Free Bind Me Close: 3 (Knights in Black Leather) by Cerise DeLand Page B

someone in shock?”
    “I do, Doc. Scorpions might have gotten her. Three maybe.
Not sure.” In the background Wade could hear the rev of the EMS truck and the
barking signal of an alert at the firehouse on Main Street in Bravado.
    “Is she allergic?”
    “I had just asked her that but she passed out before she
answered. Bottom line, I have no idea.”
    “Okay. Let’s see.” The doc sounded as though he was walking,
opening a door, slamming it. “Maureen says you are off Route 46 near Bull
Rock?”
    “Yeah. If you don’t encounter any traffic holdups on the
road it’ll take you fifteen minutes to get here. “
    “Are you in your truck?”
    “No. Horseback.”
    “Can you ride with her to the main road?”
    He’d dead-carried many a GI to sickbay, many a drunk to the
dry-out tank. She weighed nada compared to those dudes. “I’ll do it.”
    “Go at a walk. Not even a canter. She could convulse, you
could lose hold of her and she’d fall, break a bone.”
    “Don’t worry, Giles. I won’t drop her.”
    “Better not,” he said with humor. “You’d have a few
bachelors in Bravado mighty upset if you killed her.”
    Smart-ass. “Do not sass me, Benedict.”
    “Sheriff, you can’t arrest me.” The new guy in town was
having a hearty chuckle at Wade’s expense. Too bad, Wade didn’t have the heart
for humor at the moment.
    “I damn well can, doctor or not. I’m off the line now.”
    “Wait! Is she breathing heavily?”
    Wade bent down to put his lips close to hers. Poor baby, she
was so gone to la-la land. “Seems normal.”
    “Take her pulse.”
    “Can’t.” Wade clicked his tongue at his horse to move to one
side so that he might mount the animal from the top of the rock.
    “You must!” Benedict slammed a car door.
    “I am not setting her down on the ground again, Benedict, so
get that straight. We got a nest of scorpions out here and they love her. No
dice.”
    “Okay. Cool off! But listen, if she begins to pant or the
opposite, if she heats up and doesn’t look like she’s breathing at all, you’ll
have to do mouth-to-mouth.”
    “Got it. I know emergency procedures.”
    “You’re up on that?”
    Wade ground his teeth. “I am up on that, Doc.”
    “Good. Okay, Shannon, you ready?”
    “Sure thing, Doc.” Shannon O’Donnell was Giles’ driver
today?
    Wonderful. Just what I need. My ex-wife’s sister
broadcasting what I do on my off hours. Shannon never missed a trick and
never failed to report it to the world. Even though the fire chief had warned
her often that she’d be dismissed for unprofessional conduct, she gave out
gossip as if she were the anchor on the ten o’clock news.
    “Benedict, look for me along the path of the Duck River. I’m
on a quarter horse.”
    “Will do. Take it slowly.”
    “I will,” Wade said and signed off then called Mo again.
“Call my bunkhouse and get my foreman to come meet me and take my animals. I’ll
be going with Miss Turner to the ER and I need my two horses taken to my barn.”
    Signing off with Mo, he crooned to his horse about how they
were going to cooperate and do this little trick nice and easy. One foot in a
stirrup, he swung himself up and his other leg over, settling Willow into the
curve of his arms. Careful of how she lay against his torso he cradled her
close. Shuddering in fear, he nestled his nose into the soft hair at her temple
and uttered a little prayer she’d be fine. As he raised his head, he trained
his gaze on the plush center of her lips and pressed his mouth there.
    She nigh unto purred. “If you think you can kiss me,” she
drawled, “and I won’t know it, you’re wrong.”
    He drew away, his lips curling in delight that she was back
with him. He kneed his horse to begin a walk and heard the other mount
following behind. “I’m trying to save your pretty hide. Can you breathe? How’s
your heart rate?”
    “Breathing is good. Heart rate, not so.”
    “No?” He glared at her, his blood pumping in