Deborah Camp Read Free Page A

of rust-colored cloth packed against his shoulder.
    “Let’s have a look at this …” Jewel pulled away the cloth, exposing torn flesh and oozing blood.
    Cassie turned her face away as bile rose in her throat.
    “Shot from behind,” Jewel said. “I think the bullet musthave gone clear through him from the looks of this hole. Didn’t he tell you he was wounded?”
    “No. He just said he was thirsty and tired.” She cut her eyes to Jewel and then looked away. “Can you take him back into town with you? I don’t want him here.”
    “What would I do with him?”
    “Take him to the sheriff’s. He’s probably wanted for something.” Cassie rubbed her sweaty palms against her waist and stared blindly at the side of the cabin. “I’m no nursemaid. I can’t help him.”
    “He just needs to rest up. Let’s take him inside.”
    “No!” Cassie’s gaze spun around to Jewel. Was she crazy? Taking this … this piece of filth into her house was unthinkable!
    “Listen, honey. He’s hurt and—”
    “He ain’t my worry.”
    Jewel set her hands at her waist. “ ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ the Good Book says.”
    “You do unto him,” Cassie snapped. “Take him back with you.”
    “I was thinking I’d spend the night here with you and head back in the morning.” She smiled, and Cassie knew she was trying to soften her up. “Help me get him inside, Cassie. Don’t be so all-fired stubborn.”
    Cassie battled Jewel’s smile for a few moments before surrendering to it. “I don’t know why we’re bothering …”
    “Because this fella hasn’t done you any harm, and he needs help.” Jewel went around him and tucked her arms under his. “You get his feet. Look at that. His head’s bleeding.”
    “That’s nothing,” Cassie said as she grabbed him under the knees. “I pulled him over to the pump and his head scraped across the ground.”
    “Cassie Potter, I swear!” Jewel chuckled and shook her head, sending the red curls on her forehead dancing under her white bonnet. “It’s a wonder you didn’t kill him.”
    “I didn’t know he was ailing!” Cassie protested. Then she took a deep breath and tried to lift his butt off the ground. “Lord! He weighs a ton!”
    “Come on now … on three. One, two, three!” Jewelmoaned as she strained and lifted the man’s shoulders off the ground.
    Cassie stumbled backwards toward the cabin, her back and shoulders complaining with the exertion of carrying the weight of the man’s inert body. “You sure he ain’t dead?”
    “ ‘Isn’t dead,’ honey,” Jewel corrected her. “No, he isn’t dead yet.” Her voice wavered and her bust lifted and fell with each labored breath. “Almost there. Step up, Cassie.”
    Cassie looked over her shoulder and stepped up onto the porch. “Let’s just leave him out here.”
    “No, let’s take him inside.”
    “Will you take him back with you tomorrow?”
    “We’ll see.”
    “You can’t leave him here,” Cassie stated firmly.
    “He might be able to ride in the morning.” Jewel squeezed through the doorway and nodded in the direction of Shorty’s cot. “Over there.”
    “Not on Pa’s bed!”
    “Shorty won’t be using it, Cassie. Hurry! My arms are about to fall off!”
    They swung him onto the cot, and the wood bedstead creaked as his weight settled on it. Cassie bent over at the waist, resting her hands on her knees as she struggled for a decent breath. She looked at Jewel, who had dropped into a chair, and laughed.
    “This is crazy, Jewel,” she said between giggles. “He might be a wanted man. He might have killed somebody. Maybe he killed Pa!”
    “I doubt it, Cassie.” Jewel fanned her face for a few moments before forcing herself to her feet and over to the cot. “Get me a pan of hot water and a rag. I’ve got to clean that bullet hole before it gets infected.”
    Cassie hesitated, no longer amused by the situation. She didn’t want that man in Pa’s bed. It