It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own (Code of the West) Read Online Free PDF Page B

sometime around the nineteenth of September. That was last Monday. ‘Are we really going to get to meet? To look into each other’s eyes? To touch?’”
    She glanced again at the woman in the bed, who seemed to be struggling for every breath. “Don’t count on seeing or touc hing her, Mr. Zachariah Hatcher. Your lady ain’t doin’ so well.”
    “Number 8. Boy, this is a short one. Let’s see .  . . got her letter . . . leaving Arizona for the ranch. It’s about one hundred miles from Fort Collins. He might be late, but he will be coming in on the Cache la Poudre River Road. Hopes to be there by the twenty-second. That’s why she’s here. That was yesterday. She’s going out to the ranch.”
    Pepper set the valise on the floor and turned the lantern off. She rubbed her stiff shoulders and then pulled the quilt up tight around her neck.
    “It’s cold in here,” she murmured. “It’s gettin’ real cold.”
    She fell asleep dreaming of a big house with a huge rock fir eplace.
    Startled awake, Pepper could feel the neck of her still-buttoned collar filled with sweat. She heard a rasping noise and pushed the blanket down.
    The voice was so faint it was almost a whisper. “Zachariah?”
    “Miss Cedar?” Pepper spoke softly.
    “Yes. Who is it? Where am I? I can’t see anything.”
    “I’ll light a lantern.”
    “Where am I? My chest . . . Is there something lying on my chest?”
    “No, ma’am, just a blanket.” Pepper lit the lantern, turned it up, and walked over to the bedside.
    “Now then, I’m Aimee Paige, but most of the girls here call me Pepper and—”
    “The lantern .  . . Are you going to turn on the lantern?”
    “The lantern is lit. It’s sitting over there .  . . oh!” she gasped.
    “I can’t see,” Suzanne moaned. “I can’t see!”
    Pepper reached out with a damp cloth and stroked the woman’s battered forehead. “Just relax. You’ve been in a bad stagecoach accident. Your vision will probably be back by morning.”
    “Is this a hospital?” Miss Cedar inquired.
    “You might call it that.”
    “Are you a nurse?”
    “That’s right. I’m nursing you, Miss Cedar.”
    “How do you know my name?”
    Pepper tucked her hand in her lap. “The men who brought you in told me that.”
    “How did they know? I didn’t tell anyone my name since I arrived in Colorado.”
    “Oh, you know men. A beautiful blonde lady like yourself comes into the region. One of them will scout around and find out your name.”
    She closed her eyes a moment. “Thank you for the compl iment,” she finally offered. “I’m sure I’m not much of a beauty right now.”
    “I don’t think Mr. Zachariah Hatcher would mind one bit.”
    “Zach? Do you know him?" She stopped. "Why can’t I get my breath? Are you sure there’s nothing mashing my chest down?”
    “Just a blanket. I’ll move it. Is that better?”
    “Do you know Zach? We’re going to get married.”
    “Sure. Everyone knows Zachariah Hatcher. Why, he’s a big-time cattle rancher in these parts. He owns that Triple Creek Ranch.”
    “Yes, that’s him. Are we very far from the ranch?”
    “I’m not real good on distances, but I reckon it’s a nother seventy miles or so.”
    “And you still know him?”
    “Oh, sure.”
    “But I thought he didn’t have many friends up here.”
    “He’s just modest.”
    “Tell me about him.”
    “You mean, what he looks like?”
    “Yes. And his personality, his character.”
    “Let’s see. He’s about medium height, medium build, dark hair—”
    “Dark brown?”
    “Yeah, but you know those cattlemen. He always has his Stetson on. I hope I’m not steppin’ out of line, Miss Cedar, but he really is a handsome man.”
    “That’s just the way I imagined him.” Su zanne Cedar drew each breath slowly. “Miss Paige, can I call you Aimee?”
    “Just call me Pepper. I wouldn’t know how to respond if anyone called me something else.”
    “That is an unusual name for a