The Outlaw Bride Read Free Page B

Annie in the sickroom, but she’d never been faced with treating a dangerous-looking man like this alone. Dealing with a simple wound was one thing, but for most of the last four years she’d been studying law in New York. The man on the table wasn’t the only one in trouble.
    Josie swallowed hard. She’d never totally undressed a man—certainly not in front of anyone. His skin was as rough as his appearance. Whoever he was, he’d been a man who worked for a living.
    Will broke her train of thought. “Until we find out who this man is, I don’t feel right about you having a stranger out here. I think we ought to send Dan and Dr. Annie a telegram in New York.”
    “We don’t have time for that,” Josie said, unbuttoning the wounded man’s shirt. “Besides, this man is too near death to be a threat to me or anyone else.”
    “All right,” Will said reluctantly. “I’ll get back to town and make sure we haven’t had any reports of a train holdup or a bank robbery. I’ll be back to check on you in the morning.”
    Josie laid her hand on the hard plane of her patient’s stomach. “He isn’t an outlaw,” she said softly, then wondered where that certainty came from. He might not be a criminal, but somebody was angry with him. Considering that one of his wounds appeared to be in the groin, a jealous husband could have shot him.
    “You don’t know what he is. You’re just like your mama. You’re the second stubbornest woman in the territory,” Will grumbled as he left the clinic.
    “That I am,” Josie agreed, and pushed the door closed behind him. She unfastened the man’s empty gun beltand his suspenders and then reached to unfasten his denim trousers.
    The stranger’s gloved hand shot across his body and caught her wrist.
    Fear washed over her. What if she was wrong about him being an outlaw? She wished she hadn’t let Will leave. “I’m only trying to help you,” she said, “but if you’d rather bleed to death, it can be arranged.”
    He turned toward her with a cold, black-as-sin stare that held her motionless. Lines of pain—or menace—radiated from the corners of the stormiest eyes she’d ever seen. And despite his grimacing expression, Josie knew he was strikingly handsome and very dangerous.
    The stranger let go of her wrist. He closed his eyes as if he had lapsed into unconsciousness again.
    Josie relaxed her shoulders and let out a silent breath as she waited for her racing heart to slow. Swallowing hard, she took Dr. Annie’s scissors and cut into his trousers, her fingers tucked beneath his waistband to guide the blades. As she inched downward, she brushed his thick body hair—and a mound of soft flesh.
    She jerked back and lost her grip on the scissors. The blades slipped sideways.
    The man let out a muffled oath, caught her shoulder, and pulled her forward. Josie suddenly found her cheek pressed against his thigh.
    She froze.
    Scream! Lubina will come
, she thought. But when she felt him breathe, felt the warmth of his wounded body beneath her, she waited. “Let go of me,” she said in a low voice.
    He was only acting instinctively, she realized, and slowly she pulled from his grip. “You do that again and I’lllet the sheriff have you,” she snapped. Taking a shaky breath, she steadied her trembling fingers and finished clipping his trousers. Peeling the fabric open, she found a gaping wound. She worked her fingers beneath his body and located a smaller wound. What had happened? He didn’t look like he could possibly be a victim—he was too big and mean-looking—though it was obvious from the wounds that he was being pursued.
    Miraculously, the bullet hadn’t hit anything vital. It looked as though it had simply gone through the back and out the front of his groin without nicking a major vessel. The man’s wounds weren’t fatal, but considering what he must have gone through, she didn’t know how he had managed to stay alive.
    Josie shifted her focus to his shoulder