Give Me A Cowboy. Jodi Thomas

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ ringing head and came up fighting. He knew he hit one man hard enough on the jaw to knock him down and felt another’s nose crack beneath his knuckles, but their fists rained down worse than the storm. Finally, when he twisted to avoid one blow, a man behind him hit him hard in the back of the head with what felt like an anvil.

      Rowdy crumbled and the dark night turned black. Vaguely, from far away, he thought he felt a few kicks to his ribs and then nothing.

      Chapter 8

      “Miss Hayes. Laurel?”

      Laurel shifted in her chair by the window and looked around the café. Everyone from the rodeo seemed to have moved into the hotel out of the rain. Most of the cowboys were in the bar in the back, but her father had insisted she stay in the parlor surrounded by nursing mothers and whining children ready to go home.

      She’d heard rumors that even though the dance tonight had be cancelled, there were still games the men called “outlawed events” going on. There the betting was heavy. Those not out in the rain participating were inside awaiting the outcome.

      She had no idea where her sisters were, but her father had gone upstairs with several men to drink and play poker until the rain let up enough to head for home.

      Staring out the window she decided that might never be.

      “Laurel?” The whisper came again as if it were drifting in the wind.

      She studied the people around her. No one was even looking in her direction.

      “Laurel,” the voice whispered again.

      This time she had a direction to follow. Three feet away she saw Bonnie Lynn serving tea to one of the older women.

      “Yes,” Laurel took a chance and answered.

      Bonnie Lynn only spared her a quick glance as she straightened. “Follow me.”

      Laurel didn’t ask questions. She stood slowly, looked around and followed several feet behind Bonnie Lynn as they left the room and moved into a hallway to the kitchen that served both the parlor and the café.

      “What is it?” she asked as soon as Bonnie Lynn turned around in the quiet passage.

      “Dan’s at the kitchen door. He says he has to talk to you.”

      If it had been anyone but Dan O’Brien, Laurel would have thought it was some kind of joke her sisters were playing on her.

      “From the look on his face, I think you’d better hurry,” Bonnie Lynn said as she slipped into the kitchen.

      Laurel tried not to look at the rotting food and dirty dishes scattered around. The place was so busy it looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks.

      Just outside the back door, Dan stood in the rain. Bonnie Lynn was at her side as they stepped onto the tiny back porch. “What is it?” Laurel yelled over the rain and the kitchen noises behind her.

      “It’s Darnell, miss. He’s hurt. I don’t know what to do for him.”

      Bonnie Lynn’s hand caught Laurel’s arm before she could step into the downpour. “Wait, miss. Take my cape.”

      It took all her control to stand still as the maid wrapped a cape over her shoulders. She pulled the hood up and Dan offered his arm.

      “Where is he?” Laurel asked as she matched the big man’s stride.

      “In the old barn down by the corrals.”

      “What happened?”

      “One of the men who work the stock said he saw three cowhands kicking something in the mud. He didn’t know it was a man until he almost fell over him when the cowhands walked away. We got him in the barn, but he’s bleeding, Miss, and I wasn’t sure what to do.”

      “What about the doctor?”

      “Rowdy wouldn’t hear of us getting him. He says they’d disqualify him if they knew he was hurt.”

      Laurel could barely speak. Fear blocked her words. “Did he tell you to come find me?”

      “No, miss. He’s going to be madder than hell when he figures out I come to get you, but I’m hoping you can talk some sense into him.”

      “But why me?”

      Dan smiled. “I seen the way you looked at him that night at the dance and the way he looked at me when I was holding you. I didn’t think it was nothing much until I saw that basket of food this morning on his porch. A man don’t pack a basket with lace napkins, and the food was too hot to have come all the way from town.” He helped her over a mud hole and added, “It made sense it came from the Captain’s place, and I knew if it was one of your sisters he liked that’d make my friend dumber than a warm cow patty.”

      She looked away so he wouldn’t see her smile.

      “Meaning no disrespect against your sisters.”

      They stepped into the sudden silence of the barn.

      “If you won’t take offense,” Dan said as he pointed to the loft, “I’ll swing you up.”

      She nodded and she was lifted up like a child.

      For a moment she saw nothing but hay, then, in the corner, a tiny light flickered.

      “Bring another lantern,” she called down to Dan and ran toward Rowdy.

      He moaned as she tugged his shoulder and turned him onto his back. Blood and mud were everywhere.

      “Laurel,” he whispered, then tried to push her away.

      “Stop it.” She shoved back. “Be still. I need to see where you’re hurt.”

      “Pretty much all over,” he mumbled.

      “Then let me look.”

      She wasn’t sure if he passed out or just decided to follow orders for once. He crumbled like a rag doll.

      The light wasn’t good enough to see, but she could feel. Laurel tugged off her cape and pressed her hand against his heart. It beat solid and strong. She took a deep breath and began to move over him, feeling the strong muscles of his body beneath his soaked clothes.

      When she touched his left side, he jerked in pain but didn’t cry out. None of his limbs seemed broken but warm blood dripped from his bottom lip and nose. A cut sliced across his forehead close to his hairline and a knot as big as an egg stood out on the back of his skull. By the time Dan arrived with the lantern, she felt safe in believing Rowdy wasn’t going to die.

      When Rowdy opened his eyes, she said, “You need to see a doctor.”

      “No,” he answered.

      “But…”

      “No,” he repeated.

      Dan knelt on one knee. “I СКАЧАТЬ