15
Sadie cried out in shock, dove at Heath, and caught his foot. She pulled hard to stop his fall and yanked his boot right off.
She fell backward and landed on her behind.
Her only clear thought was to hang on to the boot. Heath was going to need it.
Cole ran past her and reached for Heath. He was still there but hung up, having grabbed hold of a tiny aspen tree. Cole stretched out to grasp Heath’s good arm just as the tree ripped out of the crack in the rocks, then whapped Cole in the face before he could catch him. He kept after Heath, who started tumbling head over heels. Gravel kicked up around him as he scraped and crashed through scrub brush and over every little spike of stone in his path.
Sadie, boot in hand, charged after Heath in time to see him slam against a good-sized outcropping of rock, one of the few still anywhere to be found on the slope.
The jumble of boulders held. Running flat-out, Cole went right on past him, unable to stop.
Heath rolled onto his back, his face bleeding now, his arms extended at his sides. He stared upward, dazed and only half conscious.
Sadie felt like the lowest form of life on earth. All she’d had to do was think. Heath couldn’t be trusted to walk down a mountain on his own, not minutes after he’d been shot. Now he was both shot and battered, the poor man. He’d done so much for the Bodens, including knocking her out of the path of a bullet, then dragging her behind a barrier and shielding her body with his own.
She had to wonder what he was getting paid for all his trouble.
“I’m telling Justin that Heath deserves a raise.” Cole came back to her side and frowned down at Heath, shaking his head, breathing hard. “Whatever he’s getting isn’t near enough.”
“I’d think he’d be about ready to ride on at this point.” Sadie was mighty sorry about that. But it had to be true.
“Yep,” Cole agreed. “Taking care of the Bodens must be wearing him right down to a nub.”
“If we’d just been a bit more careful with him, he’d have walked down this slope with some help. Now we’re going to have to carry him.” That sounded grumpier than Sadie had intended it to. As if she were the one with the trouble. She thought of that note again. The Bodens had plenty of trouble, all right.
“You’re not carrying me,” Heath groaned. “And there ain’t enough money in the world to cover all I’ve had to do for you Bodens. I’m here because I want to be.”
Sadie noticed he didn’t look at her when he said that, but then Cole was right here and Heath wasn’t thinking clearly.
Cole offered a hand.
Sadie slapped it and said, “Let him sit for a minute, for heaven’s sake.”
With a narrow-eyed look as if she’d questioned his manhood, Heath reached up. Cole grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. It took a lot more effort than Heath probably wanted to admit. Heath’s knees wobbled, but Sadie moved fast this time to steady him. She jammed her shoulder under his arm and slipped her hand around his waist. Cole kept a firm grip on him from the other side.
Sadie was determined to hang on to him all the way down to the bottom of the trail.
“Look at the bright side,” Cole said, giving Sadie a look that said he didn’t like her so close to Heath.
Sadie shook her head at him. “What possible bright side?”
“He slid a long way down. We don’t have so far to go with him now.”
Then Heath nodded as though it truly was a bright side, the big idiot.
“Do you want to sit down for a bit, Heath?” she asked.
“No, I can make it. Let’s go.”
Sadie held up his boot. Besides blasting off the heel, the bullet had grazed the entire length of the sole. “How about sitting long enough to put this on? You step on a cactus and you’ll be sorry you didn’t take the time.”
With a nod, Heath picked a nearby rock and sat down. Sadie was too smart to comment on it, but he looked like it was a pure relief to get off his feet.
“I’ll help slide it on.” She dropped to her knees fast before Cole could shove the boot on instead. Her plan was to take it slow and let Heath’s head clear at least a little. She looked up at Cole. “Can you at least dab the blood off Heath’s face?”
“He’s already got my kerchief around his arm. Dab it off with what?”
Feeling thoroughly annoyed with all men, Sadie tore a strip off her petticoat and handed it over. She didn’t tear it any too fast, either.
She quit fooling with the boot and watched her brother’s ham-handed doctoring and Heath’s grim refusal to say so much as ouch. His left temple looked like it’d been run over a cheese grater. The sharply sloping trail hadn’t been kind to him.
Finally the men noticed she wasn’t working.
“Get on with it, Sadie,” Heath growled. “Or let Cole do it.”
Her time was up. She finished and stood. She and Cole got on both sides of Heath and eased him to his feet again. Neither one of them let go for even a moment.
“We Bodens aren’t taking as good of care of you as you are of us, Heath.” She looked up at him just as he looked down and smiled.
“Let’s go,” he said. His left arm around her shoulder tightened just a bit and could almost be called a hug. “I appreciate that you gave me time to sit a spell. It helped.”
The three of them picked their way down the canyon. By the time they reached the bottom, Heath was wobbling. At the first big rock they passed, Sadie guided him toward it. “You can sit while we get the horses.”
He nodded, and she thought he looked grateful.
Cole said, “I’ll fetch the horses and get your canteen.”
“Water sounds good.”
The horses stood only a few dozen steps away. Heath seemed to be staying upright all on his own now. Even so, Sadie watched him like a hawk. If Heath started tipping over, she wanted him to end up lying down in a fairly painless fashion.
The kerchiefs on his arm were soaked through with blood, and she noticed his shirt had been torn to shreds. She’d torn a sleeve mostly off when she was tending the bullet wound. There was no saving it, so she ripped the sleeve off the rest of the way.
Folding it haphazardly, she began dabbing at his battered face. No surprise that Cole had done a poor job. “You’ve taken the worst of it, Heath. Including a bullet for me.” Her voice broke.
Heath was patiently bearing her rough medicine, his eyes fixed over her shoulder, probably so he could pretend that she wasn’t poking at his wounds. When he heard the break in her voice, he looked down. All his attention now on her.
“Any man would do the same, Sadie darlin’. I’m mighty glad I was there to protect you.”
Cole came up then, leading all three horses, their bridles back in place and the girths tightened on their saddles.
“You protected all of us, Kincaid. Your quick action most likely saved one or more of us, because he never got a shot off while we were unaware. Add in what you did for Pa when he got hurt and all you were asked to do with the reading of his wishes for us. I sincerely appreciate the fine care you’ve taken of this family.”
Heath and Cole looked squarely at each other. Finally, Heath gave his head a short nod. “I find myself uncommonly fond of all of you. I own a ranch up between Colorado City and Rawhide with my three brothers. They’ve been ordering me around all my life. What you and Justin serve up to me is nothing. In fact, it’s almost like I’m home again. The only bad part is it makes me miss my family. So I am happy for any part I had in keeping you all safe. I’m enjoying my time on the CR.”
They spent a few minutes ministering to Heath and were just about to help him into the saddle when Justin came riding back.
“I rode a circuit around the mesa, looking for tracks. I could find no sign of anyone climbing down, but I’ll bet my best horse on his being long gone.”
“Let’s get Heath home. He needs a lot more tending.”
“Doc Garner is back from riding to Denver with Ma and Pa,
” Justin said. “I talked to him while I was in town to tell him to see to Angelique. We can send for him. Heath’s arm might need a needle taken to it.”
Sadie turned to get Heath’s horse, but Justin said, “Wait a minute.”
“What now?” Sadie scowled at him.
Justin pointed behind her. She spun around, Cole too. And Heath craned his neck to see what Justin was pointing to.
“The cows?” Sadie plunked her fists on her hips. “You want to take the time to drive that herd ahead of us when Heath’s been shot?”
“Yep. And Big Red is pawing the dirt, so if we do this right, he’ll charge after us and run right through that gap, and the cows will follow. Cole, go see if you can get Big Red to attack you.”
Cole turned back. Sadie saw him clench his fists.
“If you start punching him at a time like this, I swear I am going to put cactus needles in your biscuits tonight.” Sadie knew she had her fists clenched too, but that was entirely different.
“Big Red’s always hated me.” Heath started sliding off his perch. “I’ll go.”
All three of them grabbed him.
Justin said, “He hates everybody, so don’t act like you’re special. I’ll go. You three can all drop behind the cows and push them if they balk at that shadowy pass.”
“Somehow, after all we’ve faced today, that monster bull doesn’t scare me one whit.” Sadie glared at the big old critter. He had a ten-foot spread of horns. Longhorns didn’t grow to be huge animals—a thousand pounds was about right for a full-grown bull—but Big Red was part Hereford, which gave him his color and his name. And he’d never stopped growing. Pa said he weighed two thousand pounds easily.
That was a whole ton of mean.
Justin swung up on his horse and trotted toward the bull. There was no denying that Justin was a mighty fine cattleman, because he handled that old fella with no trouble. He got close enough to taunt him. Big Red charged just as they all knew he would. Justin wheeled his horse and ran, fast enough to keep the bull coming, right into the pass. They vanished. The cows followed after the bull as expected and headed straight out of the rocky canyon. The grass was no good here, with one small spring that trickled with brackish water—enough to keep them alive, but not enough to keep them happy.
“I’ll bet my best hat they were driven in. It was all planned by someone,” Cole said as he helped Heath mount up.
Sadie swung onto her saddle a beat ahead of Cole. The three of them headed for the pass.
The note came to mind again. This is a warning. Clear out of this land you stole from Mexico.
“I thought the day Pa got hurt was the worst day of my life,” Sadie said. She let Cole go first, just in case Big Red came back, then let Heath go second so she could see if he was having trouble staying in the saddle.
“And wasn’t it?” Heath asked over his shoulder.
She shook her head. “I think our bad days have only just begun.”
16
The day had begun bad for Heath and it was mighty early still.
They got out of the pass and immediately saw the cowhands charging for them. Heath figured they’d heard the gunfire. Most of the men were riding the range on the south side of CR land, but these few who were close came a-runnin’.
Somewhat encouraged, Heath held tight to his saddle horn as he studied them, wondering if one of them was the gunman.
Justin took charge. “Alonzo, take a man and shove these cows past the ranch yard and a good distance from this pass.”
Alonzo gave Heath’s bleeding arm a concerned glance but didn’t say anything. He signaled to the closest drover to him, and they fell in behind the cows. Big Red cooperated and showed no signs of going on the attack.
“And you two,” Justin hollered at Mike and Windy, “get that fence back up.”
“Who was shooting, Justin?” John Hightree was leading the pack. Justin hadn’t given him a job. “Heath, are you bad hurt?”
Heath didn’t answer. He was in too much pain to assure the old-timer he was fine.
“He’s been shot. We need to get him to the house and send for the doctor.” Sadie rode up beside Heath, close enough to rest her hand on his back and look him in the eye.
“I’ll go.” John took off galloping for Skull Gulch.
They rode on in, straight for the house.
“Let me go to the bunkhouse. The doc can come there.” Heath was getting in deeper all the time with the family. He kept waiting for the cowhands to complain.
“You’re not going anywhere, Kincaid.” Cole helped him down so quickly that Heath didn’t have time to tell the big galoot he could sure enough get down off his own horse.
“We need to talk while we wait for the doctor.” Big Brother Boden swung Heath’s good arm around his neck as Justin came up on the other side to help.
Heath would have protested, but his knees were wobbly. As much as he hated looking helpless in front of Sadie, he hated even more the thought of falling on his face again.
They nearly carried Heath into Chance’s office, the same room where Heath had read them the bad news about living together. They passed a large mirror in the hallway, and Heath made the mistake of looking at it. He was a mess. A mess with a strip from a lacy petticoat wrapped around his head. Lace dangled nearly to his eyes. He wondered if a man could die of embarrassment.
He was set with surprising gentleness onto a couch.
“I’ll go put up the horses and be right back,” Justin said, then left the room.
Heath noticed Sadie hadn’t come in and felt a pang of neglect. She appeared a minute later with a steaming basin in her hands and cloths tucked under her arm.
“Get his shirt off, Cole.”
Heath wrapped his good arm tight around his chest. “I’m not taking my clothes off in front of you, Sadie. You should be ashamed of such improper talk.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
Cole said, “He’s right. That would be improper, and I won’t allow it.”
Heath puffed out a breath. “Thank heavens.”
With a smirk, Cole added, “One of mine will fit well enough.” He rushed out, and Heath heard his footsteps thundering upstairs.
Sadie set the basin on a side table and dropped a cloth in to soak. “We’ll wash your face while we wait.” She took the frilly bandage off his head, mercifully.
“The bleeding has stopped. Oh, Heath, I’m so sorry you were battered trying to save me.”
“I didn’t try to save you.”
That got her attention. “You didn’t?” She sounded hurt, but she began bathing his face anyway.
“I didn’t try—I succeeded.”
That tricked a smile out of her. “Well, that I can agree with.”
“And I’d take banged-up bruises from head to toe to protect you, Sadie. I don’t regret a single one of them.” Heath grinned. “I did dearly love those boots. I’m hoping someone in town can repair them.”
“I’ll buy you a new pair of boots first thing in the morning, Kincaid.” Justin leaned over Sadie’s shoulder.
“No you won’t.”
“Why not?” Justin seemed startled, but then Heath had nearly yelled at him.
“I’ll never let you pay me for doing the right thing. That’s just shameful.”
Justin nodded as if it made perfect sense, as well it should.
Cole was back with a dark gray shirt in his hand. A good color to get stained up with blood.
“Sadie, turn your back.” Heath blocked Cole from trying to unbutton.
With a huff of impatience, Sadie dropped the rag in the basin and turned to face the other direction. “Hurry up with it, then. And Cole, you’d better be able to roll up the sleeve on the wounded arm or I’m taking a sharp knife to your shirt.”
There was a bit of a tussle because the blood had dried in a few spots around his wound and it hurt to pull the cloth away from his arm. Heath bore it while Justin made quick work of helping him shed his shirt and the
red woolens under it. Justin wasn’t gentle like Sadie, but then he was a ruthless sort of man.
The new shirt came on, and while they worked on dressing him, he looked at Sadie’s back, then past her. She was staring right into a mirror and watching every move he made.
He narrowed his eyes, but she didn’t notice at first because she was looking right at his chest in a way that was mighty disturbing.
Finally she looked up and their gazes locked. He scowled at her. She arched her brows and smiled.
Then Cole said, “He’s all set, Sadie.”
Justin rolled up the sleeve on the arm that needed tending. The shirt was too big so it was easy enough.
It took no patience to sit quietly while Sadie fussed over him, bathing blood off his injured arm and face.
Though Justin and Cole helped at first, there wasn’t that much for them to do so they settled into chairs and watched. Rosita brought in a coffeepot, and tin cups dangled from her plump, competent hands.
“What are you doing back, Rosita?”
“The doctor was out with a patient. John told me of the trouble so I came home. He went on for the doctor. Have a cup, then hook the pot over the fire.” Rosita set the pot down. “I’ll be back with something for you to eat.”
She paused as she left the room. The way she studied each of them drew everyone’s attention but Sadie’s, who was busy fastening a bandage over Heath’s arm.
“What is it, Rosita?” Cole asked as he began pouring coffee.
“I saw that piece of paper you left on the kitchen table, Cole.”
Rosita must be talking about the note they’d found on top of the canyon pass.
“You all know I have served this family long and I love you as if you were my own children.” She didn’t wait for them to respond. “I believe it is right to show you something.” Her eyes lingered on Cole. “You were told of this when you were very young, Cole, but I doubt you remember it, at least not without being reminded. The rest of you have never heard this. Your parents kept it from you, and I think with the passage of years they have even forgotten it.”
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