Texas Blue (A Whispering Mountain Novel) by Jodi Thomas

Author:Jodi Thomas
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Western, Historical Fiction, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425240472
Publisher: Center Point Large Print
Published: 2010-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

DUNCAN FELT AS IF HE WERE DRIFTING IN A NIGHTMARE of pain. Once in a while someone dripped water into his mouth, and he tried to remember to swallow. Fever raged through his veins like a freight train loaded with hot coals. Again and again small hands wiped the sweat from his face.

The fog cleared for a time, and he managed to open his eyes. He was in a room made from logs with the bark left on the wood. There was no sign of the old woman who’d helped him, but the room was warm and someone slept on the floor a few feet from his bed. She looked little more than a child, with wild hair the color of dark rich earth.

Duncan remembered someone touching him, cleaning his wound, washing him with cold water when the fever raged. He drifted back to sleep, thankful that whoever she was, she was near.

One time, deep in darkness, he thought he heard the old woman shouting orders, but he didn’t know or care what she said. There was movement in the room and the sound of someone sweeping with a slow rhythm that reminded him of the sound the water makes along the Gulf Coast. Without windows he had no idea whether it was day or night.

When he woke again the door was open, and he saw that it was daylight beyond. The girl with the wild brown hair was helping him drink. She had a gentle touch and huge sad eyes. Saint’s eyes, Duncan thought.

“Thanks,” he whispered.

She nodded, but didn’t speak.

“What’s your name?”

She didn’t answer, but he saw a blink of fear flash in her eyes. Somehow in her world the idea of someone asking her name meant danger.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in Spanish, then repeated the words in English.

She still didn’t respond.

A big man with an arm that swung useless at his side banged his way into the room. He carried a load of firewood in his good arm that few men with both arms could have managed. He was dressed in work clothes but wore a gun low on his hip. After making little effort to put the wood in the bend, he dropped it in a pile and stared at the girl.

Duncan watched him with half-closed eyes for a few minutes. The big man took a step toward the girl and raised his hand as if to pat her head, but she slipped to the other side of the bed. The big hand moved again as if they were playing a game. She countered, keeping as far away from him as she could in the small room. The man laughed, but Duncan could tell from the girl’s face that she wasn’t enjoying the exchange. She didn’t seem overly afraid of him, more bothered.

When the girl tripped over the firewood trying to stay out of his reach, he moved away as if giving her time to straighten. He stepped to the foot of Duncan’s bed and looked at him.

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