Two Alone by Sandra Brown Read Free Book Online

been roused from a deep sleep. Intuitively she knew that he had been lying there awake.
    "Nothing."
    " Tell me. What's the matter? Your leg?"
    " Yes."
    "Is it bleeding again?"
    " I don't think so. It's doesn't feel wet. It just hurts."
    " D rink some more brandy." He angled himself away from her and reached for the flask of brandy, which he'd brought in t o the fur cocoon with them.
    "I'm already woozy."
    " G ood. It's working." He poked her lips with the uncapped flask
    and tipped it forward. She either had to drink or drown. The potent liquor burned a fiery path down her middle. At the very- least, it took her mind off her painful wound for a few seconds. "Thanks."
    "Open your legs."
    "Pardon?"
    "Open your legs."
    "How much brandy have you had, Mr. Landry?"
    "Do it."
    "Why?"
    "So I can get mine between them."
    Without giving her another chance to argue, he slid his hand between her thighs and raised her injured leg. He wedged his knees between hers, then gently lowered her right leg to rest on top of his. "There. Keeping it elevated will help relieve the pressure. It'll also keep me from jostling it in the night."
    She was too flabbergasted to fall back to sleep immediately; too uncomfortably aware of his nearness. And there was something else keeping her awake: a nagging guilt.
    "Cooper, did you know any of the other men?"
    "Those on board the plane? No."
    "The men in the front two seats were brothers. While we were weighing our luggage, I heard them talking about getting their families together for Thanksgiving in a few weeks. They were going to show them the slides they'd taken this week."
    "Don't think about it."
    " I can't help it."
    "Yes, you can."
    "No, I can't. I keep asking myself why I'm alive. Why was I allowed to live? It doesn't make any sense."
    "It doesn't have to make sense," he said bitterly. "That's just the way it is . It was their time, that's all. It's over, forgotten."
    "Not forgotten."
    "Force it out of your mind."
    "Is that what you did?"
    "Yes."
    She shuddered. "How can you be so unfeeling about another hu man life?"
    "Practice . "
    The word affected her like a hard slap on the cheek. It had been cruelly delivered to shut her up, and it did. But it didn't s top her from thinking. She wondered how many of his buddies Coo per had seen killed in Vietnam. Dozens? Scores? Hundreds? Stil l , she couldn't imagine ever becoming inured to death.
    She'd had practice dealing with it, but not to the extent that he apparently had. It wasn't something she could block out, dis miss, by an act of will. When she thought about her losses, she still ached.
    " My mother died of a stroke . " she told him quietly. "Her deat h was almost a relief. She would have been severely incapaci tate d. I had a week to prepare myself for it. But my brother's dea th was sudden." Cooper wouldn't care to hear about any of this but she wanted to talk about it.
    "Brother?"
    " Jef f. He was killed in a car wreck two years ago."
    "No other family?"
    "On ly my father." She drew a gentle breath. "He was the man I was with at the lodge. The one I said goodbye to. Not a sugar daddy . Not a lover. My father."
    She waited for an apology, but it never came. If his body hadn't been so tense, she might have thought he'd fallen asleep.
    Finally he broke the silence by asking, "What is your f ather going to think when he's notified about the crash?"
    "Oh, my God!" Reflexively, she clutched Cooper ' s hand where it still rested against her stomach. "I hadn't thought of that."
    She could imagine her father's despair when he heard the news. He'd lost his wife. Then his son. Now his daughter. He would be disconsolate. Rusty couldn't bear to think of the suffering he would go through, the hell of uncertainty, of not knowing what had happened to her. Hopefully, as much for her father's sake as her own, they would be rescued soon.
    "The guy looked like a real mover and shaker to me," Cooper said. "He'll ride the authorities until we're found."
    "You're