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Take his shirt off? His skin was warm despite the damp shirt and browned in the way of the Realm. Their colony sat on the coastline and basked in the sun and warmth of the lowlands unlike her mountain colony home.
A few scars decorated his torso with thin white lines, but mostly he was … perfect.
He uttered not even the slightest groan as she threaded his shirt down over his injured shoulder and arm. But his breath came shallow and fast along with a light film of sweat beading on his skin. Now that his shirt was off, she could see the misalignment in his shoulder. He shivered despite the heat of the fire.
“You have to kneel in front of me.” He directed her to a very disconcerting position with her knees on each side of his left leg. The deep lines of pain overcame her trepidation.
“Help me lift my hand onto your shoulder.”
Trembling shook his entire arm, and his face drained of color beneath his tan. She braced herself to catch him, but he stayed conscious.
“Now,” he said between panting breaths. “I don’t think you’re strong enough to do this without help, so we’re going to have to time it perfectly.”
“I’m strong enough. Tell me what to do.”
“Cara, I outweigh you twice over. Wrap your hands around my arm above the elbow.
On the count of three, you’re going to jerk my arm toward you and I’m going to pull back.”
“That’s going to hurt.”
He snorted, nearly a laugh. “You think? If this doesn’t work, I might pass out. If I do, try to lay me down flat, put your foot in the middle of my chest and try to yank it back into place while I’m out.”
“Yes, sir.” Her sarcasm provoked a smile from him, or was it a grimace?
“I’ll let you be the commander if you can fix my shoulder.”
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 15
“And if I can’t?” She tightened her grip around his arm muscles above his elbow. Her fingers couldn’t close around his firm flesh, and his skin was clammy to further impede her grip.
Why was she gazing at his bare chest? She snapped her gaze up to his and the dullness in his eyes stopped her purposeful delaying. “My count or yours?”
“Together.” Pain roughened his voice. “On three.”
“One, two, three.” She didn’t let herself think, but she held his gaze. She yanked on his arm with all her strength and weight. He threw himself back at the same time.
The bone in his upper arm slipped and silently thunked back into place. Brady’s eyes rolled toward the sky and his body tilted slowly toward her. She couldn’t catch him.
His unconscious body pressed her backward. She scooted away but ended up beneath him with his head resting on her chest.
Hot panic rose in a molten tide up through her stomach and took her breath. She pushed and kicked her way free of his weight. He sprawled facedown in the sand, his limbs going this way and that. When she could breathe again, she moved his right hand away from its dangerous position too close to the fire.
Her hands shook but she touched his shoulder and gently felt the bones. They seemed in place. She straightened and looked more closely at their surroundings.
Brady’s packs were on the far side of the fire, one of them with its contents dumped in a messy pile on the ground. He’s spread his two blankets to dry and gathered some wood to feed the fire. The sun was on its down swing. Could this disaster have happened all in a few hours?
It seemed days ago since she’d waited at one end of that stupid bridge for Brady to walk across and disrupt her life.
Well, he’d done that. She didn’t want to leave him alone, but they should move out of the open before nightfall. The dry wood made little smoke, but it could still be smelled. Spring nights could be very cold so they needed the fire. They only had one blanket a piece unless they shared ….
Never. She would stand watch all night until he recovered. She could never sleep while he stood watch. Never would she allow herself to be so vulnerable.
* * * *
Brady watched Cara sleep. She’d done most of the work moving his packs and setting up their camp in the stand of trees. They had no food, but she’d searched out a small stream dashing down the slopes to join the river and found fresh water to fill their water bag. He carried a small bag of black tea leaves so they at least had a hot drink though no honey to sweeten it.
Dark had caught them still gathering firewood. Cara insisted she needed to stand guard, and he’d slept for a few hours. He woke a short time ago and found her dozing against a tree.
He worked the soft piece of cloth he carried in his pack to clean his gun through the barrel of his revolver with the metal bar made for that purpose. He should have cleaned it earlier but it wasn’t something that could be done one-handed. His shoulder felt so much better he didn’t even care about the lingering ache. A new sympathy for the men whose shoulders he’d reset over the year made him smile grimly.
The mindless task of cleaning his gun relaxed him. It also gave him lots of time to comtemplate the situation and the woman caught in it with him.
Why had she jumped in the water after him? Not even the strongest swimmer in the world could have saved him and not many Solonian women could swim at all. It might take them a long time to find their way back home. He didn’t doubt they could find a way, but they ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 16
might have to hike for months along the coastline. Months when everyone who cared about them back home would think them dead. He couldn’t think about that now.
It was early spring so they had warm weather. With only two people to feed they should be able to live off the land and hopefully be able to travel with enough stealth to avoid trouble.
Trouble worried him. He’d seen Cara with the sword. She was nearly as good as him and fought without mercy, but she was so thin. Was she physically strong enough to do battle against a much larger opponent? And the wild, half-human creatures, Savages, that roamed the untamed lands had twice the strength of a human. Had Cara been ill?
He put his gun back together, loaded it, and then settled against his packs to wait the dawn. The grayish light allowed him to study her. It wasn’t easy to watch her when she was awake. She had some kind of preternatural sense that warned her of someone staring at her.
He’d been caught often enough by her.
Nine months hadn’t been enough to expunge her from his thoughts. Everything about her aroused his emotions in one way or another. She’d never led him on, but after being friendly and welcoming in their early acquaintance, she’d suddenly thrust a cold wall between them. With a frigid glare and short words, she’d let him know their relationship would never progress beyond the rigid boundaries she’d set. Was it the mere challenge of overcoming her limits that held his interest?
He knew many beautiful, more welcoming women, but since he’d met Cara she was the standard he measured them against. She was a package of fierce determination and emotional intensity that drew him like a moth to the light. And despite her tough exterior and sometimes vicious attitude toward men in general, he sensed an underlying vulnerability that woke his protective instincts. Not that Cara would ever continence any man thinking to be her protector.
Her deep chocolate eyes often burned with anger but beneath it was pain. He’d seen the like before. Probably as so many others, she’d lost family and friends to the Savages. He’d lost his two older brothers, leaving him an only child. His parents wore an expression similar to Cara’s at times though they tried to hide it from him. Again he turned from the thought of what his supposed death would do to them.
Life was harsh, but Cara needed to go forward. But was helping her a challenge he wanted to take on?
Cara whimpered in her sleep. Her hands twitched and a grimace crinkled her brow.
Another sound, almost a grunt of pain, passed through her tightly pressed lips. A nightmare?
He scooted closer to wake her. Being caught in a dark dream was no fun, and the last day was enough in
spiration for one in anyone. He barely touched her when her eyes sprang open.
Almost as instantly, her knife appeared in her hand and pressed against his throat. Wild panic still gripped her expression.
“You were having a bad dream.” He spoke calmly, trying to break her entanglement in the nightmare. “I was trying to wake you.”
She blinked a few times and then jerked her knife away from his throat. She bounded to her feet. “I’m awake now so back off.”
He stood up too. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Most people say thank you when someone wakes them up from a nightmare. We’re going to be here together for a little while so how about if we try to be polite to each other.’
“Fine. Then don’t … let me have my privacy.”
“Privacy? What does that have to do with your knife at my throat?”
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 17
Her face darkened, and she slid her knife back into the sheath at her belt. “I’m going to scout along the ridge here and look for a way up.”
“Fine. Next time I’ll leave you to your nightmares. I’m going down to the ocean and look for something to eat.”
She nodded curtly and strode away through the trees. He admired her slim hips for a moment, and then started to call out a need for caution. Damned woman would probably snap his head off so he said nothing.
His stomach rumbled. How long since he’d eaten? A full day at least. He looked after Cara one more time. They should stay together but perhaps this was best. Even an attack by Savages might be more pleasant than conversation with his fellow castaway.
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 18
Chapter Three
“I found a place, Bab.” Rena dropped to her knees beside the pallet and put a gentle hand on Angel’s tiny head.
“What kind of place? You were gone so long I started to worry.” Bab couldn’t have made it through the last week without her dear friend’s help. Rena not only brought her food and drink, she kept the men and other women away. So far everyone believed that Bab was too tired from her pregnancy to venture outside.
“I went south toward the big water cascade. I didn’t see it, but I could hear it when the wind blew toward me.”
Bab took her friend’s hand. “So far? You must take care of yourself.”
Rena was far along in her pregnancy, but she was taller and sturdier than Bab. But it was still a long walk to the falls.
“I found a shallow cave against the mountain wall. There’re a couple of fallen boulders near the front to hide a fire should you build one.”
Bab looked down at Angel. They both knew she had to get away before the men saw the child. Angel would never survive the brutality of their world.
“It’s so far. How will you visit me?”
“If I leave at night, I can walk there and back before the next dark. You have to be far enough away so no one stumbles on you by accident. We have enough food to last you a few days. I’ll bring more and that should keep you until the berries and roots are ready. It shouldn’t be long until I have my own little one and can join you.”
Bab knew Rena hoped for an angel of her own, but the chance of a second miracle seemed unlikely. Perhaps they were being rewarded by some kind spirit for being good people.
Rena touched Angel again. “Do you really think we can do this?”
Bab looked at her sleeping child. Was she taking her to a slow death of starvation? “We can. We’ll raise our children like the ancient people did. They’ll learn how to build those big houses and make sense of the squiggles in those books. They won’t hit each other or bully their mates.”
“You’re right. When are you going to leave?”
Bab was horribly frightened, but she would be brave for Angel. “After the moons set. I can fit more food in the bag I made if you can get it. And another hide would be nice.”
Rena left to do what she could. Bab settled Angel on the pallet and checked her supplies.
She had filled the bottom of her bag with the white, fleshy, egg-shaped roots. The heavy things would feed her for at least five days. A smaller leather sack held a few handfuls of the grains that grew wild along the shoreline. Cooked in water with a bit of honey, it made a delicious and filling meal. But there was no honey. The winter stores were almost gone and someone would have noticed if Rena had taken one of the few remaining pots of honey. It was amazing how much her friend had managed to sneak away. Early berries might flavor the grain if she could find them.
She folded her sleeping hide around her best wooden cup and two clay pots. Next she slid her bone knife behind the strip of hide she wore around her waist.
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 19
The book of angels sat on the tree stump they used as a table. Rena had cut a piece of hide in a fanciful shape to decorate the stump. She would miss their cozy home.
Angel slept on the soft hides they’d worked on during the cold season. They’d huddled in their house while bitter winds howled outside and sometimes snuck in around the thick-furred hide they used to cover their doorway. Even Jak and Hop had not ventured forth during the coldest and darkest moon of the dying season. Three young ones had died of the cough and fever this past cold. How could she protect her little angel when that dangerous time came again?
Angel mewed in her dainty, sweet voice. Bab quickly put her to her breast lest someone passing outside hear her.
“Shush now, little one. Momma will save you. We’ll be away from here and no one like Jak will ever touch you with his dirty, hurtful hands and nasty man thing.”
Her friend, Tam, had never hurt her when he came to her with his man thing all hard and needy. If she could be only with him, she might have rethought her escape. Tam had grown up with her and Rena. He was her friend, but she couldn’t trust him with Angel. It was too important. She would face what she must. Nothing could be as terrible as staying here.
* * * *
“I’m not eating those bugs.” Cara had spent the last few hours vowing to make peace with Brady. She didn’t want to fight with him, but she had to establish control of their partnership. Though they weren’t under the same chain of command, he outranked her. Still, she could be agreeable to him.
Brady laughed, and the deep rumble touched something warm inside her. She nearly smiled back.
“They’re not bugs. Don’t tell me you’ve never had crab before. It’s a tasty meal when cooked with butter and herbs. These might be kind of tasteless, but they’ll fill our bellies.”
She’d returned from her frustrating scouting trip to find him once again by the fire. He’d washed the dried blood from his hair and smelled of sunshine. Her imagination drew pictures of him stripping and bathing in the ocean. She squashed the thought.
“You expect me to eat those nasty little legs?”
He’d found a large, brown shell somewhere and filled it with water. It simmered from its spot beside the fire. The pink-bodied crabs filled it almost to full.
“You don’t eat the legs. See the bigger claws on the front? That’s where the meat is and in the body. Let them cook for a little longer, and I’ll show you how to crack them open with a rock and use your knife to get the meat.”
She cautiously sat beside him but left enough room between them for another person. A large person. Hunger cramped her belly, so bugs it would be.
“What did you find?” He used his knife blade to move the crabs around.
“Nothing to eat. Found some green raspberries that might be ready next week.”
“How about the cliff face?”
“Nothing. I wasted hours following a few cuts that ended in sheer walls.”
He shrugged and then winced. “It would be sheer luck to find a way up on the first day.
I’ll help you tomorrow. Did you see any sign of game or Savages?”
She shrugged this time so that she covered her shiver. The day had given her lots of time to acknowledge her fea
r. For the past two years she’d felt secure and confident that the man-beasts would never capture her again. Juston Steele made Solonia a place of safety and travel between her home and the Realm couldn’t be more secure. But here she was in a strange ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 20
territory with only one man and herself. How could the two of them fight off an attack by a mob of Savages? The abominations would kill Brady and take her. Again. No, she wouldn’t allow it. She would fight them until they killed her. But then she’d tried that the last time.
“Are you all right? If the sight of them makes you ill, I’ll put the meat out for you. I know your people don’t like meat, but there’s nothing else and you have to eat.”
“I like meat just fine.” She fought for calm. “I’m very hungry, nothing more.”
“Well then, let’s eat.” He flipped one of the hand-sized crabs out and showed her how to break the shell between the two rocks he’d obviously washed for that purpose. Bits of white flesh hid in the bug’s body. Even without butter it was quite good. Brady split the bounty equally between them, and they soon consumed every bit.