Wolf Creek Wife. Penny Richards

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       Chapter Four

      When Will opened his eyes, he felt much better, but when he lifted his hand to rub a palm over his whiskery cheek, he was as weak as a newborn kitten. He raised his head and looked around, then realized that he wasn’t in his own bed. A rush of panic swept through him and then bits and pieces of hazy memories started popping into his head.

      He’d been sick, sicker than he recalled being in a coon’s age. He had a vague recollection of going outside sometime around daylight, hoping the cold morning air would help cool the fever raging inside him. After that, everything was pretty much blank.

      There was a slight memory of having talked to Martha, but that was impossible. Martha was in St. Louis, living the good life with her new husband. Will glanced toward the window. It looked like the sun was almost overhead, so he’d guess it was somewhere around noon.

      “Will? Are you awake?”

      The soft, feminine voice came from the doorway. Dr. Rachel Gentry stood there. She was so close to delivering her baby that she looked ready to pop. Always a pretty woman, the pregnancy gave her a plump and healthy glow that seemed to radiate from within her.

      “More or less,” he told her in a raspy voice.

      “I thought I’d see if you were awake yet and if you feel up to eating something.”

      Just then his stomach rumbled and she smiled. “Maybe so.”

      “Good. Let me check you out first.” She crossed the room and picked up the stethoscope from atop the dresser. “How do you feel?”

      “Like I’ve been run over by a train,” he told her, pushing himself up on his elbows. The room took a little dip. He groaned and closed his eyes at the unaccustomed weakness. Good grief! He wasn’t going to pass out again, was he?

      Rachel had turned at the sound. “Don’t move too quickly,” she advised. “You’ve been very sick since you’ve been here. Your temperature has been up and down.” She took a thermometer out of a solution, shook it and held it out. He looked at her as if she were crazy. “Open. Under your tongue.”

      Reluctantly he did as she said. While they waited for his temperature to register, she listened to his chest, front and back. “You sound much clearer.” She let the stethoscope dangle around her neck, removed the thermometer and looked at it intently. Smiled. “Your temperature is almost normal, thank goodness.”

      After shaking the thermometer once more, she returned it to its solution. “It’s a good thing Blythe found you when she did or you might have died out there. As it is, you had a touch of pneumonia. It’s a good thing you’re so healthy normally.”

      Blythe. Granville. Will clenched his jaw. He supposed he should be grateful, and he supposed he was, but of all the people who might have stumbled across him, why did it have to be the rich city girl? Except for the time he’d come to her rescue at the train station, she’d always been cool and uppity whenever their paths crossed. Of course, if the gossip around town was true, she had a right to be skittish around men. More than most, he knew that being used by the opposite sex could leave a person a little wary.

      Something Rachel had said suddenly struck him. “What do you mean, ‘since I’ve been here’? Didn’t they bring me to town this morning?”

      Rachel laughed. “Hardly. That was day before yesterday. You’ve been out of your head with fever. I was pretty worried about you for a while, but it looks like you’re on the mend now. What sounds good to eat?”

      “What time is it?”

      She looked at the watch pinned to the front of the apron she wore. “Almost noon.”

      “How about a big hunk of beef?”

      Rachel laughed again. “How about some oatmeal and toast with lots of butter and brown sugar?”

      Will СКАЧАТЬ