Page 77 of A Forgotten Heart
He shoved open the window, heat from the glass scorching his bare palms.
With one great heave, he threw his body out the window, rolled away from the building, from the fire. Snow tingledagainst his face and hands even as he braced for a bullet, tried to find strength in his shaky legs to stand up. To run.
But the bullet never came.
Several shots rang out near the house.
No!
He pushed to his forearms, but another coughing fit kept him from getting up.
The house. He had to get to the house.
Just as he caught his breath and tried to catch a glimpse of the house past the burning bunkhouse, a horse thundered up only feet away, blocking his view.
“Little brother, who said you could have all the fun?”
Isaac.
“You’re late,” Nick croaked before he let himself go limp, face down in the snow.
Chapter 15
Nick’s limbs trembled as Isaac helped him to his feet.
“You shot?” Isaac asked.
Nick couldn’t force his scorched throat to respond, so he shook his head. He let Isaac drag him to the cover of the barn as two riders raced through the yard on horseback.
The heat of the inferno radiated around him, but the farther Isaac helped him move away, the cooler the air lapping at his skin.
In the distance, a man on horseback chased another man, but another coughing fit blurred his sight.
Where was Elsie? Where was the family?
He dug his heels into the ground. “What about Elsie? The kids?”
Those few words made him double over, coughing. His shoulder pulled. Isaac hauled him up, kept them both moving.
“Drew and Ed went to the house to check on everyone. Marshal heard about the dustup in town and rode out to check on us—met us at the edge of Quade’s property.”
“Marshal O’Grady is here?”
“Just got back. And none too soon.”
Some of the tension in Nick’s neck eased. But until he saw Elsie for himself, felt her in his arms, he wouldn’t relax.
Isaac steered him toward the barn, but Nick’s eyes remained on the house. “The house?—”
“Nobody made it to the house. Clare was firing shots to keep them back when we rode up.” Pride in Isaac’s voice. “Half of them had you covered at the bunkhouse.”
Isaac leaned Nick against the barn wall, and Nick couldn’t stop from sinking to the cool ground.
Nick could still hear the ruckus of men fighting over the blaze of flames. The pounding of hoofbeats as the bad guys were rounded up.
The soot lining Nick’s lungs burned. His chest convulsed with a cough he tried to contain, but it burst out. And it wouldn’t stop.
“I’ll get you some water as soon as I can,” Isaac said, kneeling over him, his brow knit tight.
