Mail Order Cowboy (Harlequin American Romance) by Pamela BAUER Read Free Book Online

he stay in the guest room at the house....” Gabby suggested innocently.
    “No, I don’t want him in the guest room at the house! I don’t want him anywhere on this property.” Hannah could feel the color rush to her cheeks.
    “But, Mom, he’s sick!” Jeremy protested.
    Censure sharpened Gabby’s features. “We can’t just turn him away.”
    “Oh, yes we can,” Hannah contradicted her.
    Gabby, in her sternest librarian’s voice, said, “Hannah Marie Davis, your mother would roll over in her grave if she knew you were thinking about refusing help to someone in need. Not to mention I invited him here.”
    Hannah could have screamed in frustration. What had possessed her aunt to do something so irresponsible? It was true that Gabby had been prone to quirky behavior at times, but until now, none of her whimsies had ever landed them with an unwanted man on their doorstep.
    She looked down at the unkempt stranger and felt a twinge of compassion. He did look rather pathetic. She already had a dozen stray cats wandering about the place....
    She supposed she could let him stay—at least until he was well enough to travel back to Nebraska. “Oh, all right,” she grumbled.
    With a sigh, she stooped down and lifted the man’s shoulders, leaving Jeremy and Gabby to wrestle with the rest of him. “All I can say is thank goodness he doesn’t smell,” Hannah muttered as the three of them hobbled their way back to the bunkhouse. His clothes were the coarsest cotton she had ever felt, and she wondered if he’d found them at a homeless shelter.
    As soon as they had managed to get the stranger onto one of the wrought-iron beds, she dusted off her hands, saying, “He’d probably weigh twenty pounds less if he washed his clothes.”
    Gabby ignored her comment because Wood stirred. “Look. He’s coming round again. He’s probably hungry.” She looked pointedly at Hannah.
    “You want me to get him something?”
    “There are plenty of mashed potatoes left.” Gabby looked at her expectantly. “And tea is always therapeutic. Oh, and it probably would be a good idea to take his temperature. There’s a thermometer in the medicine chest.”
    “Maybe you should just make a list,” Hannah drawled sarcastically, then did as her aunt requested.
    Alone with Wood, Gabby and Jeremy watched him toss and turn. “You think he’s having a bad dream or something?” Jeremy asked.
    Gabby pressed a hand to his forehead. “He’s awfully warm. Maybe he has a fever.”
    At her touch Wood’s eyes fluttered open. “Where am I?”
    “You’re on the Davis farm,” Gabby answered him. “Remember us? I’m Gabby and this is Jeremy.”
    Wood raised himself on one elbow and looked around. “I’m not at the Nelsons’ then.”
    Gabby gave him a puzzling look. “The Nelsons sold out twenty-five years ago.”
    Wood’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”
    Sensing his confusion, Gabby repeated, “This is the Davis farm. You came here to meet Hannah, remember?”
    At the mention of his sister’s name, Wood sighed. “She’s really here then?”
    “Yes. She just went to get you something to eat. Are you feeling all right?”
    “I’m a little dizzy,” he admitted, falling back down and closing his eyes.
    “I think you may have a fever. Maybe I should call the doctor.”
    At that his eyes shot open. “No! No doctor.”
    Just then Hannah called through the screen door for Jeremy’s help. While Jeremy carried the tray with a cup of tea and a bowl of mashed potatoes over to Gabby, Hannah remained in the background.
    “Do you feel up to eating?” Gabby asked Wood, who winced as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. He sank back down against the pillow and told Gabby, “I can’t do it. I feel as if my body’s made of straw.”
    Concern lined her face. “I’ll help you. You just open up and I’ll spoon it in.”
    “I like to tend to my own needs, ma’am, but I’d be obliged if you’d do just that.” He opened