Relentless Read Online Free Page B

feared he was already dead. When she bent close, she was shocked to find he was still breathing.
    “He’s alive, Andy!”
    Her brother hurried to help her.
    Ever so carefully, she rolled the stranger onto his back, and it was then she saw his Ranger badge for the first time.
    “He’s a Ranger—” She looked up at her brother, shocked. “We have to get him back to the house—”
    Her little brother was as surprised as she was to find out the stranger was a lawman. He looked nervously around. “Somebody must have ambushed him. What if they come back looking for him?”
    She quickly unpinned the Ranger badge and put it in her pocket. “Come on, let’s hurry and get him out of here while we can.”
    She knew the Ranger was lucky to be alive, but wounded and unconscious, he was helpless now. She realized he was a big man and it wasn’t going to be easy to get him on one of their horses, but theyhad to move him—and fast. She checked him over to see whether he had any other bullet wounds, but found none. Relieved that there was still a chance they could save him, she took off his gun belt and carried it with her. They managed to lift him across the back of her horse and secured him there as best they could. The terrain was too rough to bring in their buckboard to transport him. Sarah rode double with Andy as they started slowly back toward the ranch house.
    “Do you think he’s going to die?” Andy asked worriedly.
    “I hope not. We’ve got to do everything we can to save him.”
    “I wonder what Pa will say.” He knew their father didn’t take to having strangers around.
    “We’ll worry about that later.”
    Sarah was glad to find their father wasn’t home when they reached the house. Chet, one of their ranch hands, saw them riding in and rushed out to help.
    “Who is he? Is he dead?” Chet asked.
    “No. We found him up in the ravine. Somebody ambushed him,” she explained. “He’s a Texas Ranger—”
    “What?” The ranch hand was startled. He knew that could mean real trouble if the shooters came looking for the wounded stranger.
    “I know.” They shared an anxious look. “Let’s get him inside.”
    Chet and Andy managed to carry the Ranger as Sarah went ahead of them to open the door. Sheput his gun belt and badge on the small table by the door and then led the way to her bedroom.
    “My room will be easiest,” Sarah said.
    She quickly turned down the covers and stepped back as they lifted the Ranger onto the bed. Chet helped take his boots off.
    “Thanks, Chet.”
    “Is there anything else you want me to do?”
    “Just pray he makes it,” she told him, “and keep an eye out for trouble.”
    “You think whoever shot him might still be around?”
    “There’s no telling—”
    “Do you know where our pa is?” Andy asked as the ranch hand started to leave the house.
    “He rode out earlier, but he didn’t say where he was heading or when he’d be back.”
    Andy and Sarah knew when their father rode off that way, he was usually going into the nearby town of Eagle Ridge to drink and gamble. He’d been trying to lose himself in a bottle ever since their mother had left them some years before.
    “Andy, stay with him while I put some water on to boil.”
    Sarah left the bedroom with Chet and went into the kitchen to get what she needed to tend to the injured man’s wounds. She returned with a basin of water, washcloths and a towel, along with some salve and cloth to use as bandages. She realized then that the shirt he was wearing was covered with the dried blood.
    “Andy, help me get his shirt off.”
    They carefully stripped off the shirt, revealing the broad, powerful width of his chest and shoulders. It was then she saw the bruising from his injured ribs. With utmost care, she set about cleaning his head wound. As she gently washed the blood from his face, she realized what a handsome man he was.
    “He’s real lucky to be alive, isn’t he?” Andy said, knowing how close the