miss Kitty was but I sure didn't want to get shot either."

"I know what you mean." Matt nodded. "I wonder what he wanted to see Kitty so badly for."

"I don't know," Sam shrugged. "Could be like the others, I guess."

"Others?" Matt gave him a curious stare.

"Yes, Sir." Sam nodded. "Old Martin makes about the fourth or fifth man so far that's come here to ask Miss Kitty to the Patton's upcoming barn dance. Of course, she's turned 'em all down." He added the last part when he saw the look on Matt's face.

For several seconds Matt wondered about that. Why the sudden interest in taking Kitty to a dance? Everybody, in and around Dodge, knew that she would be going with him. Didn't they?

"I wouldn't worry about it, Marshal." Sam assured him. "It's not unusual for Miss Kitty to get lots of invitations like that. She always turns them down and the men usually understand. I doubt it's any big deal."

"Yeah," Matt nodded as he headed for the door. "I guess." But as he left the saloon and headed on down the street, Matt had his doubts about that. Although Kitty was a beautiful woman, and many men had been smitten by her, it was strange that suddenly so many men, men who should know better, were suddenly interested in taking her to a dance.

The same dance, he had been trying to ask her to.

TBC