Lone Star Lover Read Free Page A

stop calling me Miss Kitty, I’ll give you back to them Rangers.” The older woman glared, the heavy black kohl around her eyes making her look as fierce as a Comanche warrior.
    Rebecca hid a smile as she scurried across the small cramped room to the kettle of water she’d left on the fire. Two weeks ago she would’ve run and hid had she heard such a threat. But she knew Kitty didn’t mean it. She’d been nothing but kind to Rebecca. More than kind, she’d protected her. If not for Kitty, Rebecca was certain she’d be dead.
    Kitty wagged a finger at her. “I told you before, I’m not but six years older than you.”
    It was more like twelve, but Rebecca didn’t correct her. Besides, the other whores were always gossiping about one thing or another, in a rather mean-spirited way at times. Just because they claimed Kitty was thirty-six didn’t mean it was so.
    Rebecca used a rag to pick up the kettle and carry it to the basin sitting beside the cot. As she poured the water, her gaze went back to the stranger with the long dark hair. Even though his eyes were closed, she knew they were blue. Not a murky greenish-blue like hers, but a darker, more mysterious blue she’d never seen before. He’d opened them twice in the two days he’d been here, but with his fever so high and the amount of blood he’d lost, he’d stayed conscious for only a minute or two.
    “Do you think he’s going to die?” she asked Kitty.
    From her seat beside the stranger, she blinked up at Rebecca in surprise. “No, honey. He’s gonna be all right. I wouldn’t be wasting my time on a dead man.” She looked over at him and wrung out the cloth she used to bathe his wounds. “Even one that handsome.”
    Rebecca stared down at the man. He was handsome, she had to admit, with his square jaw softened by a dimple in his chin, and his perfect mouth. At the direction of her thoughts, her insides clenched. How horrible for her to notice such a thing.
    Had she no decency left?
    She saw that Kitty was waiting for the fresh dressing, and Rebecca handed her a piece of gauze. “I overheard the doctor say he’d lost a lot of blood.”
    “It’s like that with head wounds. Don’t you worry. I’ve nursed more than my share of men back to health. He’ll come around, you’ll see.” Kitty patted her arm, and then met her eyes, Kitty’s green ones darkening with worry. “You’ve got to eat more, honey. Starving yourself isn’t gonna help matters.”
    Rebecca moved her arm. “I’ll get more water.”
    “I’ve got enough to worry about. Don’t make me fret over you, too.”
    Rebecca managed a small smile as she reached for the kettle.
    “No more warm water. He’ll need a cold compress once I’m done.” Kitty finished applying the fresh dressing and then got to her feet. “I have to run over to the saloon. You keep the cloth pressed to his forehead.”
    She nodded, not happy about being left alone with the stranger, though he was in no condition to do her harm. If Kitty had asked her to go to the saloon for her it would have been worse. Rebecca shuddered thinking about those horrible Rangers who leered at her and made awful remarks. She hated those times that she had to be in the same room with them, or had to pass them on her way up the stairs. How very much she wanted to hide a knife in the folds of her skirt, but she’d promised Kitty she wouldn’t do that again.
    “I won’t be long.” Kitty threw a wool shawl around her slim shoulders. “He won’t cause a fuss. I reckon he’ll sleep into the night. When Doc Davis gets back, he’ll take over.”
    Rebecca watched her friend disappear out the door, and then perched on a stool near the wood-burning stove and rubbed the chill from her hands. The cloth had stayed put on the man’s forehead so she saw no harm in keeping a small distance away from him. It wasn’t that she was afraid. The man was so weak that the scout who’d found him in the desert had had to carry him over his