Eleven
Kate refused to look at her left leg, as though not looking at it would help the pain. There were other things to be done before she gave in to the injury she’d suffered when she shot Buck. She ignored the horror she felt over killing a man, knowing only that she had to get his dead body out of the cave before it was too dark to see.
In spite her wounded leg, she pulled on her floppy, worn-out shoes, pretending her bloody leg couldn’t be all that badly wounded. She grimaced and cried out as she pulled on the left shoe, wondering if there was a bullet in her leg or if it had just skimmed across her shin and taken a good deal of flesh with it. Fighting the terror that she could be bleeding to death, she reached down and lifted Buck’s legs, turning to face away from him so she could drag him behind her. She positioned his booted feet under her arms and started walking, pulling his body to the cave entrance and then outside.
Buck’s horse still had a bridle on, so she limped into the cave and took a rope from Buck’s saddle. She walked back outside and tied the rope around the man’s ankles, then around the horse’s neck. She took hold of the reins and led the horse down the steep embankment to the grassier ground below, grasping the horse’s mane at times to keep her own balance. She could feel blood in her shoe, and it was becoming more and more difficult to walk.
She continued leading the horse as far away from the cave entrance as she could stand to walk. She untied the rope from Buck’s ankles, leaving his dead body behind as she guided the horse near the cave. She hung on to the animal’s neck and let it help her back up the steep hill. She managed to find a scrubby little pine tree not far from the cave entrance and tied the horse to that, realizing she would need it if Luke didn’t return. Feeling light-headed, she stumbled back inside the cave and struggled to keep her senses as she rummaged through Buck’s supplies.
She took comfort in knowing that at least now she had a little food and some extra blankets. Surely Buck had a change of clothes in his saddlebags. Maybe somehow she could use those, too. A canteen lay near his saddle, so she could also carry more water.
She rifled through the man’s saddlebags and found a clean shirt. Tired of feeling so filthy, she stripped off her dress and threw it aside, then removed her camisole and her pantaloons. She used the canteen to pour water over her burned skin, then over her entire body, giving her at least a little relief from the dirt and sweat she’d longed to bathe off. She poured more around her neck, down over her privates and to her bloody leg, squinting at the pain and still refusing to look at it.
Shivering, she pulled on the clean shirt, reveling in how good it felt just to be wearing something clean. The shirt hung down to the middle of her thighs, covering what needed to be covered. She rolled up the sleeves, then took the combs from her hair, bent her head over and poured water into her hair for yet another bit of bathing and cooling off. She tossed her head back and pulled her hair tighter at the sides, securing it again with the combs. She glanced at her filthy clothes lying in a pile on the cave floor. She wanted to burn them, but she would instead need to wash them somehow and save them in case Luke didn’t come back.
The pain from the bullet wound and from her burns was becoming dreadfully worse. She limped over to Buck’s saddle and the bedroll he’d unpacked, and dragged them close to the fire. She managed to spread out the bedroll over her own blankets to make her bed a little softer against the hard cave floor. She pulled Buck’s saddle close to the blankets so she could use it to rest her head against, then collapsed onto the bedroll, wondering if she would simply lie here and bleed to death tonight.
The pain and the trauma of her ordeal began to wash over her in a wave of deep depression and weariness. She climbed inside the bedroll, wrinkling her nose at the smell of an unwashed man. She’d killed that man point-blank. And now here she was, half-naked, her leg bleeding and probably swelling, her skin on fire. She crawled into the dead man’s bedroll for warmth…and she was alone. So utterly alone. She decided that if Luke didn’t make it back by tomorrow, she would have to find a way to wash her clothes and dress…and leave this place. If other men came along, she would surely be raped and murdered…or maybe they would hang her for killing the man called Buck. Hang her, as Luke had been hanged.
Maybe Luke was no longer even alive. Maybe he’d found those men and they had killed him. Her leg was getting worse by the minute. Maybe whoever came to this cave next would find her dead and just drag her out to bury her along with Buck.
She lay back, resting her head on Buck’s saddle, longing to eat but too weak to fish around for food. She would do that later. First, she had to sleep. She closed her eyes, remembering. She’d killed a man and dragged his dead body out for the buzzards to take care of. God would surely send her to Hell for it. She burst into tears, then felt the need to scream. She screamed as loud as she could, over and over, begging God to forgive her for killing a man, then begging Him to please bring Luke back.
Finally, everything went black…a blessed blackness in which she felt no more pain. Her last thought was to not worry about wolves. The dead man’s body below the cave entrance would distract them for the night.
Twelve
Luke guessed the time to be four or five o’clock in the afternoon. It wouldn’t be long before the sun dropped behind the mountains, and things would get dark fast. He’d ridden poor Red almost nonstop since it was barely light enough to see back in Lander, determined to reach Kate as soon as possible. He towed a riding horse for Kate, as well as two pack horses for carrying the supplies he’d purchased. He’d sold his cattle to a butcher in Lander, but he kept Scout. The valuable young bull was tied to the back of the pack horses and ambled along behind, last in line after the horses.
He had his money back plus what he got for the cattle…everything he needed for a new start in the spring. But first he had to get back to Kate and bring her to Lander to hole up for the winter. He was pleased about how much food he had, including bacon and beef packed in lard to preserve the meat.
He and Kate would have plenty of flour, sugar, and salt, as well as potatoes and even some dried apples. He also had plenty of medical supplies, a big bag of oats as an extra treat for the horses, and two small barrels of water plus four filled canteens. He’d brought along plenty of blankets, soap and towels, two dresses and a coat for Kate—a heavy, dark-blue winter wool coat with big white buttons. He was sure a woman like Kate would like it. He’d also bought her a sky-blue shawl for days that were just a little cool. The color would match her eyes.
A woman named Esther, who owned a clothing store, helped him pick out pantaloons and a camisole for Kate, and he smiled at the memory of how embarrassed Esther had been when helping him guess Kate’s size. Thinking about it made him remember how slim and pretty Kate was when he’d taken off her dress in that cave after she got wet.
Maybe he should have seen a woman before he’d left Lander, because he still couldn’t get the sight of Kate’s slender legs and perfect breasts off his mind. He had no business thinking about Kate Winters in any way but as a stranger who needed help. She certainly deserved anything he could do for her, after saving him from that awful hanging.
No more being cold and hungry, he thought, getting anxious to show Kate all these supplies and let her finally bathe and change her clothes. He was within a half mile of the cave, but he drew Red to a halt when he noticed buzzards circling something below the cave.
“What the hell?”
Kate! What in God’s name had happened? Circling buzzards nearly always meant a dead body. Was it Kate?
“God, no!” How would he forgive himself if he reached the cave to find Kate dead? He felt guilty enough having to leave her, but if something awful had happened while he was gone…
He kicked Red into a faster lope, but the horse was slow because it dragged three more horses and Scout behind him. After going only a few hundred feet, Luke halted Red and dismounted, then tied
the first pack horse to a small pinion pine. Each horse behind that one was tied to the next, so all the animals were secure for now. He mounted Red and urged the horse into a full run. He reached the area below the cave where he’d seen the buzzards and realized they were snacking on a body. When the ugly carnivorous birds squawked and dived at him, Luke pulled his spare six-gun and began shooting at them, killing four and chasing the rest away, at least for the moment.
“Filthy bastards!” he yelled at them. He shoved the gun back into his belt and dismounted, keeping hold of Red’s reins, afraid the smell of death would scare the gelding away. Red whinnied and tossed his head. “It’s okay, boy.” Luke walked closer to the already-bloated body to see it was a man, his eyes pecked out. “Jesus,” he muttered at the gruesome sight.
What had happened here? He glanced up at the cave and saw no one. “Kate!” he screamed. There came no reply. He saw a horse at the entrance and realized it must belong to the dead man. How in God’s name had the body ended up down here? He looked a little closer to see what appeared to be a deep graze down over the man’s belly, but he couldn’t tell what had caused it. A wound in his chest was definitely a bullet hole.
“My God!” he muttered. What had Kate been through?
He quickly mounted Red and pulled his rifle from its boot, kicking the horse into a fast climb to the cave entrance. Keeping his rifle ready, he dismounted. He glanced at the extra horse, a mare that had no brand and no saddle. She still wore a bridle and looked hungry and thirsty. He patted the horse’s rump. “I’ll take care of you in a minute, girl.”
Keeping a close watch on the cave entrance, he kept gun in hand and carefully approached.
“Kate?”
No reply.
He ducked inside, letting his eyes adjust to the much dimmer light. “Oh my God!” he muttered. There lay Kate, partially covered by a bedroll, her head on a saddle. She looked thin and ashen. He looked around to see her clothes lying in a pile next to what looked to be the supply packs and saddlebags that likely belonged to the dead man.
“Kate!” Luke set his rifle aside and knelt beside her, noticing the left side of her face looked scalded. She stirred as he pulled away the top blanket of the bedroll. She wore a man’s shirt. Had the man stripped and raped her, then made her put on the shirt?
He pulled the blanket completely off to see Kate’s left hand also looked burned. Her legs were bare, even her thighs, which meant she wore no pantaloons.
“Son of a bitch!” he swore. This was just what he’d dreaded finding. He noticed her left leg was dark and swollen. He grasped Kate’s shoulders and shook her lightly. “Kate! What happened, honey?”
She stirred more and opened her eyes, then slugged Luke in the face and continued swinging wildly as she sat up. “Get away! Get away from me, you bastard!”
Luke grasped her wrists and forced her arms down to her sides. “Jesus, Kate! It’s me. Luke. It’s okay.”
She struggled a moment longer, then finally focused. “Luke?”
“Yes, honey, it’s me,” he answered. “What the hell happened here?”
Kate sucked in her breath in an odd gasp and reached out to throw her arms around his neck. “Luke!” She burst into tears. “I thought you abandoned me. I thought you weren’t coming back.”
Luke sat all the way down and pulled her onto his lap. “Hell, I said I would, Kate. I told you I don’t break my promises. I came fast as I could. I nearly killed poor Red with the ride to Lander and back.”
“Don’t go away again. Don’t leave me here.”
“I won’t. I have lots of supplies, Kate. Clothes, blankets, medical supplies, food and water. You just need to lay back down and let me go get everything.”
“No! Don’t go!”
“Honey, everything is just below the hill. I just have to walk down to the pack horses and bring them up here. I promise it won’t take me more than ten minutes.”
“He might come back!”
“Who? That man below? He’s dead, Kate. He’s not coming back.”
She began crying harder. “I shot him! I shot him! Luke, I killed a man. He was unarmed. Now I’m an outlaw, too! They might hang me like they did you.”
Luke held her tighter. “Nobody is going to hang you. I promise. For God’s sake, Kate, it was self-defense. Anybody can see that. And out here, there is no law to say any different. I’ll bury that man out there as soon as I can. I’m guessing he’s a no-good drifter that nobody cares about, so nobody will be looking for him or ever miss him.”
“He threw hot coffee on me. And he tried to…” She pulled away a little, shaking. “He was…on top of me, and I…shot him! I had to, Luke. The gun was between us. The bullet went into his belly and on down over my leg. Then I shot him again. I didn’t really mean to kill him. I just wanted him to stay away!” She looked at her leg. “Luke, my leg. It hurts something awful. I finally fell asleep…but now that I’m awake…” She looked around. “Oh, dear God! It’s light out. It must have all happened yesterday. I’ve been passed out this whole time.”
Luke kept one arm around her. “You just calm down and save all the explaining for later, all right? First thing we need to do is take care of that leg. It looks pretty bad. I’ve seen wounds like that in the war. I’ll have to clean it up—drain any infection you might have, and bandage it. And you need to eat something as soon as possible.”
“Are you really here to stay?”
Luke saw the frightened, pleading look in her eyes.
“I’m here to stay.”
“Did you find those men?”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Luke stroked strands of her red hair away from her face, thinking what pretty blue eyes she had. “I’m damn sorry about all of this, Kate. You just lay back down here while I go get the supplies. I have some fresh cornbread with me. I’ll come back and you can eat some while I make a fire and some coffee and let you rest a little bit before I take care of that leg. We’ll talk about what to do next once we get you situated. I even brought you two dresses and some underthings and—”
She drew in her breath and pulled away more, her eyes wide with humiliation. “Oh, dear God!” She looked down and quickly jerked a blanket back over herself. “I’m not dressed! I…I couldn’t stand that filthy dress another minute…and the dress and my underclothes were covered in blood after I shot that man. I managed to drag him out of here, and then I went through his things and found this shirt and…” She started crying again, looking away from Luke. “Oh, dear God.” She put a hand to her head. “Luke, I think I’m going to pass out again.”
Luke reached out and touched her shoulder. “You just hang on. You need to eat something.”
“What will I do? We should go. I can travel…” She tried to get up, then cried out from the pain in her leg.
Luke gripped her shoulder more firmly and made her sit back down. “Kate, you’re all confused right now, and you’re in no shape to travel. Now you sit right here and wait for me to come back with those supplies. We’ll get you cleaned up, and I’ll fix you a meal and coffee. Let me go get that cornbread for you. You’re too weak to do anything but sit here and let me take care of you.”
She glanced at her left hand. The skin was blistered and pink. She touched her left cheek lightly then. “My face!”
“It will heal. In a couple of weeks nobody will ever know it was burned. The important thing right now is to take care of that leg.”
Kate kept the blanket over herself, but her feet were sticking out. With a clearer head, she studied her leg again. “Oh my God, Luke, it’s turning dark!” She met his gaze. “Am I going to lose my leg?”
“Not if I can help it.” He gently pushed her back down. “Now you just lay back and wait for me to bring those supplies. We’ll fix up that leg and you are going to sleep. We both need to sleep. I’m dead tired from all that happened in Lander an
d from the long ride back here. When we’re rested and ready, we’ll decide what to do next, and we’ll get out of here.”
“And you won’t leave me here alone again?”
“After what you did for me? Not a chance.”
“You’re…you look different.”
Luke smiled. “Probably because I’m clean and I shaved, and I look human again.”
Kate put a hand to her hair. “I must look terrible.”
“Honey, you’re alive. That looks pretty good to me. Now lie back on that saddle and wait right here. Don’t you try to move.”
Kate obeyed, staring up at Luke as he rose. “Thank you for coming back.”
Luke frowned. “Of course I came back. What kind of man do you think I am?”
“I don’t know. When you left, you were still a stranger. After what that man out there did to me, who am I supposed to trust?” More tears trailed down her cheeks.
“You can trust me,” Luke answered, “and that’s the God’s truth.” He turned to leave, feeling sick at what had happened in the short time he was gone. He walked out and mounted Red, then turned the horse and headed for his pack horses.
He had to take care of Kate’s leg. If he didn’t fix it right and proper, she could lose it.
This was all his fault for letting a thirst for revenge come ahead of taking care of a woman desperately alone in this world. You’re a damn asshole, Luke Bowden. He couldn’t believe so much had happened in just one night, but then this was mean country, full of mean people. And he figured, after yesterday, he was fast becoming one of them. Maybe being around a woman for the next few days would help get that meanness out of him.
Thirteen
Kate tucked her blanket tightly underneath herself, mortified at what Luke Bowden might have seen when he found her here unconscious. She’d been so shaken and in so much pain after killing Buck that she’d given little thought to stripping off her filthy clothes and pulling on one of the man’s shirts. All she’d wanted was to feel a little cleaner. She must have passed out for most of the night after that. She honestly could not remember much of anything between killing Buck and being awakened by Luke.
Ride the High Lonesome Page 7