“My parents drove the buckboard out to bring in a tree,” Hap commenced in a strained voice. “Just as they did every year, as long as I can remember. Usually, they took me along, but I had a cold, and Ma wouldn’t let me go. She ordered me to bed with hot bricks and poultices, even though I was eighteen years old. My ma was a force to be reckoned with, that’s for sure. Always easier to humor her. Besides, I did feel terrible. But if I’d been with them, they wouldn’t have died.”
“Oh. My. God! What happened?”
“As near as we could figure, Pa was chopping down a tree they’d picked, and the vibrations must have brought down a much bigger tree close by that had root rot. The trunk landed on Pa, trapping him. A branch punctured his gut. The tree was too heavy to lift, so my mother wrapped herself around him as close as she could get. That’s how we found them.”
“Oh, Hap, I’m so sorry.”
“The team hitched to the wagon came back, but the snow started, and we took a long time to track them. They were both gone when we got there.”
Carole didn’t think, she just reached for Hap and was grateful when his arms closed around her in a hug she felt to the bottom of her soul.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered into his chest, holding him as tightly as she could.
“I still miss them, even though they’ve been gone a long time.” He let out a slow sigh. “We’ll get past this. We’ll start by reading your book.”
He lifted her chin with an index finger.
She stared into his crystal-clear, blue eyes.
When his lips touched hers, so gently, she was lost. If she hadn’t been in love before, his kiss would have made her feelings a certainty. She sighed into his mouth. Could he ever love her? Could she be enough?
The warmth and softness of his lips on hers made her want more. A lot more. She wrapped her arms around his neck, sinking her fingers into the thick hair at the back of his neck and pressed against him.
She closed her eyes and hoped for heaven.
Chapter 14
Hap had been up since dawn, readying for the day.
Reluctant to end their special time together, Carole remained in bed, sleepily listening to him rattle around making coffee and then slam the door when he went out to tend Rustler. She snuggled into the blankets still warm from Hap’s body heat, not ready to brave the cold until absolutely necessary.
When the smell of brewing coffee became irresistible, Carole, reluctant to roll out of her warm blanket cocoon, finally got up and dressed. She poured herself a cup of the steaming beverage and took a careful sip.
The sound of a gunshot and the scream of a horse made her drop the coffee cup and sent her scrambling to the door. She jerked open the door in time to see Hap give Rustler a hard whack on the rump and twist to the ground, clutching at his left shoulder.
There was blood.
A lot of blood.
Her cousin, Jasper, stepped out from the edge of the lean-to barn and pointed a gun at Hap’s head.
“Nooooooo,” she screamed. Carole threw herself off the porch and crouched over Hap. “If you kill him, you’ll have to kill me, too. And if you do, you will never own the ranch or see a penny of my grandfather’s money. You know it will all go to charity.” She clung to Hap, pulling him under her so Jasper couldn’t get another shot.
“Not if you marry one of us.” A sneer lifted the corners of Jasper’s mouth.
“Are you insane? Why would I do that?”
“If you want him to live, you will.” Jasper stepped closer. “That gunshot won’t kill him, but he’ll bleed out or take a fever if’n he don’t get to a doc soon enough, and that will do the job.” Her cousin wore an evil smirk on his face. “You been holed up in here since before the storm with this fella, ain’t ya? I figure, by now, you must be kinda sweet on him. You wouldn’t want to be the cause of nothin’ happenin’ to him, now would ya?”
She stared up at him in utter disbelief. “You’ll hang for this—”
Hap grasped her upper arm.
She looked down into his pain-filled eyes.
“Don’t—” he rasped out.
“Never mind him,” Jasper snarled, taking another menacing step forward. “You do what I tell ya, and we’ll make sure he don’t get another bullet.” He raised his pistol and fired a shot into the air. “Come on out, boys!”
Carole tore off her wool shirt, glad she’d layered her shirtwaist blouse underneath, made some quick folds, and slapped the pad down on Hap’s shoulder, applying as much pressure as she could.
Hap gasped, staring up at her, and then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped into her embrace.
She could barely hold him upright.
Oh, God. Had she killed him?
Jeb, the second-born, bear-like brute of the brothers, shuffled around the other side of the cabin, his two younger siblings close on his heels.
Jerald, third-born, was on the thin side and twitched his head in a sideways manner that was disconcerting, as though he couldn’t quite make out what was being said most of the time.
The youngest brother was the shortest of the four and looked like he’d taken one too many cuffs to the head. No doubt, being the youngest and smallest of this crew had not been beneficial to Jonah’s health.
Carole could feel sorry for him, but never enough to marry the little wretch. He was as much a bully as the rest of his brothers.
Jasper snorted and spat. “Well, boys, I think we finally have our dear cousin right where we want her. She’s agreed to the marryin’.”
“I’ll marry her,” Jerald spoke up, his head twitching to one side several times.
“Are you loco? Nobody’d believe she’d marry you,” Jasper sneered. “She can marry Jeb. We’ll clean him up first.”
The other brothers didn’t look happy, but they didn’t contest Jasper’s decision. Shuffled feet and stares into the distance were the extent of their discontent.
Carole pulled Hap to a sitting position, but he listed to the side, and she couldn’t prop him up and put enough pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.
“Help me get him back inside,” she ordered in a deadly serious tone—one unlike any she’d ever uttered before. “If anything happens to him, I swear on my grandfather’s grave you’ll never see a dime of my inheritance. What’s more, Sheriff Granger will hunt you all down and see you swing.”
“Ah, we ain’t afraid of her.” Jerald snickered. “She’s just a woman.”
“Tell that to the gang who robbed the bank,” Carole snapped. “Bet they thought the same thing. I heard only one of them survived to be hung.”
“Go on. Help her.” Jasper motioned to his brothers with his pistol. “We need to get back to town a’fore dark.”
They pulled Hap to his feet, and Jeb rolled him over his shoulder in a dead-man’s carry, grunting under the weight.
Carole followed them into the house. “Lay him on the bed. Gently!”
“He’s out cold. He don’t feel nothin’,” Jasper snarled.
The veterinarian stressed keeping wounds clean, but she only had whiskey to use as an antiseptic. Carole grabbed the bottle of whiskey they’d left on the dry sink, snapped off the lid and soaked a clean towel with the liquid. She lifted away the shirt from Hap’s shoulder, poured the remainder of the liquor into the wound, and pressed the towel in place.
Will this be enough until I can get the doctor to him?
Hap groaned but didn’t fight the treatment. He didn’t open his eyes.
“Hey, don’t be wastin’ good whiskey on him. We could use a drink. We been waitin’ out in that snow for hours,” Jeb whined, like a kid denied milk and cookies.
Carole wanted to snatch him bald.
“Shut up! If he dies––” she hissed “––you’ll find yourselves on the end of new ropes. I’ll buy them myself. Now, get out of my way.” She dug her best petticoat out of her carpetbag, tore the fabric in strips, and used it to fashion padding and bandages to secure pressure
on the wound. The bleeding stopped flowing but still oozed. He needs a doctor.
Carole made sure Hap was well covered, tendered a lingering kiss on his forehead, and then turned to grab her coat and the rest of her outerwear. “Let’s get this over with so I can get back here with the doctor.” She turned a glare on Jerald. “He better be here when I get back, and no worse off. You understand me?”
He glared back, but when she stood her ground, he finally nodded.
She turned then and made her way outside.
Please, God, keep him safe.
The ride to High River Ranch took longer than expected because the weather conspired against them with a cold wind and snow flurries. Hanging on behind Jonah wasn’t the problem. His smell nearly did her in. If she didn’t need to make this trip happen in as short a time as possible, she would have thrown herself from the horse and demanded to walk the rest of the way.
When they reached the ranch, she didn’t wait for help dismounting. She sprang off the horse and dashed into the house. The rambling single-story, split-log structure looked welcoming. Solid and strong, like her grandfather. Her cousins had no place here.
Racing to the kitchen, she filled the biggest kettle with water from the indoor sink pump and hefted it to the potbelly stove, which still had embers. She stoked the stove with wood and added a smaller kettle with more water.
“You makin’ coffee?” Jasper asked.
He stood braced in the doorway like he owned the place, the other two crowding in behind him.
“No.” She glared over her shoulder, willing the teakettle to boil.
“We need coffee. It’s dang cold out there,” Jeb whined, which was grossly unbecoming in a man his size. “I’m near froze!”
“Then you had best make yourself some. This water is for me to wash off the stench, if you are expecting me to wear a dress to this ‘marrying’ you have planned.”
“What about me? I gotta get cleaned up, don’t I?”
Again, the whining.
Carole wanted to scream. Time was the enemy. The ride to the ranch had taken too long, and every minute meant Hap could be in worse condition from the bullet wound.
Nausea welled up her throat, but she gagged the urge down with a fist to her stomach. She didn’t have time to feel anything. She had to get back to Hap.
“I don’t got no clean clothes. What am I gonna wear? A man’s gotta be dressed right on his weddin’ day.”
Jeb looked around the kitchen as though expecting someone to solve his dilemma.
Jasper and Jonah turned to stare at Carole.
“Oh, for heaven’s sakes! Didn’t you think this plan of yours through?” She held up her hand in a silencing gesture. “No. I know. Stupid question. None of you have brains enough to think.”
“Hey,” Jonah said. “None of that talk.”
She ignored him, fisting her hands on her hips and glaring at the three of them. “I found two trunks of my grandfather’s clothes in the attic. There should be something to fit you, Jeb. He was a pretty big man, as I recall. There should be clean shirts for all of you, though you’ll have to roll the pant legs up. But for God’s sake, wash up first!”
The kettle began to whistle.
“One of you had better get the buggy harnessed up, because I’m not riding a horse in a dress. Won’t take me long to get ready, so don’t dawdle. Hap needs the doctor.”
Carole grabbed the pot-holder from the wall hook and hefted the kettle off the stove. She hesitated at the door and looked back at her misbegotten relatives. “Move!” She hissed at her cousins. “We’re burnin’ daylight, and I want this done.”
A prayer ran through her mind in a never-ending chant. Please, God, keep him safe. Keep him safe. Please, God....
Half an hour later, Carole snapped the reins on the buggy to send the horse at a fast clip down the ranch road. Her cousins were mounted on fresh horses appropriated from her grandfather’s stock.
Jeb looked like an overstuffed sausage in his borrowed suit, but at least he appeared clean, and she couldn’t smell him as he rode next to the buggy. Jasper and Jonah wore clean shirts and borrowed jackets with pants rolled up. Her grandfather had been a fairly tall man..
Like Hap.
Saying another prayer, Carole slapped the reins again. She had to get to town. To the doctor. Afterward, she’d deal with her grasping, greedy, grossly-disgusting cousins. She could probably come up with a few more appropriate words to describe them, but just looking at them nauseated her. How can they possibly be kin, even three times removed?
Carole didn’t know exactly what she was going to do. But I’m not letting them get away with shooting Hap. Not while I still draw breath.
Chapter 15
The burning ache deep in his shoulder brought Hap to instant awareness of what had transpired.
He’d been shot. Ambushed.
He’d had just enough sense left to send Rustler home. Out of harm’s way. Thank God!
He remembered Carole’s scream of rage and a man’s threatening voice. He’d tried to warn her not to agree to the threats. But the excruciating pain in his shoulder stole his breath and sent his world spiraling into darkness. That was the last thing he remembered.
His hands were tied to the rough-hewn poles making up the bed frame, and when he turned his head, he could see a thick bandage padding his shoulder. With every blanket they’d had in the cabin covering him and the Christmas quilt tucked up to his chin, only the exposed bandage on his left shoulder and the throbbing heat emanating from the wound proved his injury.
He lifted his head to scan the rest of the room. The twitchy brother slept propped in the chair against the wall. He snored peacefully, apparently comforted by the fact his prisoner was secured to the bed.
If Hap could reach the folding blade he’d tucked in his pocket, he could change this situation. Had they searched him before they tied him up?
His left shoulder ached like a hot poker had been shoved through his flesh, but he didn’t have time to dwell on the pain. He edged to the side of the bed, as close to his right hand as possible, then swung his hips so his fingertips could reach the pocket in the denim pants he wore.
His guard twitched and snored but didn’t wake up.
When his fingers felt the hard edge of the knife in his pocket, Hap breathed a sigh of relief. I can do this.
Once loose, he’d take apart Carole’s cousins limb by limb, bit by bit, and send the rest to jail just on principle. He could still hear the terror in her scream and the panic in her voice when she tried to shield him from her cousins after he’d been shot.
Knowing they couldn’t gain access to the ranch and the monies involved without her signature was a very good thing. Those villains were rotten to the core, and he’d no doubt they’d kill Carole as soon as they thought no one would take exception to her absence.
K.C. Granger warning of the Houghten boys passing through town and to keep a watch for them had raised a red flag even before Carole explained their intentions. With any luck, the sheriff would run into the cousins and their captive before they reached Reverend Norton. The lawwoman would put a stop to the men’s attempts to force Carole into the farce of a wedding.
Concentrating on wiggling the knife from his pocket proved tiring and increased the painful ache in his shoulder until his whole upper arm and chest cramped in response. When the folded blade eased out of his pants and slid to the bed, he groaned.
The knife was another thing he should thank the Cobbs for. When he’d ordered the last batch of books, he’d also ordered the folding blade from their catalogue of merchandise. So far, the knife was a real handy item, with good balance.
Once he grasped the knife and flicked it open, he turned the blade upside-down in his palm, slid the sharp edge under the rope binding his wrist, and sawed at the ties.
Still keeping watch on the sleeping guard, he released one hand, and then quietly worked on the other, keeping his actions hidden under the blankets. The old sa
ying went, ‘you didn’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” But in this instance, the blade might be enough to even the odds.
At almost the same instant Hap cut through the last rope and freed his other hand, the twitchy cousin woke with a snort.
He stared at Hap. “What the hell are you lookin’ at?” he demanded.
“Where’s Carole?”
“That’s none a’ your business. So, shut up and don’t cause me no grief, an’ I won’t hurt ya.”
“You didn’t shoot me?”
“Naw. Jasper done that so’s we could get hold a’ Carole. He’s real set on havin’ that ranch.”
“He’s due to be disappointed. She won’t sign over the ranch.”
“Oh, yeah, she will. She said so, as long as we got a doctor out here fer ya. She was gonna marry up with Jeb as soon as the doc rides out. She promised.”
Hap stared at the man, considering his next move. He really didn’t want to hurt this young man, but saw no way past it.
Carole was his priority. His to protect.
My woman.
Hap gritted his teeth against the agony, rising up just enough to throw the knife with all of his remaining strength.
The blade whistled through the air and struck in the fleshy shoulder joint of the man’s right arm. Stunned, he simply sat back hard in the chair and raised a hand toward the wound. His right arm hung limp at his side, unable to grasp his gun.
“Don’t pull out the knife,” Hap said calmly. “You could bleed to death.”
He sucked in a breath to brace against the pain, tossed aside the covers, and rolled to the edge of the bed. He was across the room and retrieving the gun from the holster in the man’s gun belt before he could utter a protest.
“I’m stabbed!” twitchy man wailed.
“And I’m shot, you idiot.” Hap couldn’t help the snarl. “You’re lucky I didn’t aim for your heart. A lot bigger target. Now, how long ago did they leave?”
His Christmas Carole (Rescued Hearts Series Book 1) Page 9