Falling into Your Arms (Love in the Old West Book 3) by Bess McBride

Author:Bess McBride [McBride, Bess & McBride, Bess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bess McBride
Published: 2020-05-14T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Sadie, the mule, tolerated Sarah’s fumbling mount and trekked through the night to reach Jeremiah’s side. Without a watch, Sarah could only guess that she had run and wandered about twenty minutes from the road.

The moon finally emerged from behind clouds, and Sarah could see the shape of the wagon as they neared.

“We’re here, miss. Just you stay there and let me get Mr. Stone up on Fester.”

“I have to see him,” Sarah said, swinging her leg over Sadie’s back as if she were suddenly an expert at bareback riding.

“No, miss!” Elias called out. Too late though. Sarah had dropped down to the ground and moved toward the wagon. Moonlight colored everything in ghostly shades of blue and gray, and she could just see a dark figure slumped in the carriage seat.

“I hope you’re easier to get back on the mule this time, miss.”

“I will be,” Sarah said with determination. She moved toward the carriage. “Is he alive? What if...while you were gone—” She didn’t finish the sentence.

Elias, leaving Sadie unattended, beat Sarah to the carriage and touched Jeremiah’s face. “He’s alive, miss, but looks like he’s still out.”

Sarah reached the carriage and tentatively touched Jeremiah’s cheek. A white length of cloth was wrapped around his head, but she could see a dark stain and smell the blood on it. She knew from something she’d read once that head wounds bled more profusely than some others, but the sight of the darkened spot on the back of his head frightened her.

“Jeremiah?” she said softly. She ran her hand along his cheek to the pulse at his neck. It beat steadily.

“Jeremiah?” she whispered again.

“Miss, please don’t try to wake him. He’s better off passed out.”

“How can you say that?” Sarah asked.

“I gotta lay him over Fester’s back, you know, like that sack of potatoes, so better off asleep.”

“He’s not asleep! He’s unconscious. I can’t stand the thought of you draping him over a mule’s back. What if the pressure on his head worsens his bleeding?” She tentatively touched his bandage.

“Not sure what you’re talking about, but he ain’t awake, so point is—”

“Moot?” she said softly. “I guess it is. I don’t think I could hold him up in front of me on Sadie. And you can’t hook the carriage up to the mules?”

“They wouldn’t know what to do, miss.”

“Where is the driver?”

“Laying in the road. I’ll put him in the carriage and put Mr. Stone on Fester’s back.”

“By yourself?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“How can I help?”

“Well, I don’t rightly need any help, thank you anyway.”

Sarah fell silent, keeping a hand on Jeremiah’s cheek. His skin was warm, and it didn’t seem as if he was cold. She would have covered him with her body if he was.

A series of grunts and curses and further grunts indicated that Elias was struggling. She saw an outline of him dragging another unconscious body across the desert floor.

“Let me help!” she cried out, running over to him and lifting the driver by his booted feet.

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