Unexpected (3 page)

“Josie—”
he started to argue.

“Now!
” she yelled over her shoulder as she went through the garden gate towards the front of the house.  Thomas was scared too, but he didn’t need to be exposed to this any more than he already was.  She could see the unshed tears in his eyes and prayed that he was wrong about Ryker.

When Josie rounded the side of the house she stopped cold.
Thomas was right.  There was a man, a very large man at the front of the house with two big draft looking horses; one black, one dark chestnut.  He was just dismounting from the black. Another man, obviously her brother, was belly down slung over the dark chestnut horse. Seeing Ryker got her feet going again.

“Oh Lord! Ryker!” she yelled, as she rushed over not willing to accept that he was dead.  She didn’t spare the stranger another glance when she saw that her brother wasn’t moving. 
Please please be alive!
she prayed to herself. They’d be lost without him. He was their strength. He kept them together.

He
was definitely hurt, but how bad? As she got closer, she saw that Ryker’s hair was matted with dirt and what looked like blood.   She was so anxious about him that she didn’t even assess the other man to see if he was a threat. She bent down to look at his face to see if he was breathing because he certainly didn’t look like it. Then she saw how beat up he was.  His bottom lip was split, and dried blood caked his face which was swollen and bruised. She started trembling. “Oh
God,
” she breathed. “Is he—”

“
—He’s alive,” answered the stranger as he reached beside her and untied him from his packhorse. Unfortunately it was the only way to get the man back home in one piece.  He was barely conscious when he scraped him out of the dirt two hours ago.

“Oh thank heaven.
” She felt a wave of relief flood through her.  It didn’t last though, he was trussed up like a corpse and he still looked rough. “How bad—?”

“Let’s get him comfortable first. Then you’ll see,”
he interrupted again as he pulled him off the horse and easily slung him over his shoulder like a sack of flour. He knew the fella was hurting so getting him in a good soft bed was his priority.

Ryker grunted in pain and Josie winced.
“Oh, of course.” Normally she wasn’t so stupid or emotional in an emergency.  She actually had a good level head on her shoulders, and not much could sway her, but this was Ryker.  He was her rock—the man of the family, and they depended on him to be strong.

Ryker
made another feeble noise when he adjusted him on his shoulder to shift the weight for balance and he noticed relief cross her features at the sound. It proved he wasn’t dead. “Where did you want him?” he asked looking down at her. “And he’ll need a Doc. He’s been shot.”

“
Please, bring him in the house—this way.” She rushed up the steps to the veranda and opened the door for him.

The stranger walked a steady stride
right by her despite the extra weight he carried and Ryker was no feather.

“His room is upstairs,” she said pointing up the staircase as
Thomas came down the hall at that moment to see what was happening. Tears were streaking down his face leaving clean strips on dust covered cheeks.  She felt like weeping herself, but needed to keep her sanity and take care of Ryker. “Thomas, take the mare and get the doctor,” Josie ordered diverting his attention.  It was a good thing the Doc was their neighbor at times like this.  Their homestead was a good fifteen minutes at a full gallop. He could be here within the hour.

Thomas
looked at Ryker and with wide eyes, nodded before he ran out the front door.  Ryker was still alive!

Josie followed the man carrying her brother up the stairs. “I
t’s the first door on the right,” she told him as he paused at the top of the staircase.

He
turned and went in the room and laid the man’s body on the bed careful not to cause him anymore pain.  Regardless, another moan tore from him at the action. He knew it hurt like hell and felt a little guilty at causing him more discomfort because he’d been through enough, but it couldn’t be helped. He stood back as the woman rushed by him. His eyes followed her.

Josie bit her
bottom lip to keep from weeping as she sat on the bed and assessed the damage to her brother. “What happened?”  She directed the question toward the tall stranger but didn’t take her attention from Ryker.

“Six men
seemed intent on hanging him.”

“Oh Ryker,” s
he said with emotion in her voice seeing the red chafe mark around his neck.  Then she looked up at the large man, stunned as the rest of the information sunk in.  “
Six
?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Her attention went back to the semiconscious man and her eyes narrowed. Six! It angered her that six men near killed her big brother.  That never even gave him a fighting chance!  Was there no honor anymore? Her slender fingers traced the chafed ring around his neck. He was such a mess, she didn’t even know where to start.  Thankfully she didn’t have to figure it out on her own.  The big man standing by the door suddenly spoke.

“He has a bullet in his left shoulder.  I know it’s hard to see where he’s bleeding from, because of the way he was beaten, but he’ll live
as long as infection doesn’t set in.  He’s bleeding well enough that it won’t.  You can set your mind at ease.”

She reached up and pulled the tattered cloth
ing carefully away from the wound. It certainly looked as though he was shot. “How do you know that?  I mean, about bullet wounds?”
She knew, because she’d helped Doctor Russell out from time to time when a drunken cowboy shot himself in the foot or someone else. 

“I’ve been sh
ot before.”

She
got up and quickly went to the pitcher of water on the dresser and poured it in the basin.  Then she grabbed a few cloths from a drawer before bringing it back to the bedside. She did hear him, she just didn’t respond to it.  She didn’t doubt that he had been by the looks of him. She only spared him a couple of glances, but she saw plenty. He was a big man. She’d heard stories of men like him and how others would try and win a reputation by challenging such a man.  She also didn’t miss the hardness in his expression, and that spoke volumes.  It was something that was beholden to men who had lived a hard life.  She’d seen enough of them pass through town.

The tall dark man
watched her closely. He had to admire her.  She was worried but she wasn’t an emotional wreck like he expected. She was tougher than she looked—and she looked pretty good to him with her fine feminine features.  Also, she was a little fearful of him, but you’d never know from outward appearances.  Inward was a different story. He caught a whiff of adrenaline when she finally took a moment to look at him more closely.  Yet, since then, she’d hardly spared him a glance when most men wouldn’t take their eyes off of him. 

He was tall, well over six feet and weighed over two hundred
pounds, and it was all solid muscle.  His hair was black and his eyes were dark brown at the moment.  He sported a good two days of stubble and another two weeks of trail dust.  So her indifference intrigued him.  It wasn’t as if he was ugly, he wasn’t.  It was just that women of her breeding found him too intimidating.  Women of other breeding found him attractive and it wasn’t hard to find companionship outside a cathouse because of his physical attributes, but this woman found him neither. It was a first actually.  Then again, this man was her priority. 

At first he thought he was her husband, but there were too many facial familiarities.  He was most likely
, her brother. 

He watched as she reached into the bedside table withdrew scissors and started to cut the material around the shoulder wound. 
She didn’t even seem squeamish over his wounds, just angry and concerned.  That was courageous.

“Is he shot anywhere else?”
she asked quietly.

“No.”

“Did you see it all?”

“I did.”

She nodded and rinsed a cloth before beginning to clean the wound. She was struggling to get her emotions under control by focusing on Ryker. As for the stranger, obviously he didn’t come across Ryker after the men were done with him because he was still alive.  That could only mean one thing. He’d pulled a gun to help her brother risking his own life. He stopped them from killing him, and for that, she was indebted to him. “Are you a gunman?” she murmured without looking up.

“Sometimes.
  When I have to be,” he responded softly. Usually that confession had women running for the door.  She didn’t budge.  Instead she surprised him.

“Did you kill t
hem?” she asked in the same low tone.

He hesitated this time
unsure of how she would react. Still, he told the truth. “All but one.”  He left one alive.  He had a bullet hole through his gun hand, but he’d live.

She
remained silent but there was a brief pause in her actions before she continued washing the wounds. 

“They were going to kill him ma’am.” 
As before, he couldn’t read what she was thinking and automatically thought that she would become upset over the mention of killing. Most women found it aversive.  Rightly so.

Her eyes
finally met his with obvious anger in their sapphire depths. “I wasn’t accusing you of an injustice sir.  I was thinking that you missed one.”

I’ll be damned
. He resisted the smile that pulled at his mouth. It was because she had surprised him.  That was near impossible.

The man in the bed groaned taking her attention off of him.
“Ryker?” She breathed sigh of relief.

He took a breath and winced. Then he cursed
while rolling his head to the side.

“The doctor’s coming.”

“My shoulder.” His voice sounded dry—raspy, and he hurt like hell everywhere.

“It probably feels worse than it looks.” She cast a glance at the stranger hoping it was true. 
He gave a single nod. 

“What happened?” Ryker managed to open one eye.  The
other was swollen shut.

“You near died.”

“I figured that out sis.” He coughed twice.  It felt like he swallowed razor blades. “I may still.”

“
Don’t say things like that,” she scolded harshly.

“Well, I sure as hell feel halfway there.”

“This man saved you.” She looked toward the door where the stranger stood. “I apologize. I never got your name.”

“Cogan
Reid.”

“My name is Josie Hamilton.  This is my brother Ryker and
Thomas, the boy you saw in the hall, is our youngest brother.”

Cogan nodded.

“It feels like I swallowed a rusty bucket of goddam nails,” Ryker whispered.

“That’s from the noose,” Cogan
offered. “It near took your head off.  I shot through the rope.  I lost your bay.”

“He’ll come home
. He was raised here,” Josie interjected about her brother’s horse. “Quit talking Ryker. The doctor is on his way.  Thomas went to get him,” she further scolded.

Ryker’s
good eye went to Cogan. “Thanks,” he rasped out. “I owe you my life.”

Cogan
nodded again accepting his gratitude and turned his attention back to Josie. “Those six seemed to be determined to kill him.” He addressed her because she was right, Ryker shouldn’t be talking.

“They were probably Butch’s men.” She glanced at her brother who
gave a slight nod. At least he was obeying her and not speaking. It wasn’t often he would listen so she was certain it hurt to talk.  She continued to clean his shoulder while she talked. “Our father died last year.  My mother died ten years ago having Thomas.  They want our land—well not them, their boss Butch McAllister.  He’s ruthless and bought up most of the town.  There’s a railroad supposed to come through here in the next year and those that he hadn’t bought up he scared or killed them into it. No one will go against him. When you get property for nothing, it’s easy to make money selling it to the railroad.” Her eyes went over him. “Some men can’t have enough greed in their lives.”

“Some men,” h
e repeated in a tone that didn’t put him in that category.  She didn’t look convinced.  He doubted she had much experience to prove otherwise.

“Are you passing through?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“We owe you a debt of gratitude.”
  It was hard keeping the emotion out of her voice.  Her eyes lowered. They could have lost Ryker.

“Not necessary.”

“I insist.  My aunt Hattie is the best cook in southern California.  At least let us feed you.”

Cogan considered this for a moment and his eyes roamed over her as she returned her attention to her brother.  His thoughts were hidden from his expression, but he knew his reasons for what he said next.  “I’m looking for work.”  She looked up at him
again. 

There was no way Josie could send this man on his way after what he’d done for them.  It was true they were wary of strangers, but they were also desperate for help.
“You’re more than welcome to stay with us until you’re ready to leave. What do you do?”