September Rain Read Online Free PDF Page B

she knew it would reflect the sun with golden highlights.
    After she’d gotten the blood and grime off his face and out of his hair, she quickly swiped at the worst of the scrapes on his shoulders and chest, trying her best not to actually touch him with her bare hands. When she finally finished, she realized she’d been holding her breath.
    “Jacob?” she whispered, but he seemed to be asleep. Good. He needed to sleep.
    She pulled the blanket over his bare, bruised belly and chest, and sent a silent prayer heavenward that he would sleep long enough for his tortured muscles to loosen up.
    “I’d better see to the horses and the mule.” She spoke to Jacob as if he were awake. It was how she had dealt with her father. She’d talked to him as if he could talk back, instead of just lying helpless as a babe, dependent on her for his very life.
    “I did pretty well with Pa, all things considered,” she told her sleeping host. “He’d get frustrated and try to get out of bed. He couldn’t move one whole side of his body. He couldn’t do anything for himself. Much worse off than you are.”
    She squeezed the cloth dry and spread it out on the table. Drying her hands on her skirt, she turned back toward the bed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. It’s beginning to get dark and I think it’s going to rain. I’ll never get back down that mountain this late.”
    A small chill of apprehension skittered up her spine. Riding up here earlier, she had not considered the possibility that she wouldn’t be able to go down the mountain before dark.
    “I guess we’re stuck here together for this night, Jacob.” She laughed hesitantly. “This will be a new experience for me. I’ve never spent the night with a man before, except my father. Of course he was family. Different. You know.” She glanced back at the silent figure on the bed as she went out the door.
    If his eyes and his actions had been any indication, he was a gentle, concerned man who helped those in trouble. He was not a man she should fear. “Besides, I could probably beat you up, the shape you’re in,” she murmured as she pulled the packs off the exhausted mule and led it to a makeshift corral.
    Then, she turned to the horse. “What about you? Ready to get rid of that saddle? I’ll bet you are. Ho, don’t get skittish on me. You look like you’re about as independent as your master. Don’t like to be too confined. Well, it’s the corral for you, big fellow.”
    Hallie was breathing hard by the time she wrestled the saddle off the big gelding. She brushed her dusty hands on her skirt, then gathered up as many of the sacks as she could and hauled them into the house. “You really intended to stock up for the whole winter, didn’t you, Jacob?” she remarked breathlessly as she pushed open the cabin door.
    He seemed to be in a deep, restful sleep.
    “I won’t bother you a bit,” Hallie whispered. “I’m just going to put away your supplies. You’ve got enough flour and meal here to last the winter. Hardtack, beans, sugar.” She smiled. “You like sweets? Me too. Let’s see. Ah, a bottle of whiskey. Just one for the entire winter? Not much of a drinker are you, Jacob? Plenty of coffee though, and some tea. Good. I'd like a cup of tea and I think you could use some. Ooh, and a big jar of honey. You do like sweets.”
    Hallie looked around. In the tiny cabin, it didn’t take long to figure out where he kept things. He was a neat person. Neat and precise.
    Hallie hummed softly as she poured flour into the bin, emptied corn meal into a tin, put the coffee and tea away, and found a gallon crock for the sugar. She wiped the counter and table and lined up the cans on a shelf.
    Then she stepped back and looked around in surprise. What was the matter with her? Doing chores had never made her feel like singing, before. She’d always hated chores.
    There was a comfortable, homey feeling about doing these things for Jacob, though. A feeling very