Raven and the Cowboy: A Loveswept Historical Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

pressed it to the top of his head. Something had happened last night. His chest ached. He felt as if someone had attempted to lift his scalp.
    “Hell, yes!” His voice was so gravelly that he could scarcely speak.
    “Where is the injury?” She came up onto her knees and started to examine him.
    “Lady—uh, ma’am—whatever on the west side of hell you are, keep your hands off me.”
    She ignored him, slipping her fingertips beneath his jacket and his flannel shirt and through the buttons of his underwear to the bruised skin over his rib cage. As she touched him he jerked away, stunned more by his reaction to the beautiful woman than the pain caused by her fingertips.
    “I can’t be certain that you are all right unless I touch you. What’s wrong? I don’t understand,” she said, looking at her hands in surprise.
    “Hell if I understand, either,” he cut her off. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
    “I’m Raven Alexander.” Confusion filled her eyes. “And I, too, seem to have fallen.” She leaned back, turning her head from side to side as if waiting for some unseen presence to give her answers.
    Tucker closed his eyes again. His frustration was due not only to the roaring pain in his head, but also the hotliquid quality of her voice. He took in her woman smell like an animal scenting danger and reacted just as strongly. “You don’t remember?”
    “I was on the trail. Then—I’m sorry.”
    “Yeah, we seem to have wandered into the same place last night.” He took a deep breath and winced.
    “If you will tell me where you hurt,” she offered, “I’ll try to help.”
    “Whoa! Listen, lady, you’re the one who’s hurt. There’s a hole in your head I could put a gun barrel in. I don’t even know how you’re sitting up.”
    “There is no pain,” she said softly.
    “And you’re offering help to a stranger. Aren’t you the least bit afraid?”
    She looked around, considering his question. “Afraid? No. I knew you would come. But I didn’t understand that I would feel so odd—so shivery.”
    This time, Tucker couldn’t hold back a scoff of disbelief. She felt shivery? He didn’t want to know what that might mean. “Who told you?
I
didn’t even know I was coming.”
    “You came to me in a dream. I saw a cougar and a raven in a barren place. When the raven was trapped, the cougar freed it.”
    “Ravens,” he repeated, remembering the flock of black birds. “After what I’ve been through, I can believe anything. Why this is happening is what I don’t understand.”
    “It was foretold by the spirits that we should come together. I started on a journey and then I—I must have fallen. When I woke up, I saw you. Please, let me help you.”
    The imprint of her hands on his chest still burned, sending ripples of heat downward. The last thing heneeded was more examination from this woman who turned cold into hot.
    “I don’t think you want to know what hurts, lady. And I’m sure as hell not in the mood for you to fix it. You just be still and let me see if I can figure out where we are.”
    She gave him a curious look. “Of course.”
    The woman moved away, gingerly touching the place behind her ear. He could tell she’d discovered the wound there, but, surprisingly, her expression showed no evidence of pain.
    She seemed undisturbed by the situation, and Tucker sensed no fear. She seemed to accept his presence as ordinary. There were no birds, no fluttering wings, but something just as unreal was happening here.
    “Is someone pursuing you?” she asked.
    The bandits
. Of course. They had to be, unless the birds had spooked them. At the shock of seeing her, he’d forgotten what had happened. Now upright, leaning against the cave wall, Tucker forced himself to remember.
    Carefully he rotated his shoulders and moved his legs. The only pain he had came from the lump on his head, a few bruises on his back, and a rib that cut through him when he breathed. He hadn’t been