Free Dark Warrior: Kid (Dark Cloth Series Book 2) by Lenore Wolfe

The same fear she’d been fighting, ever since she’d first woke, and they’d told her Kid had gone missing.
    Taking her hand off the knife, Kat tried for a smile—and knew she’d failed miserably, when she saw Hawk’s grin widen.
    Damn the man. What had gotten into him, anyhow? Teasing her at a time like this. Kid was like a brother to him. How could he joking, knowing they held Kid prisoner?
    At that reminder, Kat said, “That’s how they got him?” She let that sink in. Kid really was alive. “They’d had to arrest him?”
    Hawk nodded. “Did you think they’d get their hands on him any other way?”
    Kat knew that’s why she’d been so afraid. That had occurred to her. She’d known how difficult it would have been—to take him prisoner. She’d known it would be near impossible—to take any of these men while they had a breath in their body left to fight with. She’d been terrified that they’d taken Kid—by killing him.
    She couldn’t help but feel relieved to know he’d actually been arrested.
    Jake frowned, and Kat glanced at him sharply.
    “You do know that whatever they came up—wasn’t legal?” he asked, his gaze narrowed into the steely-slits that become part of his reputation.
    Mandy shooed the men out of the room. It took some doing, but with her help, Kat accomplished getting dressed. Standing up, she headed out of the room, and when she reached the front of Doc’s office, she opened the door and stepped out into the bright sunlight.
    The sun’s piercing light sent pain stabbing through her head, like someone had taken her skinnin’ knife and sank it through her temples. She fought not to groan, swallowing the bile that rose up in her throat.
    Hawk caught her just as her knees buckled. He turned and crossed back in through the door—depositing her into one of the chairs that Doc kept in his front office. “You’re not going anywhere,” he ordered.
    He waved any argument she could give him—not that she could give him much at that moment.
    Mandy took her husband’s hand. Gazing up into his golden gaze she smiled. “Carry her, Hawk. She won’t like it, but we both know she has to go.”
    He stared down at her. Finally, he nodded. “Ride out with Cord, one more time, and tell him to see if he can pick up that gunman’s trail,” he told her. “Have him take Ned, Pete and Old Charlie with him. If he does pick something up, have him send one of them to wire me—but tell him not to let up on the trail.
    In the end, it was Jake who picked Kat up and headed for the door. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know who’d done so, and she actually felt more than a little relieved that it hadn’t been Hawk. She’d never felt so small and helpless, and she knew she’d regret letting it happen, when she’d fully recovered. But, dammit, being carried like a helpless, broken invalid—beat the hell out of being left behind.
    He leaned his head down near her ear and said in low tones. “Try to relax, Kat. I won’t let them get away.”
    Kat swallowed away the tears that those simple words brought to her eyes. She could only nod. She couldn’t open her eyes, and she couldn’t manage any words. But none were needed.
    She kept her eyes shut, both to ward of the pain that the light of the sun caused—and to block out the humiliation of having to be carried. She could only imagine what the town’s people must have thought. They’d seen her fight—now she had to be carried like a baby.
    Within ten minutes or so, she felt him swing her up onto her feet, so she could manage the tiny stairs leading onto the train. He kept hold of her arm, as he took her to her berth and helped her to lay back onto it.
    She heard him leave the room, and seconds later she heard the door to the berth bang shut behind him. She heard his boots along the hall outside, the complete opposite of the silent steps of Hawk or Kid.
    She hadn’t realized Mandy had followed them onto the train until she came into