Page 29 of A Cameo for a Cowgirl

Then he paused, and picked her up, just as a blur of brown and orange stripes leapt from the water and struck.

* * *

Harrison groaned, but kept carrying Cassie away from the snake.

“What are you doing?” she yelled, squirming. “Put me down!”

“Can’t,” he panted, clambering to the shore. Who knew where it was?

“Keep still,” Jess commanded, authority in her voice.

He didn’t know if she was speaking to him or her sister, but figured it was wisest to obey. As a vet, she should know how to deal with snakes.

Snakes? He shuddered, then peeked down at his leg. From just below his rolled-up jeans the snake had attached itself to his calf. He almost dropped Cassie.

His pulse drummed loudly in his ears, drowning out the shrieks from the other women. But above his intense fear, was awareness of this woman in his arms, how huge her blue-green eyes were, how close her face was to his, how easy it would be to bend his head and lower his mouth and—

“What are you doing?” Cassie demanded, flinching, shifting away.

“Cassie, keep still,” Jess snapped. “He’s been bitten by a snake because he was trying to protect you.”

“A snake?” Cassie whispered, shrinking into his arms.

He clutched her more tightly. Maybe those heart-hammering nerves were more to do with this woman he held…

“Steady. Gosh, you’re a big boy, aren’t you?”

Excuse me? Oh, Jess was talking to the snake.

Jess gently divested his calf from the snake’s mouth, and moved away to release it.

“Oh my gosh! He’s bleeding!” one of the women called. Poppy? He couldn’t remember much of anything anymore.

Wooziness clutched him, and he staggered.

“Whoa.” Jess had returned. “You can put her down now. We need to deal with your wound.”

Cassie wriggled, and he realized afresh that a woman wearing a swimsuit wriggling in his arms was a pretty effective distraction from a snake bite.

He lowered her, and she nearly jumped from his arms, straight into the beach towel held out by one of her friends, wrapping herself in it most securely, before glancing at him with wide eyes.

Hmm. Was that concern for him or concern at what he’d done? Her wince made him glance down again at his leg, where blood was freely flowing.

Jess tugged his arm. “You should sit down. I need to bind this up.”

“What if there are other snakes here?” one of the other women asked.

“I hate snakes,” another one whined. “They should all be killed.”

Amen.

“You can’t do that,” Cassie said. “They’re not out to get you. Snakes have an important role to play in the environment by killing pests and rodents. They’re just trying to do their thing.”

Huh.

“In over twenty years of coming here I’ve never seen a snake until today,” Poppy said.

Jess ripped the flimsy pink fabric of what looked to be a sarong and padded one strip on the puncture mark, then wrapped the other section around his calf. “And I’m sure this one is non-venomous.”

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