The Circle Eight: Tobias Read Online Free PDF

eyes.  
    “This is Doc. Miss Graham, this is Rupert Donovan, the owner of this outfit. How’s Will?” James’s tone was tighter than a bowstring.  
    “Alive. I’m glad to have you here, Doc. I know you had to ride a piece to get here.” Donovan took her by the elbow, which made Tobias grunt in protest. “He’s in the house. Being in the bunkhouse made the other hands a mite nervous.”  
    Tobias didn’t know the man but he already didn’t like him. First for hiding Will away because he was injured. Second because the rancher touched Rebecca. The damn alcohol had turned Tobias’s temper into a cannonball of fury, which was ready to fire at any time.  
    Absolute madness.  
    “Thank you for doing what you could for him.” Rebecca sounded gracious and goddamn calm. Tobias was anything but calm. He wanted to tear the nearest thing to pieces and howl at the sky until he couldn’t speak. Yet he kept quiet and gritted his teeth. She continued speaking. “I’ll examine him but I know I’ll need clean bandages and water heated to boiling.”  
    “Anything you need, Doc.”  
    They walked in the house before Tobias realized James hadn’t introduced him to Donovan. That cut even if the deliberate dismissal was deserved. The house was laid out as one big room with the kitchen and living room, followed by a hallway. Golden lamplight spilled from a room down the hallway.  
    Dread coiled tighter and tighter in Tobias’s gut the closer they got to the light. Sweat trickled down his back and pooled at his waistband. What if Will was crippled or worse? What if he died? Tobias tasted whiskey from two days ago burn up his throat. He couldn’t lose his brother or it might destroy him. Tobias was hanging onto his sanity by his filthy fingernails. One more push and he would fall.  
    Rebecca walked in cool as ice. She set her tapestry bag down and pulled a chair to the side of the bed. Tobias forced himself to look at Will. He lay on the narrow bed, his head swathed in white bandages spotted with crimson. His lower leg was at an angle Mother Nature never intended, the bone in an L shape.  
    His chest was bare and bruised. Rebecca examined him quickly, her hands moving over his chest and leg with experience he hadn’t expected. Her fingers were long but strong, the nails clean and clipped.  
    “I need to set the bone in his leg. The break seems to be clean but if we don’t set it he will limp and might not be able to ride a horse.” She looked at James and Tobias. “I’ll need two pieces of wood for the splint.”  
    “I’ll get the wood.” Donovan disappeared from the doorway.  
    “How bad is it?” James frowned at the unconscious Gibson.  
    “I can’t say for certain yet. I want to get his leg set and splinted, then I’ll wrap his ribs.” She pulled a leather strop from her bag, then crawled up onto the bed and straddled his foot. “One of you grab his left leg and the other hold his shoulders down. We need to keep him from thrashing when I set this.”  
    Tobias shook with fear for his brother. He wanted to close his eyes and make everything right again. Life wasn’t that kind. James headed toward his shoulders and she handed him the leather. “Put this in his mouth for him to bite down on. Even unconscious he can hurt himself.”  
    Tobias settled near his left leg. She didn’t look at him. “Hold him down as much as you can. This is going to hurt.”  
    Rebecca leaned forward and braced her thumbs on the skin above the broken bone. “Ready?”  
    James and Tobias both nodded. Tobias couldn’t tear his eyes away from Rebecca as she pulled and maneuvered the ends of the bone. Will screamed and bucked, his voice like the cry of an animal stuck in a trap. Tears ran down his younger brother’s face, mixing with the blood that oozed from beneath the bandages on his head.  
    Tobias fought to keep Will’s lower body from moving. It took every ounce of strength to keep his hold and not cry