Page 23 of Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

“What happened?” Gwen asked.

“He slipped and fell,” Sawyer said absently.

The women gathered around. Lucas looked up. “Please give us some room.”

“I need something to stabilize his leg,” Sawyer said. “I need some towels and some thick pieces of wood.”

“I actually have some splints in the first aid kit,” Oliver replied.

Sawyer looked at Zaid. “I’m sorry. This is going to hurt.”

“Do I need a leather strap or a piece of wood to bite down on?” Zaid joked weakly.

“It might help,” Sawyer said.

Darren held Zaid’s hand and said, “Squeeze if you need to.”

Sawyer gently manipulated the leg trying to realign Zaid’s leg.

Zaid clenched his jaw and closed his eyes tightly against the pain. He groaned loudly. Emilia knelt down on his other side, holding his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Sawyer said.

Once he was satisfied that the bones were as aligned as much as he could. Then, he wrapped some towels around Zaid’s legs trying to cushion his leg. Sawyer and Oliver carefully placed the splints in place and secured them with Ace bandages.

Zaid gritted his teeth and moaned. Sawyer felt bad because there was only so much they could do to ease his pain.

Oliver looked at Zaid sympathetically. “I don’t have any pain meds stronger than acetaminophen and ibuprofen. It’s not nearly enough for this kind of injury, but it’ll help a little.”

“I’ll take anything,” Zaid muttered, his face tight with pain.

“Actually, we have some wild lettuce. I can make some tea out of it. It has the same pain-alleviating properties as morphine but none of the nasty side effects,” Millie said. “I’ll put some honey in it for you.”

“That would be terrific. Thank you so much,” Zaid said.

“We’re going to lift you up onto the recliner. You will need to keep your foot elevated,” Sawyer said. “We’ll be as careful as we possibly can.”

Zaid nodded.

Lucas, Darren, Sawyer, and Oliver carefully lifted him up and put him in the chair. Millie brought some ice packs to help with swelling.

“At least it’s not a compound fracture,” Sawyer said. “It could be very dangerous if your bones had broken through the skin.”

“This is kind of an insult,” Zaid said. “I can’t believe I broke my leg at a ski resort and it wasn’t on the double black diamond run. It’s not nearly as exciting of a story.”

“When you’re ready to move, I do have a wheelchair you can use,” Oliver said.

“Thanks,” Zaid said.

Emilia brought him a bottle of water. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you,” he said.

The four men went back outside to finish bringing in the wood, stepping very carefully. Then, Sawyer took a couple of logs into the library and started a fire in there. He browsed through the books on the shelf. He smiled when he saw that Oliver and Tessie had the entirePeople of…series of historical fiction books by Michael and Kathleen Gear.

He pulled outPeople of the Wolfand sat down on the couch. Sawyer felt like he was being watched and looked over at the door. Gwen was watching him. Instead of hatred and disdain, she was gazing at him with admiration.

Sawyer smiled at her and she smiled back.

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