Free Cindy Holby by Angel’s End Page A

taken to a doctor. Which meant they probably didn’t know who he was. How could they? He’d had nothing on him that said his name, or where he was from.
That he was running from dangerous outlaws…
    Cade still had no answers. All he knew for certain was he was warm, he was dry, and he was alive. He was also naked and the pegs on the wall didn’t hold anything that looked like it would fit him. Where were his clothes?
    Cade closed his eyes again. He sent his mind back to the last thing he remembered.
There was an angel
…Images flashed through his mind. Were they real or dreams? He heard footsteps. Cade kept his eyes closed and willed his body to relax, and his breathing to stay even.
    “Dodger,” a voice whispered. “Come here.” He felt thestrapping under the mattress shift as the dog jumped from the bed then the soft snick of toenails on the wood floor. Was it her? The angel? Was she real? A door opened and a blast of cold air moved through the room. It smelled fresh and clean.
    Snow?
Bits and pieces of memories came to him. Flashes of faces moved quickly by, gone before he could center on them. Footsteps sounded once more, coming closer. He wasn’t ready. He didn’t know where he was or whom he was with. He kept his eyes closed as the footsteps came closer and finally stopped by the bed. They were light. They had to be the woman’s.
Who is she?
    Her touch was light and quick. Just the barest hint of her fingertips on his forehead, and the scent of roses as they pushed the hair back. It took every bit of his willpower to stay still beneath it. He wanted more. Beyond the roses, he smelled fresh bread. It filled him with a sense of peace. Roses and bread. What a combination.
    “Sleep is the best medicine now,” she said. “I imagine you’ll be hungry when you wake up.”
    He was. Starving. His stomach nearly growled in response. He felt her move, heard the gentle swish of her skirts and the soft sound of her feet on the hardwood floor.
    “Sleep well Pastor Key.”
    Cade opened his eyes. It all came back to him. Fitch, the escape, being shot, stumbling around in the forest after his horse died, finding the camp, Davis showing up and the ensuing gun battle.
Pastor Key’s dead because of me…
The man who helped him. The man who thought he’d been put in Cade’s path by God to help him. Timothy Key. Another one of God’s practical jokes, on both him and Timothy Key. And this woman thought he was the pastor.
    “I’ve got to get out of here.”
    He looked around the room once more. There was no sign of his clothes. The only thing that looked remotely familiar was the book on the bedside table. Cade attemptedto reach for it and realized how weak he really was. It didn’t matter. He could see it now. It was Timothy’s Bible. An envelope stuck out of it.
    “I have my letter of introduction right there.” Timothy pointed to the pocket of the large overcoat. “A recommendation from Bishop Henderson himself.”
He’d taken Timothy’s overcoat and his Bible. Whoever had found him, assumed he was Timothy Key.
    Isn’t that what you wanted?
It had been his hope that whoever else was trailing him would find the bodies and assume that the burned one was his. That he and Davis had killed each other. That they would think he was dead and would leave him alone. It had never been his intention to assume Timothy’s identity.
    Wasn’t it?
He’d taken his coat. Because it was warm. Because Fitch and his gang knew he didn’t have a coat like that.
    “I took his Bible.” Why? Fitch knew he didn’t have a Bible. But more than that, he wanted to protect it. He didn’t want any of Fitch’s gang laughing over it. Kicking it around. Throwing it in the fire. They would have.
You used to be one of them…
But he wasn’t now. He’d drawn the line. There were some things he simply would not do. Murdering the husband of a woman Fitch wanted, then delivering the woman to Fitch so he could take their land was the something