The Outlaw Bride Read Free Page A

and the west, the trees were green and wild animals scurried away from the sound of the wheels. The afternoon sunlight gave the adobe a pink glow, and the smell of flowers caught by the summer wind brought a special kind of welcome. Dan had built the house the third year of his marriage to Dr. Annie, the year Laura was born.
    Laura was ten now, the same age Josie had been when she’d picked Dr. Annie’s pockets at the rail station and Dan had entered both their lives. That’s where the similarities ended. Laura was calm and studious, with a voice as melodious as a bird’s and beauty that caused people tostop and stare. Laura was the lady that Josie had tried to be—tried and failed.
    There were two wings to the Miller house. One wing housed Dr. Annie’s clinic, and the other contained the family’s sleeping quarters. Connecting the two were a foyer, a large gathering room, and a dining area.
    Josie urged Solomon to the clinic wing and climbed down, handing the reins to Wash, the old ranch hand who had emerged from the barn.
    “Take care of Solomon,” she said, moving toward the door to the clinic and nodding at Lubina, the Millers’ housekeeper who hovered nervously inside.
    Josie approached the unconscious man Bear Claw had brought to her mother’s clinic. She took one look at him and felt a funny shiver run through her. He’d been laid out on the examination table. His clothes were caked with blood. His face was turned away and the side nearest her was obscured by a strand of thick dark hair that lay like a whip across his cheek. It was entangled in the dusty growth of his beard. He looked like a dark angel who’d been shot out of the sky. Josie thought that if she ever had to defend this man in court, he’d be convicted on his looks alone.
    She pressed her fingers against the artery in his neck and felt the pulsing. Josie was once again struck with a sense of impending danger.
    “Es too much blood,
señorita
,” Lubina said, wringing her hands and wailing loudly.
    “Stop that caterwauling, Lubina!” Josie snapped. “I don’t want him scared to death.” She tried to lift his shirt front, but the blood had stuck it tight to his shoulder. She didn’t force it. “Looks like he was shot a couple of days ago. You know who he is, Will?”
    “Never saw him before. And until we find out, I thinkI’d better hold him in town, where I can keep an eye on him.”
    Even though he seemed unconscious, Josie had the uncanny sensation that the stranger could hear her. The danger she’d sensed skittered up her backbone and hovered somewhere behind her lungs, vibrating like the tail of a rattlesnake poised to strike. The feeling created a tension so strong she was surprised she wasn’t visibly shaking.
    “No, he can’t be moved,” she heard herself saying, “not until I treat his wounds.”
    Will looked at her with worry in his eyes. Josie tolerated him like an older brother, but there were times when she knew he wanted more.
    Josie began to focus on the injured man’s lower body. Most of the blood had dried on his trousers. “We’ll have to get him out of those clothes,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “Lubina, help me.”
    “Lubina will not touch this devil,” the housekeeper said, wringing her hands helplessly. “I ask the Holy Mother for strength, but she doesn’t hear this poor feeble woman’s plea.”
    “He’s no devil, and I don’t know about the Holy Mother,” Josie said, “but when
my
mother returns—”
    Will interrupted. “You hold his legs, Josie. I’ll get the boots.”
    “All right. Lubina, please go get some hot water and clean cloths.”
    The housekeeper wasted no time getting out of the room.
    Josie planted herself firmly against the man’s right thigh and felt a shiver rush to the point of contact. She took a deep breath, nodded, and clasped the wounded man’s knee while Will wrenched off his boots.
    Josie might have spent a good portion of her youth assisting Dr.