by Marla Monroe
Kate didn’t stop to see what happened next. She ran for Mike. He was bleeding but alive. She held her hands over the wound to his upper chest in an effort to stop the bleeding. Then Marcus was there pulling her off of him.
“Move and let me see about him, Kate. I’ll take care of him.” Marcus tore open Mike’s shirt to look at the wound then he stuffed the shirt over it and pressed down.
Kate couldn’t stop the tears as she kissed Mike’s forehead then settled his head in her lap.
“Marcus?” Bruce hurried over to them. “How is he?”
“He’s alive. He’s been beaten up pretty thoroughly, though. We need to get the bullet out so we can stop the bleeding.”
“Please, you’ve got to help him. Please don’t let him die.”
“Kate, calm down and look at me.” Bruce turned her toward him.
She had a difficult time seeing him through her tears.
“We need to move him to our place because we have everything we need there to help him. I need your help though, so you’ve got to be calm and do what I say. Can you do that?” Bruce held her shoulders in his big hands.
Kate swallowed hard and nodded her head up and down. “What do I need to do?”
“Where are the keys to the truck?” he asked.
“In his pocket, I’m sure.”
Bruce searched carefully through Mike’s pockets and pulled out a set of keys.
“I’m going to go get the truck and bring it around here. I need you to go get blankets and a pillow out of the house and come right back here with them.”
Kate nodded and sprinted for the house. She grabbed the blanket off the couch then another one along with her pillow. She grabbed them off Mike’s bed because it was closer. She raced back outside in time to see Bruce pulling back around with the truck. He stopped not far from where Mike and Marcus were. She stood trembling from head to foot, holding the blankets and pillow.
Bruce opened the back door and grabbed one of the blankets. He doubled it and laid it across the seat then added the pillow.
“Hold on to the blanket until we get him in there. Then you’re going to wrap it around both of you so you can hold pressure on his wound. Got it?” He stared at her. There was compassion in his eyes.
“I’ll hold pressure on his wound,” she repeated.
“Good. Marcus? Are you ready?” Bruce helped Marcus pick Mike up and lay him in the back seat. “Now get in the floorboard and wrap the cover around you both and hold pressure.”
Kate was already in the truck and wrapping the covers around them when Marcus climbed in the cab and put the truck in gear.
“Where are you going?” she asked Bruce.
“I’m going to be right behind you with the horses. I can’t leave them here.”
Kate only nodded and turned her attention back to Mike. The ride to their place seemed to take forever. She winced at every bump in the road. Mike seemed oblivious to it all, though, thank God.
Please, God, let him be okay. I don’t know what I’ll do without him. Kate prayed the entire trip. When they finally rolled to a stop, she breathed a sigh of relief and waited for one of the men to come get them. The door opened and Marcus climbed in next to her.
“Let me see how he’s doing.”
Kate moved back and waited for Marcus to check on him before he nodded for her to return to holding pressure.
Bruce stuck his head inside. “I’m going to pull the saddles and let the horses go in the barn. I’ll be right there to help you.”
“I’m going to put him on the kitchen table to cut out the bullet. I’ll need you for that.” Marcus began pulling Mike out of the truck.
Kate held Mike’s head until Marcus could pick him up and carry him to the house.
“Run up ahead and open the door. It’s not locked.”
Kate pulled up the blanket and ran for the door. She opened it wide and stood back while Marcus carried Mike through it and on into the kitchen. He laid Mike on the big wooden table and began pulling off the rest of his shirt. She wrung her hands, unsure what to do.
“Hold pressure while I round up everything I need, Kate. Talk to him and tell him to hold on.” Marcus squeezed her arm then disappeared into the other room.
“Come on, Mike. Hold on for me. I can’t do this without you, Mike. Please, don’t die on me.” Tears continued to roll down her cheeks.
Bruce hurried in through the back door. He looked at her then went to the sink and filled a boiler with water and sat it on the stove. He turned it on then returned to the sink and washed his hands.
“How’s he doing over there, Kate?” he asked as he carefully cleaned his hands and forearms.
“I don’t know. God, he’s so pale.” She sniffed, trying to keep from breaking down.
“Hang on, Kate. We’re going to do everything we can for him.” Bruce dried his hands on a clean towel then walked over and began washing off Mike’s chest with a cloth he had soaked in the hot water from the sink.
“I’m so scared, Bruce. He’s all I have.”
“I know. Just keep holding pressure while I clean around you.”
Marcus walked in with a box, which he sat on one of the chairs. He took out a few things and dumped them in the boiler on the stove. Then he began cleaning Mike’s chest with iodine.
“Kate, look at me.” Bruce turned her head from staring at Mike. “I need you to look at me and concentrate.”
She swallowed and nodded, looking at him now. He held her shoulders in his big hands and smiled. He had a nice one when he did. He just didn’t seem to do it much.
“We’re going to have to cut the bullet out of his shoulder to stop the bleeding so he can get better. It’s going to be rough. If you don’t think you can handle it, go in the living room and wrap up on the couch until we finish.”
“I’m not leaving him,” she said, shaking her head.
“Then you have to stay out of the way no matter what happens. We can’t take care of him and you, too. Understand?”
“Kate?” Mike’s weak voice reached her.
She pushed around Bruce and went to Mike.
“Mike. Oh, God. You’re hurt bad, Mike.”
“I know, Kate. You’ll be okay, though.”
“I’m fine. Bruce and Marcus are going to take care of you. You’ll be fine, Mike. You’ve got to be fine.” She cupped his cheek in her hand. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
“Bruce?” Mike looked toward the other man.
“Yeah, Mike. I’m right here.
“Get my wallet out of my pocket.”
“We can do that later, man,” Bruce said.
“No, Got to now. Might not be able to later.”
Bruce reached under him and pulled out his wallet.
“Inside are Kate’s papers. Take them. Giving her to you. Take care of her.”
“What papers? What are you talking about, Mike?” Kate stared at the folded-up papers in Bruce’s hand.
“Kate isn’t my wife. She’s my sister.” Mike was panting now.
“We can talk about it later, Mike. Rest now.” Bruce didn’t open the folded papers.
“Mike?” Kate couldn’t believe what he had done. “What are you doing?”
“Kate, later. Mike, drink this.” Marcus raised Mike’s head and gave him a bottle of whiskey to drink.
Kate just shook her head and stepped back. Bruce grabbed her when she would have fallen. He held her for a second then helped her sit down on one of the kitchen chairs.
“Kate. Don’t think about it right now. First we have to take care of Mike.” He stuffed the papers into his pocket and turned to help Marcus.
Kate couldn’t help but think about it. Her brother had had papers drawn up on her to give her to someone. He had made her a piece of property, and he was holding the papers to her life. She never would have believed he would do something like that. She watched him close his eyes and fall asleep.
Chapter Six
Bruce helped Marcus opera
te on Mike, praying the man would make it. If he didn’t, he wasn’t sure how Kate would do. Hell, he was still in shock to find out they weren’t married, but brother and sister.
Marcus finally finished the last stitch and covered the wound with a gauze dressing and tape. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and looked at Bruce. They each looked over at where Kate sat staring into space. She was in shock.
“I’ll sit with him for the first few hours,” Bruce said. “You get cleaned up and get some sleep. Take Kate with you. She needs to rest.”
“No, I’ll take the first watch. You take care of Kate. I want to monitor him for a couple of hours. Then I’ll come wake you up.” Marcus walked over to the sink and began cleaning up.
Bruce sighed. He walked over to where Kate sat and knelt in front of her.
“Kate. Let’s go get some rest, baby. He’s sleeping now, and Marcus is going to watch him.”
“I’m not leaving him. I’ll watch him.”
“No. You need to get some rest so you can help us with him tomorrow when he wakes up. He’s going to be in pain and will probably run a fever. We’ll have to keep him sponged off. I’ll need your help with that.”
“I don’t want to leave him. He might not—he might not wake up,” she finally whispered.
“He’s going to wake up, Kate. We’re going to get you cleaned so you can rest. You can sit with him tomorrow. Come on.” He stood up and held out his hand for her.
Kate looked at it then up at him. She drew in a deep breath and took his hand, letting him draw her to her feet. She stopped to kiss Mike’s cheek then continued to follow Bruce out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He led her to the master bedroom and closed the door.
“I’m going to run you a bath, Kate. You’ll feel better once you’ve cleaned up.” She just nodded and stood in the middle of the bedroom floor. “Why don’t you go ahead and get out of those dirty clothes?”
He left her there and hurried into the bathroom to run the bathwater for her. She was in shock. Bruce figured that too much had happened to her. Between being attacked, seeing her brother shot, finding out he’d had papers drawn up on her, and watching him operated on, she was on overload. He would be lucky if she didn’t pass out on him. Bruce shook his head and watched the water creep up in the tub.
When he finished running the water, he walked out of the bathroom to find her still standing in the same place without having gotten undressed. He sighed and walked over to her. She looked up when he stood in front of her.
“Let’s get you undressed and in the tub, Kate.” He pulled off her jacket then started to pull off her T-shirt when she suddenly came to herself.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting you undressed and into the tub.” He pulled the shirt over her head.
Kate crossed her arms over her bra. “I can undress myself.”
“Okay. You get undressed and into the tub. I’ll go get you something to wear to bed.”
Kate nodded and hurried into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Bruce was glad he didn’t hear the door lock. He walked down to his room and searched through his things until he found an old button-down shirt that would cover her to her knees. He didn’t have anything else that would fit her lower half. Everything would fall off.
He walked back downstairs to check on Mike. Marcus was putting away the last of the supplies. He’d transferred Mike to the couch and had drawn up a kitchen chair by it.
“How’s he doing?”
“Holding his own is about all I can say. It’s not good, though. He was beaten pretty bad as well as shot. I think he has a couple of broken ribs. If he gets pneumonia, he’s gone.”
Bruce nodded. “Kate’s in the bathtub. She’s in shock.”
“I’m not surprised. Man, can you believe it? She’s not married to him. They’re brother and sister.”
“Yeah.” He remembered the papers in his pocket. He pulled them out and unfolded them.
“Looks like ownership papers all right,” Marcus said, looking over his shoulder at them.
“I’ll be damned. He had already filled in our names. He was planning on giving her to us all along.” Bruce blew out a breath. “Fuck.”
“Why do you suppose he chose us to take her?”
“I’d say he realized he couldn’t take care of her by himself anymore and figured we were decent enough men. I can’t believe he didn’t choose one of the others, though. They are closer to her age, I’m sure.” Bruce folded up the papers and carefully placed them in his wallet.
“Get some rest, Bruce. I have a feeling we’re in for a long few days keeping Mike alive.” Marcus sat down on the chair next to the couch.
“Wake me up in a couple of hours. Try to keep from waking Kate up, though. Getting her to go to sleep is going to be tough.”
Bruce walked back upstairs and knocked on the bathroom door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Kate. I have something for you to wear.”
“Just leave it on the bed and I’ll get it.”
“Come on out, Kate. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to take a shower when you get out.”
Kate slowly opened the door, holding a towel around her. She held out one hand toward him. Bruce smiled and handed her the shirt. She closed the door back. He heard her moving around in the other room. Finally, the door opened again and she walked out wearing his old flannel shirt. He had been right. It came down to her knees, though the sides were rounded and showed a good bit of thigh.
“Climb on into bed. I’ll cover you with the extra blanket.” He held up the sheets.
She hurried under the covers and watched as he added the extra blanket. She still looked cold, but he’d be out of the shower soon enough and warm her up. He almost smiled. That was going to be a fight, he was sure. She would balk at sleeping with him.
He walked into the bathroom and quickly stripped before stepping into the shower. He had brought another pair of thermal bottoms to sleep in. As soon as he had cleaned up and dried off, he stepped into them. He walked out of the bathroom and headed for the bed. When he nudged her with his hand to get her to scoot over some, her eyes flew open and she yelped.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting into bed. Scoot over.”
“You’re not sleeping with me!” She tightened her hold on the covers.
“Listen, Kate. It’s going to get very cold in here in another couple of hours when the sun goes down. You can’t sleep in this bed alone. All we’re going to do is sleep. I need to rest before Marcus comes in and wakes me up to watch Mike for a few hours while he sleeps. It’s going to take all of us over the next few days to keep your brother alive. Do you understand? You’ve got to rest while you can, Kate.”
“I understand, but I don’t know you,” she whispered, near tears again.
“Just sleep, Kate. That’s all.”
She stared up at him for several seconds then slowly backed across the bed to let him climb in.
“You’re getting the spot I already warmed up,” she complained.
Bruce chuckled and pulled her over almost on top of him. “Lay your head on my shoulder and go to sleep, Kate.”
She lay stiff as a board for a long time before she finally relaxed and fell asleep. Bruce ran his hand lightly over her hair and curled his fingers in it. He couldn’t believe she was there in the bed with him, in his arms. His cock knew it, though. He sighed. If she woke up and felt his dick pushing against her belly, she would scream bloody murder.
Bruce drew in her scent and rested his chin against the top of her head. She felt so right there next lying on him. He stiffened his jaw. He wasn’t going to let himself fall in love, though. It hurt too much when the one you loved was gone. And they always left. Either voluntarily or through death. His mother had left. His first wife had left. Then Irene had been killed. No, it was better if he didn’t take that step again.
He breathed in her essence once again and let him
self drift into sleep.
* * * *
Marcus stood up and stretched. It was time to wake up Bruce and let him take his place watching over Mike. So far the man was alive and holding his own, barely. He was running a low-grade fever, but nothing major so far. The last time he had checked the wound and changed the dressing, it looked pretty good. If he could make it through the next twelve hours, he had a fighting chance.
He walked into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee for Bruce. He would need it to wake up and stay awake for the next four or five hours. Marcus was looking forward to climbing into bed. Not just for the sleep, but also because it meant being near Kate. His cock stirred. Fuck! He couldn’t think about her without his dick getting ideas.
He poured a cup of coffee and, after looking in on Mike one last time, carried the coffee upstairs to wake Bruce. When he walked into the bedroom, it was to find Kate burrowed into his brother’s side like a little rabbit, seeking the warmth of his body. Marcus looked relaxed and at peace for the first time in a long time. Kate would be good for them if they could convince her they would take good care of her.
Despite her brother having given her to them, neither of them would take her without her agreement. They didn’t force women to share their bed. Seduce, though, was a different matter. If she could be seduced, they would figure out how.
She was lovely to look at lying there wrapped up in his brother. From her honey-blonde hair to her gently rounded belly to the flare of her plump hips, she exuded sex appeal, and she didn’t even know it. That was part of her allure. She had no idea how beautiful she was to them. God knows they had tried to keep their attraction a secret since they had thought she was married. Now, knowing otherwise, they were free to make it known to her.
Marcus moved further into the room and sat the coffee cup on the bedside table on Bruce’s side. He leaned in and whispered to the other man.
“Bruce? Wake up. Coffee’s on.”
Bruce woke without moving a muscle other than his eyelids. He looked up to see Marcus squatting next to the bed and sniffed the air. He started to roll out then realized he had someone next to him. Confusion crossed his face then was gone in an instant, almost as if it were never there.
