Marrying Miss Marshal Read Free

hands and knees, but he shookhis head and collapsed onto the rocky soil. “I can’t…” he wheezed “…make it.”
    â€œAll right.” She smoothed a hand over his forehead, as if she was comforting her almost-niece, Ellie. “Tell me your name.”
    â€œChas.” A breath. “O’Grady.”
    She filed the name away. O’Grady sounded Irish. She nodded absently and murmured, “I’m Danna Carpenter,” as she considered the best way to get his shoulder back into the socket. “What brings you to Wyoming?”
    â€œJob.”
    â€œNot cattle.”
    One corner of his mouth quirked upward. “How’d you know?”
    â€œLawyer?”
    He snorted a laugh, then grimaced as if the movement pained him.
    â€œRailroad surveyor?” she guessed, and gave a mighty tug.
    O’Grady’s upper arm and the shoulder slid into place with an audible click. She was impressed when he didn’t cry out, just rolled his head and looked at her with those blue eyes.
    â€œThanks. You’re a doll.”
    Then he passed out.
    Danna sat next to his unconscious form in the darkness, willing away the blush that had flamed across her cheeks at his words. Stunned.
    Something had happened inside her when he’d looked at her, when she’d heard the endearment he’d spoken.
    Something inside her opened, like a flower unfurling. Attraction? Whatever it was, it was decidedly uncomfortable.

Chapter Two
    C has sat quietly near the small fire his rescuer had built. With nightfall a chill had fallen, and he was thankful for the warmth the crackling fire generated.
    â€œHow’s your pain?” His companion asked as she propped herself against a medium-size boulder and removed her hat, loosing a spill of dark hair that had come out of its braid. She stretched her trouser-clad legs out in front of her, eyes on her boots, though her question had sounded curious. Was that a blush on her cheeks? It was hard to tell in the dim, flickering light from the fire.
    He rotated the shoulder, wincing a little. “Bearable. Better than before, thanks to you.” He didn’t want to think about what would have happened to him if he’d been left on his own in a haze of pain, shoulder dislocated.
    He was grateful to Danna for her part in saving his hide—twice—but embarrassment was the primary emotion that registered.
    He’d never had this much trouble with a case before, and he hadn’t even made it to the town where he wassupposed to scare up a group of cattle rustlers. It didn’t matter that his cases usually took him to large cities like Chicago, St. Louis, or Austin; he’d been a private detective long enough that he shouldn’t have required help.
    And, his shoulder still ached, though not with the piercing pain he’d felt before she’d knocked it back into its socket. The pain was enough that he sat back while Danna Carpenter had spent several minutes scouting for more firewood. His mother would have had a conniption if she’d seen him allowing a lady to perform such a task without offering to do it himself. His mother had subjected him to extensive training during his youth, preparing him for a life as the second son of one of Boston’s prominent Irish families. A life he would never live, not after the disaster he’d made of his life.
    â€œDo you live near here?” he asked, because he needed to keep his thoughts away from Boston and everything he’d lost.
    â€œIn town.”
    â€œReally? Hmm. How far?”
    She grinned softly at his question. “Calvin is a few miles still. North, if you were wondering.”
    Her smile did funny things to his insides, left him feeling like he’d fallen off the edge of the cliff a second time.
    â€œWhat’s your business in Calvin? Are you visiting family?” she asked after a moment of quiet not long enough for Chas to gain his