Comanche Rose Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn't feel cold. He was sweating like it was July instead of November. Blinking to clear his mind, he tried to fix his thoughts on the woman behind him.
    "Name's Walker, Hap Walker," he mumbled.
    The wind carried his words away. "What?" she shouted.
    He roused. "Hap Walker!"
    The name seemed familiar, but it had been so long since she'd heard anyone speak her language. Hap Walker, he'd said. She hesitated, then blurted out, "I'm Mrs. Bryce, Annie Bryce!"
    Bryce. He ought to know the name. Annie Bryce. He furrowed his brow, trying to break through the haze clouding his mind. Ethan Bryce. And in a flash of lucidity, he was standing on the porch of an empty house, looking across a yard, watching those bedsheets flap on that laundry line, feeling helpless. Yeah, he remembered when it happened, all right.
    "Sorry, damned sorry," he mumbled. He slumped, nearly losing his balance, then he righted himself. "Damn."
    Alarmed, she turned loose of him long enough to pull her blanket around his shoulders also. Tucking it in at the front of his neck, she could feel his pulse beneath her cold fingers. It was faint and uneven.
    "Mister, you need a doctor right now."
    "Just got to get there—just got to get there, that's all," he muttered thickly. Willing himself to hang on, he straightened his shoulders. "I'm all right," he insisted, but he knew he wasn't. He was sick enough to die.
    The wind had lessened somewhat, but the snow was picking up, coming down in large flakes, laying a white blanket over the veneer of ice. If they got lost in the storm, there wouldn't be any hope for either of them. She felt for the reins, and he didn't resist when she took them.
    She had no idea where she was, but she could tell the horse was following a road of sorts, so she let the reins slacken in the hope that the animal would just keep going. Sooner or later they had to reach something, but right now all she could do was try to hold Hap Walker on his horse while she prayed for help. If he lost his seat, she knew she couldn't help him.
    They rode what seemed like an eternity through nearly blinding snow. Her arms ached from holding him, yet she didn't dare ease them. Finally, her own fatigue made it nearly impossible to go on. Leaning sideways, she tried to look around him.
    "Do you see anything?" she asked anxiously.
    He didn't answer.
    "Mr. Walker, can you hear me?" she shouted.
    Nothing.
    Frightened and unable to see much of anything, she reined in and tried to dismount. As she leaned to her right, his weight shifted, and both of them fell, landing in a tangle on the snow-covered ground. His heavier body pinned her there, forcing her to struggle from beneath him. As she rolled him over, he made no effort to help himself. She stood up shakily, then looked down. His eyes were closed, his face ashen.
    "Mister, you've got to get up!" Bending over, she tried to lift his shoulder, but couldn't. He fell back like a sack of sand, unmoving.
    Panicked, she turned, her eyes searching for some sign of life somewhere. She hadn't come this far to die in a blizzard with a stranger. Tears of frustration stung her eyes, nearly blinding her, then she blinked. Wiping her hand across her face, she stared, scarcely believing what she saw. In the distance the faint outlines of several buildings rose through the swirling snow. They'd almost made it, but not quite.
    She scooped a handful of snow and rubbed it over Hap Walker's face, trying to revive him. "Listen, I think I see the agency," she said loudly. "Come on, you've got to get up. We're almost there!"
    His eyelids fluttered but did not open. "Go on," he mumbled. "Can't—"
    "You've got to!"
    It was no use. He wasn't going to move, and she couldn't make him. She straightened her aching shoulders and gathered her blanket closer. Grasping the horse's reins, she tried to pull the animal toward a rock so she could remount. It wouldn't budge, and she didn't have enough strength to fight it, either. Instead, it dropped its head