Cecilia and the Stranger by Liz Ireland

Author:Liz Ireland [Ireland, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408987865
Google: Z9c8-rKOiJkC
Publisher: Harlequin Mills & Boon, Limited
Published: 2012-10-01T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Beasley was elated. He himself drove the wagon up to Dolly’s boardinghouse and oversaw the procedure of hauling Pendergast up to the schoolteacher’s bedroom—which now took on the appearance of a sacred shrine. Everyone in town wanted to come see the citizen of Annsboro who had risked his life to save two women and four German schoolgirls from vicious bandits.

And, Dolly insisted several times in a very adamant voice, the man had been half-delirious already when he’d done the heroic deed!

Cecilia would have been more indignant at this newest bit of chicanery if initial word on Pendergast’s condition hadn’t been so dire. She had to push through the gathered crowd at her bedroom door and swat away the four adoring blond girls just to get a look at him, and even then two stout women were standing guard on either side of the bed.

Cecilia ignored their disapproving glances and looked down at her old adversary, stunned. His normally dark skin was waxy and pale, and judging by the size of the bandage wrapped around his middle, she couldn’t believe the man was still alive at all.

He certainly wasn’t faking this time.

She dropped down on the bed, feeling drained, and heard one of the women who had brought Pendergast back to town make a clucking noise. Dolly rushed over to assure the woman Cecilia’s presence at the hero’s side was all right.

“Mrs. Randall, they’re almost sweethearts,” Dolly whispered to the woman, then sent Cecilia an encouraging little smile. Really, she was going to have to set Dolly straight on this matter.

“Don’t worry, Cecilia,” Dolly continued, “they say the doctor said his condition looks worse than it is.”

It looked very bad.

“Just a flesh wound, really,” the matron announced. “That’s what the doctor in Buffalo Gap said. He gave him a draft of laudanum for the pain.”

Cecilia shook her head. “I don’t understand...why did he come back here?”

“He kept saying ‘Annsboro’ over and over, so we decided we owed it to the man to bring him. He saved our lives.”

The room fell silent as once again they were treated to the whole story of the slow wagon to Fredericksburg, the two bandits, Pendergast’s heroic defense of the six women and the way he had killed one desperado and routed the other. Mrs. Randall’s voice shook with emotion, and the girls wept fresh tears as she recalled the way their savior, wounded and in excruciating pain, had even managed to stop the crazed horses after their driver had died.

Even Cecilia was awestruck. Though a string of questions a mile long ticked through her mind, she couldn’t help but feel a welling of pride for what this man had done.

Beasley, the man who for two days straight had not been able to get the words Yankee thief off his lips, proclaimed loudly, “I always said the man had an outstanding character.”

Dolly nodded. “He has tidy habits, too.”

A regular saint, Cecilia thought grudgingly. Though, as she looked down on his strong jaw, dark with stubble,

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