Finding Promise Read Free Page A

up.” Then he added, “I’m boiling some water, so just whistle when you’re ready to get her wound cleaned.”
    â€œWill do.” Crouching down beside her again, Jake reached for the first button. “I promise, honey, I’m not going to hurt you.” He was working as quickly as he could for fear she would wake up, and he kept talking just in case she did. He shivered at that thought. She was such a small woman that he lifted her with ease. He tried to keep his eyes from wandering as he got down to her chemise and bloomers, but the flimsy material was so wet it was transparent, and he dropped back on his heels again and took a deep breath. Lord, help me , he pleaded silently, and as much as he tried not to look, he couldn’t drag his eyes away. His next thought was he should just leave those things on her, but he decided that wouldn’t do. He didn’t want her catching a cold, yet if she came to and he had stripped her as naked as the day she was born . . . well, he didn’t even want to think about that. He grabbed his slicker to throw over her before he removed her underthings. He had no problem removing her bloomers with his hands under the slicker, but he didn’t have the same success with the laces on her chemise. He fumbled around, but he couldn’t find the secret of those ties without seeing what he was doing. His frustration mounting, and a few curse words later, he jerked the slicker aside, pulled his knife from its sheath, and slit the laces. Before he even allowed himself a peek—well, almost—his fingers latched on to the slicker and he threw it over her like she was a rattler ready to strike. He glanced at her face and was relieved to see she was still out cold. Only then did he let out a loud breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding. He was drenched to the bone, but he was still sweating like a pig being chased by hungry men preparing for a pig roast. And he still had to get her into dry clothing. He made short work of getting her into his dry shirt, and he quickly buttoned it up to her throat. Grabbing the trousers, he held them up and determined Shorty was right; they were way too large, so he decided to leave them off. His shirt covered her to her knees anyway. Hopefully, he’d find some clothing for her when he returned to the wagon train.
    Exhausted, he wiped the sweat from his brow with his wet shirtsleeve. When he went to hang her dress to dry, he was surprised at how heavy it was. He wondered how such a slight woman could stand up in a dress so heavy since the darn thing weighed as much as she did. Dismissing the thought, when he started to hang it from a nail he saw a label inside the neckline with a name stitched on it, which he couldn’t read, and beneath the name it said Paris, France . They sure made dresses heavy in Paris, France.
    He leaned out of the wagon and gave a shrill whistle. Shorty came running with the water and some of his special salve. After cleaning and bandaging her wound, they tried to clean the blood from her thick mass of hair.
    â€œI ain’t never seen so much hair in my life,” Shorty said.
    â€œI don’t know how she holds her head up when it’s wet. It’s heavier than my holster,” Jake said.
    â€œIs she hurt somewhere we can’t see?”
    â€œI didn’t see anything else, but I have never seen anyone stay unconscious for so long. Have you?”
    â€œNot this long.” Shorty absently stroked her silky hair. “She sure is a pretty little thing. Dang those polecats for hurting a sweet little thing like her.”
    â€œI found a man near her who could have been her husband. The two of them were younger than the rest of the folks.” He didn’t know which would be worse, having her wake up to find everyone she knew was dead, or not waking up at all. “Maybe we’ll find something that will tell me where they were headed.”
    They looked