Free Tales of Western Romance by Madeline Baker Page A

last
shot.”
    She went cold all over. Gray had been shot
and they were miles from help of any kind.
    Why wasn’t he stopping? They had to…to…do
something about the bleeding. What, she didn’t know.
    She wrapped her arms tighter around Gray as
he slumped over the stallion’s neck.
    “ Relámpago! ” she hollered.
“Whoa!” She clung to Gray, certain he’d break his neck if he fell
off when the horse was going so fast.
    Thunder echoed overhead and she glanced
upward. The sky, clear just a moment ago, was suddenly dark,
shutting out both moon and stars. A brisk wind sprang up. A bolt of
lightning split the night, triggering a memory of another night.
Only it had been raining then.
    She closed her eyes, her arms tight around
Gray. “Home, Relámpago. ” She whispered the words like a
prayer. “Please take us home.”
    The word home seemed to echo through
the night.
    When Relámpago came to a halt, Bonnie
opened her eyes. Closed them. Opened them again. And practically
fell off the stallion’s back when she realized they were in front
of her cabin at Collin’s Dude Ranch.
    Clinging to Gray, she started to holler for
help, then quickly closed her mouth, her mind whirling with
questions for which she had no answer. They were back in her time.
How could she explain Gray’s presence? The fact that he’d been
shot? That he had no driver’s license? No identification of any
kind? No medical insurance?
    He stirred, then sat upright. “What
happened?”
    “ Relámpago brought us
home.”
    “ Home?”
    “ We’re back in my time.”
    Gray blinked several times, then glanced at
his surroundings ~ several small log cabins stood in a row. To his
left, a larger building was silhouetted in the moonlight. The air
smelled of grass and hay and horses. “This is where you live?”
    “ No.” She slid over Relámpago’s rump and moved up beside Gray. “This is the dude ranch I told you
about. Can you walk? We need to get you inside and stop the
bleeding.”
    With a nod, he slid off the stallion’s back
then stood beside the horse, one hand braced on the stallion’s
neck.
    Bonnie slid her arm around Gray’s waist. Side
by side, they staggered to the front door. Thankfully, it was
unlocked. She opened the door, only then wondering if Mrs. Collin’s
had rented it to someone else in her absence.
    It took some maneuvering, but she finally got
him into the bedroom. Propping him against the door jamb, she
pulled the covers from the bed, spread a towel over the sheet, then
eased him onto the mattress.
    She hesitated a moment before pulling his
sodden shirt from his trousers.
    “ It’s not as bad as it looks,” Gray
said.
    “ It’s not?” It looked bad to her. There
was blood everywhere.
    “ The bullet just grazed me.”
    “ What should I do?”
    “ Wash away the blood, pour some whiskey
on it, then bandage me up.”
    Whiskey? Where was she going to get whiskey?
The strongest thing she had was a bottle of aspirin.
    She’d worry about that part later. Right now,
she had to get the bleeding stopped.
    She filled a pan with hot water, found a wash
cloth and another clean towel, and returned to Gray. Trying not to
gag, she washed the blood from his side, revealing a shallow,
ragged gash where the bullet had plowed through his flesh.
Fortunately, she didn’t think it needed stitching. When the wound
was clean, she doused it with water, then tore a pillow case into
strips and wrapped it tightly around Gray’s waist. When that was
done, she offered him four aspirin for the pain, pulled off his
boots, socks, and jeans, and covered him with the blanket.
    He murmured, “thank you,” and was asleep
before she could respond.
    She stood staring down at him a moment,
thinking how remarkable it was that they had made it back to her
time. Bending down, she brushed a lock of hair from his brow,
kissed his cheek, and then smiled. She had come to South Dakota
looking for a real cowboy and found an Indian instead.

Chapter