Untamed by Sharon Ihle Read Free Book Online Page B

her to wait on him hand and foot. At least on horseback, there was always some chance of escape. As for Sissy's remarks about friendship, Josie wasn't at all sure how to take them. She'd never had a close friend before and wasn't quite sure of the boundaries. In any case, she was too cold to think about that or anything except getting her frosty backside into the cabin before she froze to death.
    Resigned to her fate, if not happy about it, Josie watched the pair disappear into the forest, and then dragged herself back to the confines of her cage. The minute she stepped into the room, she noticed the water in the kettle was simmering, ready for her to go to work. So was Daniel.
    "If you've got nothing better to do with that pot of hot water," he called from across the room. "I could stand a little washing up."
    Josie glanced at him, thinking there wasn't enough water in all Montana Territory to accomplish the feat, then hefted the kettle off the stove and carried it to the side of the bed.
    "Where do you keep the soap and rags?" she asked.
    Daniel scratched his bead, giving her the impression that such items were foreign to him.
    "If you'll take a look in my possibles bag over by the corner," he finally said. "I believe you'll find some flannel scraps or maybe a couple of socks that would do the trick. I'm not sure about soap. I bought a pound or so a couple of years back, but I can't recall whatever came of it."
    Sighing heavily, Josie made her way to the corner where she found a dark leather pouch. After opening the outside flap, she spread the bag wide and peered into the depths. It contained an assortment of bullets, knives, beads, and packs of what were probably sugar or salt, but none of the rags appeared to be clean enough to touch, much less for use in bathing. Reaching gingerly into the pouch, Josie plucked out the cleanest dirty sock she could find, and then returned to the bed.
    With fourteen brothers of all ages in her keeping, it wasn't as if she'd never seen or bathed a masculine body. Thinking of the chore that way, as something she'd done a thousand times before, Josie made quick work of removing Daniel's clothing down to his drawers and assisted when necessary as he bathed himself.
    She was studying his broad chest as he patted it dry, taking in the fact that his smooth nutmeg skin was devoid of hair, and thinking how refreshing a sight it was after having lived among the apelike Baum boys, when Daniel asked a question that made her choke with surprise.
    "Will you help me get these drawers off so I can clean the rest of me?"
    "Ah... no." She fought a blush but felt her cheeks grow warm anyway. "I'd rather not."
    "No?" His bright eyes grew huge, incredulous. "After all the bare-ass naked men you've seen? Am I that damned hard for you to look at?"
    Since she'd been thinking how much better Daniel looked without his clothes, and that nothing about him from his sculpted thighs to his well-muscled shoulders reminded her in the least of her brothers, Josie's blush deepened. To save herself from further embarrassment, she almost blurted out then and there that she wasn't a whore and didn't go around looking at strange men's naked bodies. But then it occurred to her that he might think of her innocence as some kind of prize—and that she'd then find herself in yet another kind of trap.
    Handling the situation in the only way she could think of, Josie said, "This isn't a brothel and I'm not on duty. Just think of me as a kidnapped woman who's helping an injured man out of the goodness of her heart."
    Daniel stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment. Then he gave a short nod and said, "Fair enough. Can I talk your good little heart into loosening that splint and taking a look at my leg? I've been laid up for about three weeks now and should be pretty well healed, but it feels like it's getting worse."
    Since Josie had set more than her share of broken bones and felt she knew quite a lot about the healing process,