by Jodi Thomas
After a few seconds he made out the outline of what might be a little girl, or maybe a short ET.
“You shouldn’t cuss, mister. We heard you way back in the canyon yelling out words I’ve seen written but never knew how they were pronounced.”
“Glad I could help with your education, kid. Any chance you have a cell phone or a leader?”
“We’re not allowed to carry cell phones. It interferes with our communicating with nature.” She shined her flashlight in his eyes. “Don’t call me kid. My name is Melanie Miller and I could read before I started kindergarten.”
Cody mumbled a few words, deciding he was in hell already and—who knew?—all the names there started with M.
All of a sudden the lights went jittery again and every one of the six little girls seemed to be talking at once.
One thought he was too bloody to live. One suggested they should cover him with their coats. Another voted for undressing him. Two said they would never touch blood. One wanted to put a tourniquet about his neck.
Cody was starting to hope death might come faster when another shadow carrying a lantern moved into the mix. “Move back, girls. This man is hurt.”
He couldn’t see more than an outline but the new arrival was definitely not a little girl. Closing his eyes and ignoring the little girls’ constant questions, he listened as a calm voice used her cell to call for help. She had the location down to latitude and longitude and described a van parked in an open field about a hundred yards from her location where they could land a helicopter. When she hung up, she knelt at his side and shifted a backpack off her shoulder.
As she began to check his injuries, her voice calmly gave instructions. “Go back to the van, girls. Two at a time take turns flashing your lights at the sky toward the North Star. The rest of you get under the blankets and stay warm. When you hear the copter arrive and voices, you can watch from the windows, but stay in the van. McKenna, you’re in charge. I’ll be back as soon as they come.”
Another M, Cody thought but didn’t bother to ask about.
To his surprise the gang of ponytails marched off like tiny little soldiers.
“How’d you find me?” Cody asked the first of a dozen questions bouncing around in his aching head as the woman laid out supplies from her pack.
“Your cussing was probably bouncing off the canyon wall for twenty miles.” Her hands moved along his body, not in a caress, but to a man who hadn’t felt a woman’s touch in years, it wasn’t far from it.
“Want to give me your name? Know what day it is? What year? Where you are?”
“I don’t have brain damage,” he snapped then regretted moving his head. “My name’s Winslow. I don’t care what day it is or what year for that matter.” He couldn’t make out her face. “I’m on my own land. Or at least I was when my horse threw me.”
She might have been pretty if she wasn’t glaring at him. The lantern light offered that flashlight-to-the-chin kind of glow about it.
“Where does it hurt?” She kept her voice low, but she didn’t sound friendly. “As soon as I pass you to the medics, I’ll start looking for your horse. The animal might be out here too, hurting or dead. Did he fall with you?”
Great! His Good Samaritan was worried more about the horse than him. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. When I fell off the edge of the canyon, Midnight was still standing.” He took a breath as the woman moved to his legs. “I tumbled for what seemed like miles. It hurts all over.”
“How?”
“The horse got spooked when we hit a patch of ice,” he snapped, tired of talking, needing all his strength to handle the pain.
She brushed over his left leg and he tried to keep from screaming. He fought her touch, knowing he couldn’t take much more without passing out.
“Easy,” she whispered as her hands cupped his face. “Easy, cowboy. You’ve got a bad break. I have to do what I can to stabilize you. They’ll be here soon. You’ve got to let me wrap a few of these wounds so you don’t bleed out waiting.”
He nodded once, knowing she was right.
In the glow of a lantern she worked, carefully wrapping his leg, then his head wound.
Her voice finally came, low, sexy maybe if it were a different time, a different place. “It looks bad, but I don’t see any brains dripping out.”
He didn’t know if she was trying to be funny or just stating a fact. He didn’t bother to laugh. She put a bandage on the gash along his throat. It wasn’t deep, but it still dripped blood.
As she wrapped the bandage her breasts brushed against his cheek, distracting him. If this was her idea of doctoring a patient with no painkillers, it was working. For a few seconds there, he forgot about the pain.
“I don’t have water to clean the wounds, but the dressing should keep anything else from getting in.”
Cody began to calm. The pain was still there, but the demons in the corners of his mind were silent. Watching her move in the shadows relaxed him.
“Cody,” he finally said. “My first name is Cody.”
She smiled then for just a second.
“You a nurse?” he asked.
“No. I’m a park ranger. If you’ve no objection I’d like to examine your chest.”
Cody closed his eyes and she unzipped his coat. “I used to be a Ranger, but I never stepped foot in a park.” He could feel her unbuttoning his shirt. Her hand moved in, feeling across his ribs.
When he gasped for air, she hesitated, then whispered, “One broken rib.” A moment later she added, “Two.”
He forced long slow breaths as he felt the cold night air pressing against his bare chest. Her hand moved over his bruised skin, stopping at the scars he’d collected one night at the Rio Grande.
She lifted the light. “Bullet holes?” she questioned more to herself than him. “You’ve been hurt bad before.”
“Yeah,” he said as he took back control of his mind.
Her hand was moving over his chest lightly, caressing now, calming him, letting him know that she was near.
“You’re going to make it, cowboy. I have a feeling you’re too tough to die easy.” The lights of a helicopter circled above them.
He didn’t want to think about dying or being hurt. “If I live, how about I examine your chest sometime?”
She laughed. “You got a deal.”
Copyright © 2017 by Jodi Koumalats
ISBN-13: 9781460396087
Sunrise Crossing
Copyright © 2016 by Jodi Koumalats
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