Free One Texas Night by Jodi Thomas

it down.
    The lantern was there along with an almost empty box of matches. It took three tries before Aggie brought the match to life and lit the lantern. When she turned, spreading light, she might have missed the heap on the ground beside the stall if Ulysses hadn’t been right beside him. At first she thought it might be rags, then she recognized a white shirt.
    “Hank!” He lay facedown and far too still. Blood dripped from his head and one of his long legs twisted just below the knee at an unnatural angle. A long two-by-four lay beside him, harmless though spotted with blood.
    Aggie sat the lantern a few feet from him and ran for the barn door. As soon as she cleared the roof, she lifted her gun and fired three quick shots. Then she ran back to her husband.
    By the time Blue Thompson and a woman who had to be his wife arrived, Aggie had wrapped the belt of her robe around Hank’s head and was applying pressure where blood dripped with each of his heartbeats.
    “What happened?” Blue asked as he jumped from the buggy.
    Aggie couldn’t stop the tears. “I don’t know. I heard something. Someone. Then he rode off and I found Hank.”
    “Who would want to hurt Hank?” Lizzy demanded as she knelt beside her husband. Her voice was low, but her hands moved skillfully over Hank’s injuries.
    “I don’t know.” Aggie fought panic. “I don’t know.”
    Blue slowly straightened Hank’s leg, shaking his head as he worked.
    “It looks busted,” Aggie cried. “Oh, God, what if it’s busted?”
    Lizzy grabbed Aggie’s chin with bloody fingers. “Don’t you worry none, we’re going to take care of your man.” She forced Aggie to look at her and not Hank. “But we’re going to need your help. You understand?”
    Aggie pulled in the frayed strings of her emotions and forced herself to take a breath. “All right. We can take care of him. We can.”
    The no-nonsense directness of the older woman had helped and she allowed Aggie no time to think of what might be beyond this moment, this crisis. “First,” Lizzy said in her low, Southern voice, “we get him to the house.”
    Aggie looked back at Hank. “We can do that.” She raised her chin.
    Lizzy smiled. “Right you are.”
    “His leg probably is broke.” Blue voiced what they all knew. “We’ll have to be real careful moving him. Once he’s inside and the blood’s cleaned off, we can see the damage. If he’s still breathing, I’ll ride for the doc.”
    It took all three of them to lift Hank without moving his leg more than necessary. He moaned once, telling Aggie he was still alive, but his normally tanned face looked almost as white as his shirt.
    Aggie held his head while Blue and Lizzy removed his boots and trousers. There was no doubt the leg was broken; a jagged bone had ripped the flesh from inside out. Blue straightened it as best he could, then tied both legs together with a strip of bandage. He explained that he’d seen doctors do that in the war when there was no time to look for splints.
    With only a nod toward his wife, Blue left to get the doctor.
    Lizzy brought cold water from the well and handed Aggie bandage after bandage for his head. Each time they switched, blood covered the cotton. They talked, trying to convince themselves that his being unconscious was better than if he were awake and in pain, but Aggie could tell Lizzy didn’t believe their reasoning any more than she did.
    In what seemed like minutes, Blue was back with the doctor, a man who barely looked old enough to shave, much less finish medical school.
    To Aggie’s surprise, the doctor asked her if she wanted to stay while he examined her husband. Part of her wanted to run as far away from the smell of blood as she could get, but another part knew she belonged here. She was bound to this man she’d known less than two days. Bound by honor as well as the law.
    As the doctor worked, stitching up the long gash in Hank’s hairline, Aggie gently held his head in her