Page 324 of Conveniently Wed
She started to walk past him, but he grabbed her shoulder and held on.
“If you’d learn to walk with your head up instead of shuffling along looking at your feet, you might not go around bumping into people.” Viciously, Ashton squeezed her shoulder before turning her loose.
Anger boiled inside her. Aundy wanted, more than anything, to kick Ashton in the shin and slap his pretty face. What a pompous brute! Instead, she kept her head down, holding on to her temper with both hands.
“Yes, sir,” she said quietly, once again attempting to leave.
“Say, haven’t I seen you around somewhere?” Ashton reached out to grab the hat from her head. Aundy ducked out of reach at the same moment Marnie latched onto Ashton’s arm, pulling his attention her direction.
“Ashton, honey, you come on over here and tell me where you’ve been the last week. I haven’t seen you for days and days, and it looks like you rode into town on a twister.” Marnie sent Aundy another wink as Ashton followed her to the bar.
Hastily mouthing “thank you” to the girl, Aundy hurried into the throng of people milling about and tried to figure out a way back up to street level. Since she probably wasn’t going to be able to leave the same way she came in, she followed a couple of men who appeared to be going somewhere.
When they turned and entered an establishment Aundy refused to acknowledge even existed, she kept walking. The dinof the crowd faded behind her. She followed a tunnel around a corner and was thrilled to notice a doorway up ahead.
Cautiously turning the knob, she let out the breath she’d held. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she saw a staircase. On her race upward, she tripped over something on the top step and crashed into a solid door.
“Gracious,” she whispered, convinced she’d have a bruise on her shoulder. If Ashton’s vice-like grip hadn’t done it, her fall into the door would.
When she glanced down at the object she tripped over, her jaw dropped to discover it was a man. Unable to see more than an outline of shape in the darkness, she prayed the door would open outside somewhere and gave the knob a twist.
Fresh air blew across her face. She looked around, realizing the door opened into a narrow alley.
The man at her feet moaned and Aundy bent over, trying to decide if he was drunk or injured. Light spilling from the upstairs windows coupled with the last of fading daylight provided enough illumination for her to see the man was Chinese and his face was covered in blood.
“Mister, can you hear me?” Aundy knelt by him. Incapable of going off and leaving someone hurting, she felt compelled to offer her assistance.
A moan answered her question.
“We need to get you out of this place,” Aundy said, not bothering to disguise her voice. She placed her hands beneath the man’s shoulders and lifted, hoping he’d be able to get to his feet. He opened the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut and looked at her in surprise. She could tell he was in pain, but he managed to stand. He let her help him as she shut the door and quietly tread down the alley.
“Is there somewhere I can take you?” Aundy asked, wondering where the man lived.
He shook his head, and then gasped in pain, leaning more heavily on her. Several inches taller than he was, she easily bore his weight as she kept an arm around him.
“Then I guess you’re going to have to let me take you to Doc’s place or go home with me.”
“You,” the man whispered.
“You’re going to have to ride my horse with me, then.” The alley opened onto a street she thought she recognized. Walking as fast as she dared, Aundy kept hidden in the shadows. She turned another corner and breathed a sigh of relief. Bell stood tied to the hitching post down the street.
“Almost there.”
When they reached the horse, Aundy glanced around while Bell rubbed her head on her arm. She studied the man at her side, trying to decide how she would get him to her home not to mention what she’d do with him once she got him there.
“You have to help me, mister. I can’t get you up on Bell without you putting in a little effort.” Aundy bent down and made a step by intertwining her fingers. The man swayed and began to fall to the ground, but strong arms caught him, keeping him upright.
“Thunderation, Aundy! That better not be you.”
9
“What in blazes are you doing, woman?” Garrett fumed, clearly angry although his voice was barely more than a whisper.
Swallowing hard, Aundy found it impossible to make her brain and mouth function simultaneously.
Garrett glared at her, irritation oozing from him in booming waves that threatened to overtake her.
“Dressed like a man, dragging around half-dead Chinese immigrants. Are you wearing a gun? What in the h…” Garrett snapped his mouth shut before he said something he’d regret and expelled a sigh. “What exactly is going through that head of yours?” Garrett demanded. He carried the Chinese man to his wagon parked across the street then gently placed him on a pile of sacks filled with feed.
