September Rain Read Online Free

his shirttail. “I don’t think he’s ever gotten over his wife being killed and him unable to help her. I tried to talk to him while he was recovering from having his throat slit, but --”
    “Having his throat slit?” Hallie felt her face drain of blood.
    “Yep. Have you never heard his story?”
    Hallie shook her head. “I heard he was injured when his wife was killed, but I didn’t know exactly how.”
    “Outlaws raided his place, looking for horses to steal. They killed his wife, who was with child, and they slit Chandler’s throat, but he lived.”
    Hallie grasped the door facing as the doctor’s words built an image in her mind. Her heart ached for the man whose smile had brightened her day and whose unselfish bravery had saved her life. “And now he’s hurt because of me. Oh, I have to help him.”
    “Like I was saying, Miss Greer, I don’t believe he wants help. And nobody can make a man accept help if he don’t want it.” The doctor smiled at her. “Not even you.”
    Hallie lifted her chin. “I am responsible for what happened to him. I owe him, Doctor. I owe him a lot, possibly my life. I cannot just sit by while he may be in great pain, or even dying.”
    “Well good luck, Miss Greer. Three years ago nobody could get through to him. People quit trying. Then when he returned only to seclude himself up in the mountains, people decided he was crazy.”
    Hallie searched the doctor’s face. “Is he?” Her heart pounded, as if the doctor’s answer were of utmost importance to her. Maybe it was.
    He reseated his glasses on his nose and gave Hallie an assessing look. “That’s hard to say. Back then I’d have said no. He was just a man with a powerful grief, and a need for vengeance. But now? After all this time?” He shrugged.
    Disappointed that he wouldn’t reveal any more, Hallie thanked him and turned away.
    “Miss Greer? Where are you going? You want me to look at your neck again?”
    She shook her head. “No, I’m just going to rest today,” she said lightly. “Thank you.”
    Hallie rushed back toward her house, her thoughts in turmoil. Jacob had left last night. No one, not even the doctor, knew how badly he’d been hurt.
    As she passed the livery, Hallie once again looked away, but something caught her eye. It was a pack mule, drooping under the weight of a huge pack and grazing tiredly near the mountain path behind the livery.
    Her hand went to her mouth as she realized the import of what she saw. Even if he made it to his cabin, he’d left his pack mule with all his supplies for the winter behind. If the mule stayed here, someone would take it.
    Hallie looked around, wondering who she could get to help her. Nobody cared about the man they all called Crazy Jake. Nobody but her. Rushing back to her house, praying she wouldn’t be seen, Hallie changed into riding clothes, then saddled her horse and headed back to where the mule grazed.
    This time, she surveyed the site with an objective, assessing eye. She saw the evidence of her struggle in the dusty street. Fear clogged her throat as she remembered her ordeal. She swallowed hard. On the side of the road she found crushed grass and a rock with a dark smear on it. She dismounted and touched the dark smudge. A streak of brown stained her fingertips.
    Blood. Probably Jacob Chandler’s blood. Shed for her.
    Her heart pounded as she continued her study of the area. She was no tracker, but anyone could see the crushed grass and broken branches where something had pushed through the bushes.
    She remounted and reached for the mule’s bridle. “Come on, Jenny,” Hallie said, calling the mule by the name her father had always given to all his mules. “I know you’re tired but I have a feeling Jacob Chandler needs us. Let’s go find him and see how he’s doing.” She clucked to her little mare and coaxed it forward, following the tracks which traced the little-used path up the mountain.
    For more than three hours she urged the