My Desperado by Lois Greiman Read Free Book Online

she said aloud, then shifted her eyes to find the bullet wound in his arm. It was half hidden by his tattered sleeve. With a shudder she continued to search for wounds and stopped at the sight of his right thigh. He'd been shot at least twice. Katherine loosened her grip and lifted a hand to cover her mouth.
    His big body slipped sideways, tugged languidly downstream.
    "No!" she cried, grabbing him again. This was no time for hysterics she told herself. No time for fainting. No time for anything but coolheaded action. But at the moment she didn't want to be coolheaded or active. She wanted to sleep, to curl up into a ball of forgetfulness and wake to learn it was all no more than a bad dream. But even in dreams one must do what needs doing. She bit her lip. "Hold on," she whispered, and rose awkwardly to her feet, keeping a splay-fingered grip on Ryland's saturated shirt.
    The current wasn't fast, but was strong enough to make maneuvering difficult, even without her soggy burden.
    Eventually Katherine tripped over the final rock and fell with a splash atop Travis for the fifth time. Her breath came in deep gasps, and she stayed as she was for a moment, her chest pressed over his as she rested momentarily. "Made it," she croaked.
    Something touched her back. She squealed in terror and jerked about.
    Soldier nuzzled her again, his big eyes wide and sorrowful.
    "Don't panic," she advised him shakily, wanting to pat his nose reassuringly but lacking the strength. "He'll be all right." She pushed herself doggedly to her feet then staggered backward, dragging the man's limp body by his uninjured arm.
    The struggle onto the rocky bank of the river was the most difficult yet. Ryland seemed to have doubled in weight and refused to budge once the mass of his large upper body was free of the frigid water. Katherine pulled frantically at him, but there was no strength left in her trembling arms. She was at the end of her reserves.
    Soldier shuffled an apologetic step forward, leaning over his master with doglike devotion.
    Katherine's head ached with fatigue, but the fear that their pursuers still followed made her press on. "Got to hide him," she murmured to the horse, her gaze skimming his dragging reins.
    That was it!
    Katherine grasped the thick ropes of braided leather. It took several minutes to untie them from the metal bit. Slipping the first saturated rein beneath Ryland's body, she tried to avoid his wound as she pried it under his arms to tie it securely over his chest. The second rein was tied to the first before she tripped forward.
    Jabbering soothingly to the horse, Katherine led him by the bridle, stopping him with his hind feet just inches from his master's head.
    She hurried back to Ryland and, finding no better way, tied the second rein to an empty stirrup.
    It took several moments for her to convince the horse to drag Ryland up the slope, and Katherine winced as the man's body scraped over the sharp underbrush, for surely it cut his back as badly as it did her bare feet. But the torturous journey didn't last long, for the answer to her prayers appeared in the form of a deep ravine. It was neither long nor wide, but large enough to hide two people and a horse.
    Ryland was dragged as close to the slope as possible, and then, with some difficulty, Katherine untied the rein from the stirrup. Biting her lip and employing every bit of her ebbing strength, she pushed at his inert form, finally prying it from its spot and over the edge of the small fissure.
    He slid crookedly, and then, gaining momentum, toppled down the short, rocky slope to bump limply to the bottom.
    Katherine scrambled after him. "I'm sorry," she said bending down, not noticing the scrapes and oozing bruises that troubled her own body, and touching his throat where the pulse was weak but discernible. "I'm so sorry."
    His bearded face was pale, with a smear of blood on his temple. She wiped it away with unsteady fingertips.
    "You're going to be fine," she