Desert Angel by Pamela K Forrest Read Free Book Online Page A

he reached up for her.
    Raising her gaze, she emitted a startled gasp. “You live here?” She had never seen anything as beautiful as the pristine white building with its many sparkling windows.
    Jim looked at the house, and realized for the first time how much he hated it. It was Melanie’s house. It stood for all the things that she had given up to come West, and it was filled with the memories of her unhappiness. He much preferred the adobe house they had lived in before building this monstrosity.
    “I live here.” He motioned up the porch. “Wait here while I go get the baby.”
    “Baby?” March’s heart began to pound, as if she had run for miles.
    “My son.” Jim looked at the girl and noticed the strange look on her face. “Why did you think I brought you here?”
    March shook her head. She hadn’t given much thought as to what he wanted. She had been in too much pain, and was too worried about her younger brothers and sisters to consider what her own fate was to be.
    “I need someone to take care of my son. He’s ten days old.”
    “His ma?”
    “She died.”
    Jim watched as the girl reached for the handrail and climbed laboriously up the steps. The back of her dress was spotted with blood, and he cursed beneath his breath. She didn’t know how to decently attend to her own problems, and he was expecting her to know how to take care of his son.
    “I think you’d better tend to your needs, while I get the baby.”
    March turned her head back toward him. A fiery blush replaced the pallor of her cheeks, when she realized where his gaze rested and what must be there. Feeling a wetness roll down her legs, she knew it was getting worse.
    “I need to lay down a bit,” she mumbled. Jim had a sudden urge to throw her on his horse and get her back to her family, before he lived to regret this day.
    “You can sleep in — “ His words were harshly broken off, when he saw her eyes roll up in her head and her legs begin to collapse beneath her.
    He grabbed her before she could fall and roll off of the steps.
    “Damn, I think I just added another problem to the list.”

     
     
     

FOUR
    March opened her eyes and found herself in a room unlike any she’d ever seen before. It was like the fairy-tale story Ma told them sometimes, when she was in a good mood. The prince always saved the princess from some evil, and took her to his castle that was filled with wonderful and exciting things.
    Everywhere she looked there was something different to admire. The long windows had real glass, and were framed with bright yellow-and- white-checked gingham curtains. The highly polished floor was covered with a circular rag rug with every color of the rainbow in it.
    Sitting up to better view the room, she saw that the walls were a pale yellow, while the furniture was painted white. Colorful pictures, some of things she couldn’t identify, decorated the walls.
    Her eyes came to rest on the baby bed in the corner, and her heart skipped a beat. She rose, moving painfully to the bed, reverently touching the soft, fuzzy blankets.
    Biting the inside of her cheek as tears blinded her, she thought of the baby who would never know such riches, who would never see a cloud or hear the sweet songs of the birds. The baby girl, her baby girl, who had been born too early and had never drawn a breath.
    “You’re awake.”
    Turning too quickly, March grabbed onto the baby bed for support, as blackness wavered in front of her eyes.
    “Hold on, girl, or you’re going to pass out again.” Jim closed the space between them and grabbed her arm. He’d never realized that a woman could be so weak during her monthly time. But then he’d never realized what was involved in taking care of a house either, until he’d had to do it. He wasn’t about to have a monthly so that he could find out about it the hard way, too.
    “I’m sorry,” March apologized. “I’ve never passed out before. I’ll be all right in a minute.”
    Not sure