Texas Rain

CHAPTER 28

Travis didn't bother to open his eyes. He'd heard the mantel clock chime three and knew it would be at least another hour before anyone checked on him. Dr. Bailey had insisted on tying him down, claiming he didn't want Travis rolling over in his sleep. Travis felt like a prisoner. His left leg had been wrapped and soaked in an oil the doctor swore would take the swelling out. The doctor had also put something in the tea Sage had forced down him, but it wasn't working. He remained wide awake.

The doc had probably been right about tying him down. He would have been up checking to make sure Rainey was all right if he could have gotten out of bed. He'd caught a glance of her just before she disappeared into the Ranger station office. She'd looked frightened, her green eyes darting around searching for him. His pride wouldn't allow him to ask for help to get off the horse. Instead, like a fool, he'd let her go in alone. He told himself Dillon would go easy on her. Roy would watch over her.

So he'd ridden over to the Baileys' knowing he had to see the doc. He'd all but fallen off his mount and stumbled up to the door like a drunk. He hadn't made it more than three feet inside the house before the pain peaked and he blacked out. He had no idea how they got him to bed, but when he woke up, everyone was crowded around following the doc's orders and treating him like some kind of puppet they all wanted to handle. He fought them worse than Duck usually did when they removed his clothes for a bath. But between trying to stay dressed and trying to hold his leg still, he lost the battle with clothes.

The whole experience had been painful and humiliating. The only thing that would have made it unbearable would have been if Rainey had been there.

Travis heard Michael Saddler snoring in the seating room beyond his bedroom door and knew the young Ranger was there not only as guard, but to keep Duck happy. The boy had dragged his bedding into Travis's bedroom three times before Mike showed him that the door between the rooms would stay open, the fire would be left burning, and Mike would be near.

"I plan to beat a few years' life out of Saddler when I get on my feet," Travis mumbled. The young Ranger had held him down while the doc dug into his leg. Just before Travis passed out, he heard the doc say he knew there must be lead left in the leg, but he couldn't seem to find it. Saddler smiled and said, "Keep digging." Then he'd slammed all two hundred pounds of himself onto Travis's chest to hold him down.

When Travis came to again, the doc had quit digging into his flesh and was busy wrapping his leg so tightly he could feel it throbbing. The bandages were warm and soaking wet. As they cooled Travis felt warm spots where his blood Soaked through. As if the whole operation hadn't been humiliating enough, Dr. Bailey ordered the bandages changed every two hours. He'd heard of Indian torture ceremonies with less pain.

And through it all, the boy watched, shaking with fear. Duck didn't like sleeping a room away from Travis, but he finally curled down in his covers making sure he could see Travis through the open door.

Travis hoped that in an hour when they came to change the bandages, they'd be quiet enough that they didn't wake the boy. He promised himself he wouldn't swear, no matter how much it hurt.

When Sage had last checked on him, Travis had heard Mike gently tell her to get some rest, there would be plenty to do in the morning. He'd said that Travis had been drugged and would sleep for a few hours.

Only I'm not asleep! Travis wanted to yell. I'm awake and bored. While he'd been out the second time, someone had tied him down at the waist with a sheet and bound his good leg into the covers so that he couldn't move it. His arms and shoulders were free, but they might as well have been bound as well for all the good he could do.

Travis felt like his mind was sloshing through a fog. He was surprised his body didn't hurt. The last few miles to town he'd had to struggle to keep from screaming. If he hadn't been so worried about Rainey, he would have demanded they stop. But with Eldon Norman still loose, they needed to get her to safety before the outlaw figured out that she'd killed his last brother.

Closing his eyes, he remembered how Rainey had melted into his arms so easily when they'd stopped to rest. She'd acted as if she would have stayed on that blanket beneath the tree for the rest of the afternoon and he wouldn't have minded at all. He'd forgotten about the throbbing in his leg when he'd touched her. She'd been the only medicine that he needed.

Rainey had no idea of the danger she was in. All the Normans were hate-filled men, even the old man. The Rangers had never been able to pin anything on the father, but the sons were reckless. They'd all been in and out of jails by the time they could shave. Every time they went on trial, Old Man Norman would ride into town and be in court every day. When his boys were sentenced, he'd wait outside to cuss every Ranger and judge involved.

Travis turned his head slightly. He sensed someone in the room. A movement in the air that hadn't been there before. A shifting of shadows.

He reached for his gun that he'd insisted Mike leave near the side of the bed and slowly opened his eyes a fraction.

Rainey stood before him in a nightgown that covered her from throat to toes. She leaned over him, looking very much like an angel come to call.

He returned the gun to its hiding place. "Looking for something?" he whispered.

She jumped, then like a child looking at a snake, leaned a bit closer. "You scared me to death," she scolded. "I was just making sure you were breathing."

He studied her closely in the light coming from the door. If she knew just how much the firelight revealed what lay beneath her nightgown, she would have been horrified. He decided, purely to save her feelings, he wouldn't tell her. "I'm breathing. Come closer, I don't want to wake the others."

Rainey glanced at the open door. Duck was curled into a ball by the fire. Mike's snoring kept time with the ticking of the clock.

She moved closer. "How are you?"

"Thanks to the doc," Travis lied, "I feel much better, but for some reason, I'm wide awake."

She sat on the edge of the bed. "Me, too."

"Think you could keep me company for a while?"

"Of course, but I have to be gone before anyone wakes. I think this is most improper to be in your bedchamber."

Travis smiled. "I know it is." He slid his hand over hers. "Tell me how it went at the station. Dillon wasn't too hard on you, was he?"

Rainey curled atop the covers on his right side and pulled her feet beneath her gown. "No. I think he might have been, but your friend Roy wouldn't let him."

Travis didn't look happy. "Any word about the last brother?"

"Not that I know of." Her voice shook slightly.

"Rainey," Travis whispered. "Are you cold?"

"A little," she admitted.

"Curl up beside me like you did last night. We could talk and pass the time."

She hesitated. His arms and chest were bare tonight. She could see the strength of his muscles and the dark tan of his skin. She wasn't surprised to find his chest looked like it had been carved of oak.

"Are you afraid of me?" He had to ask.

"No," she answered without thought.

He waited.

Slowly, so that she didn't touch him, she moved beside him. He could feel her warmth an inch away. For a few minutes she shivered, then finally relaxed.

"You smell good," he whispered a few inches from her ear. Moving his cheek against her hair, he breathed deep. "I love your hair."

"We should talk of something else."

He nodded, touching her curls with his face once more. "All right. How about you tell me a little about you?"

Rainey didn't say a word.

"I don't even know where you're from."

"Up north," she said.

"And your parents didn't die on the trip over like you told Mrs. Vivian. If I were guessing, I'd say they are very much alive."

"My mother died a few years ago. My father was alive when I left."

"So, why'd you run, Rainey, and keep running until you got all the way to Texas?"

She was silent so long he decided she didn't plan to answer, then came a whisper, "My father tried to make me marry."

Travis laughed. "Oh, and we both know how dead-set against that you are."

She turned to him, an inch away from his nose, and whispered, "No one, nowhere on this earth, will ever make me marry. I'll not be treated that worthless."

He laid his hand gently over hers. "Not all wives think of themselves as worthless."

"But they are. The minute they marry, everything they have becomes their husband's. He can treat them any way he likes and there is nothing they can do about it."

He watched her closely, loving the fire he saw in her eyes but hating the anger that put it there. He could read her parents' marriage in those green eyes without asking another question.

She propped her head up and said, "Now, it's my turn."

"All right, fair enough."

"Why'd you come to Austin?"

He didn't even try to think of a lie. "To find you."

"Why?"

"Because I thought you might be in trouble."

She waited, staring at him.

He almost got lost in those green depths, but he knew he had to say more, had to be honest with her. "And because I had to see you again. That night at the dance we had so few words together, but you stayed in my mind. I had to see you again."

"I know what you mean. I read a poem once about how the moments in your life change you, not the big crashing crisis or grand award, but the small times when you gently shift within your skin and become a slightly different person."

He opened his arm and this time she rolled against his side. "If you'd have told me that before we danced, I would have never believed it, but now, I think I understand."

Neither of them said another word. He could feel her breathing against his side. When the breaths grew further apart, he knew she was asleep. She seemed so soft and helpless beside him, but she'd run away from home alone, and somehow survived for months. No doubt in his mind existed. He'd always thought of himself as strong, but in truth, the tiny lady at his side was a giant beside him.

She spread her hand out across his chest. He fought the urge to pull her closer. Then he realized just having her near was enough for now.

He listened to the clock ticking and her breathing as an hour passed. When he heard the first footsteps in the hall, he kissed her head and whispered, "Rainey, move to the chair."

She barely had time to slip from the bed to the rocking chair before someone opened the door.

The doctor came in and didn't try to hide his surprise when he noticed her. "Miss Adams, you shouldn't be in here."

"I had to check on him," Rainey answered. "The Ranger saved my life."

Dr. Bailey nodded. "I see, but you'd best get up to your room before my wife wakes. I can take care of this hero of yours until morning."

Rainey looked like she debated leaving, but finally slipped from the room. Her last glance back told him all he needed to know. She didn't want to leave.

Travis let the doctor poke on him awhile, then took the medicine the old man gave him without complaint. By the time the doctor was finished wrapping his leg and hip in oily towels to keep the swelling down, it was dawn.

"Glad to see you've got your senses back, son," the old doc said as he finished. "We all figured you'd shoot us for sure if you got the chance a few hours ago. That's why the young Ranger took the bullets out of your gun before he gave it to you."

Travis nodded. He hadn't grown any calmer; he'd simply realized he'd have to endure this quietly until he talked someone into letting him out of this bed. As soon as he was free, he planned to continue the discussion he'd had with Rainey under the tree. The discussion they'd shared without words.

Travis heard Mike and Duck stirring in the sitting room and a moment later, Duck hit the foot of his bed. The boy scrambled up, sat cross-legged with his elbows on his knees and his fists on his chin. He stared at Travis as if he planned to stay put for the day.

"Help the boy into his clothes," Travis said casually.

"Glad to," Mike answered from the door. The young Ranger picked up the clothes, and a moment later the race was on.