Page 25 of Conveniently Wed
She looked up to the other two men standing nearby. “Shouldn’t someone be saddling up? Will you take him to the doctor?”
“Not if they value their horse, they won’t. You see any gas lamps to light the way?”
She looked up at him, perturbed, then around them, taking in the darkness surrounding their little beacon of light, the campfire.
“You need a doctor,” she said.
“Well, I ain’t gonna have one. In case you forgot, town’s a half-day ride for a fast horse.”
She took the coil of rope from Seb and made a loop under his armpit and to the top of his shoulder. Her hands were shaking, her movements jerky and angry, but she didn’t tighten it too much.
“In the morning—” she started.
“In the morning, we’re moving out,” he interrupted her. “We’ve got a buyer waiting.”
He could see from the set of her chin that she wasn’t happy with that answer.
Someone threw a log on the fire, sending sparks flying with a whoosh. He jumped, heart pounding. Through the haze of his pain, the sparks seemed to dance against the backdrop of the night sky.
He felt hot all of a sudden and might’ve swooned a bit, losing focus for a moment. He heard her voice, maybe talking to the two others, but he couldn’t make out the words.
Someone settled him back in his bedroll. He thought to protest that it was too hot near the fire, but then the soft, cool brush of his wife’s fingers against his brow brought his focus back in close, to her face. He realized he’d ended up with his head in Fran’s lap.
She was mad. Fightin’ mad. Her eyes sparked down on him. He let his gaze travel over her features, something he hadn’t allowed up until now.
“You’ve got freckles across your nose,” he said in a whisper.
She scrunched said feature at him.
She said something to someone standing off to the side, but he was dizzy and couldn’t make out the words. All he knew was that she kept that cool, small hand pressed against his forehead.
And it made him feel better.
And that made him mad, too.
She could be widowed by morning.
The realization didn’t sit well as Fran dipped a cloth into a pail of water she’d made Seb fetch from the stream.
She wasn’t going anywhere in the dark by herself. A rattlesnake!
“I thought you said there wasn’t anything dangerous in the woods,” she said.
But she forced her hands to be gentle as she wiped the sweat beading on his brow.
“Did not,” he mumbled. “I said there weren’t any bears or cougars.”
She wanted to thump the man, she really did, but she refrained. Barely.
Why was he so stubborn? He could’ve sent one of the others for the doctor. Surely, it couldn’t be that dangerous to ride at night.
But looking at the moonless, star-filled sky, she knew he was likely putting the protection of his hands above his own welfare. Stubborn man.
“How bad is the pain?” she asked.
“Pretty bad. But it seems to be localized.”
Was that a good thing? She didn’t know.
