by Bobbi Smith
And then reality returned.
She was glad it was dark, so he couldn’t see that she was blushing. She was embarrassed to have lost control the way she had.
“We’d better get back,” he told her.
“You’re right . . . we’d better.”
She started back toward the campsite, leaving Trent to follow.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mason knew something was wrong when he awoke just before dawn the following morning. He felt disoriented and confused, and weaker than he’d ever felt before. He realized he needed help.
Struggling to maneuver himself out of the bed, he managed to get to his feet and stagger through the open bedroom doorway. Waves of dizziness swept over him. He braced himself against the wall and shook his head, trying to clear it, but it did little good. Keeping one hand on the wall to steady himself, he moved on down the hall toward the front of the house. He made it to the front door and had just managed to open it when his strength completely gave out and he collapsed.
Tom and some of the ranch hands were already up and working. They noticed that the front door was open, and, realizing that they hadn’t seen Rose up at the house yet, Tom went to see if there was anything wrong.
“It’s Mason! Somebody go get Rose!” he shouted the minute he caught sight of Mason lying on the floor. “I’m going to need some help here!”
Two of the men ran to help him while another went to get Rose.
“Take it easy with him,” Tom directed as they carefully lifted Mason to carry him back to his bed. Tom feared Mason’s gunshot wound might reopen if they tried to move him too quickly.
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know, but he seems awful warm.”
Mason let out a low groan as they laid him back on the bed.
When Rose came rushing in, she took one look at his flushed features and knew what was wrong.
“He’s got a fever.” She had feared this would happen. “One of you ride to town and get Dr. Murray out here.”
She took charge, trying to cool Mason down as best she could while she awaited the doctor’s arrival.
Larissa was home alone when she heard someone pounding on the front door and calling out for her father. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence. There were a lot of times when emergencies brought people to the house at all hours of the day and night. In fact, a ranch hand from the Nolan spread had come to the house just past midnight the night before. He had told them that Mrs. Nolan had been in labor for a long time and was having a difficult time delivering her baby. Both her father and her mother had ridden in the carriage together out to the Nolan ranch. Her mother’s talent as a midwife was well known.
Now Larissa wondered who else was in need of her father. When she opened the door to find Burt, one of the men from the Lazy R, standing there, she was struck by the fear that something might have happened to Mason.
“Is the doc home?” Burt asked, looking past her in hopes of catching a glimpse of her father. “We need him out at the ranch.”
“What’s happened?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Mason,” he began. “He’s taken a fever, and it’s bad.”
“My father’s not here.” Her mind was racing as she tried to decide what to do. She knew she could send word to the Nolan place about what had happened, but there was no guarantee that her father could get out to help Mason anytime soon.
“Where is he? I’ll go get him.”
“He’s out at the Nolan ranch. Mrs. Nolan’s delivering her baby. Ride out and tell him what happened, and tell him I’ve gone to the Lazy R to help with Mason.”
“You’re going?” he asked, surprised.
“I know some of what my father does to treat fevers. I’ll do what I can until he can get there.”
Larissa had always been fascinated by her father’s healing ability. He had taught her a lot about caring for the sick and infirm, and she knew that knowledge was going to come to good use right now.
“Don’t you need somebody to ride out to the ranch with you?”
“I’ll be all right. You just hurry and get word to my father.”
Burt hastened to leave. It was a long ride out to the Nolan ranch.
Larissa went into the room where her father kept some of his medicine and supplies. She gathered the few things he’d told her were used to treat fevers and got ready to go. Since her parents had taken the carriage, she knew she was going to have to ride out on horseback. She quickly changed into her riding clothes and went to saddle up her horse. There was no time to waste. Mason needed her.
Dottie lived next door to Dr. Murray and his family. She was never intentionally nosy, but she’d been awakened by all the noise of the emergency in the middle of the night and had been unable to fall back asleep. She’d been up ever since, wondering what had happened. When she’d seen Burt pounding on the door at the doctor’s house just now, she’d feared something was terribly wrong out at the Lazy R, and hurried over to find out. Just as she reached the front of the house, where Larissa’s horse was saddled and waiting, Larissa came outside dressed for riding and carrying one of her father’s small black tote bags.
“Larissa, what’s happened?” Dottie asked.
Larissa quickly explained about her father’s absence and Mason’s suddenly worsening condition and high fever. “I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do to help Mason until my father gets there. I don’t know if I can do much, but I’m going to try.”
“You say he’s running a really high fever?”
“That’s what Burt told me.”
“Then let me get you the ammonia compound I’ve got. It helps with dangerous fevers.”
“Thank you, Dottie.” She knew of her elderly neighbor’s past history, that she’d worked as a nurse during the war.
Dottie rushed into her house to get the compound, then hurried back out to give it to Larissa. “Wipe him down with this. It will help cool him off, and some say it even eases the pain.”
“I will.”
“Hurry on, now. He needs you.”
Dottie stood back and watched as Larissa mounted up and rode out of town. She’d known for a long time how Larissa felt about Mason, and she could well imagine the anxiety the young woman was feeling. She started back inside, offering up a silent prayer for Mason and Mrs. Nolan.
Rose heard a rider coming and hoped it was Dr. Murray. She rushed to the front of the house to let him in, only to discover it was his daughter, Larissa, and she was riding in all alone.
“Where’s your pa?” Rose demanded as she went outside to meet her.
“He’s out at the Nolan place. I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as he’s finished. I brought some of his medicines with me. I thought I could help until my father arrives.”
“Well, come on in,” Rose said, quickly ushering her inside. “Mason is not doing well.”
Rose went on to tell Larissa what had happened that morning as she led her back to Mason’s bedroom. “It was lucky his wound didn’t reopen when he fell, but his fever is high.”
Larissa followed the housekeeper into Mason’s room and stood for a moment, just staring at him as he lay in bed. He was flushed, and she could tell his breathing was fast and labored.
“I’ve been keeping a wet towel on his forehead, and wiping him down to try to cool him off.”
“That’s good. I brought quinine. I know the dosage my father always gives, so we can start with that, and Dottie gave me an ammonia compound that she says will help cool him down, too.”
Larissa went to Mason’s bedside and quickly set about preparing the medicine the way she’d watched her father do. A pitcher of water, a basin, and a glass were on the nightstand, so she mixed up the solution there. It wasn’t easy, but with Rose’s help she lifted his shoulders up enough so she could get him to swallow the medication. She was relieved that he managed to get most of it down.
“What more do you think we should do?” Rose asked.
“I think you’ve been doing the right thing, trying to keep him as cool as possible. I can take over for a while, if you want to rest.”
“Thanks. If you need anything, I’ll be in the parlor.”
When Rose had gone, Larissa emptied the water from the basin and got out Dottie’s compound. She poured it in the basin, then soaked the small towel Rose had been using to cool Mason off and began to wipe it across his forehead and down the side of his neck. With stroke after gentle stroke, she wiped his shoulders and arms. She could feel the heat emanating from him and hoped her efforts would work quickly to break the debilitating fever.
“Mason Ryan, you have got to get well,” Larissa ordered in a low voice as she continued to lovingly stroke his neck and shoulders with the wet towel. The horror of his being shot was terrible enough to deal with, but to think that now she might lose him from a fever was too much for her to bear.
She stared down at the broad, tan width of his chest. Though it was heavily bandaged, there was still no doubt he was a strong man. He’d been through a lot, but she believed he could make it. She offered up a prayer that the fever would break soon. She didn’t want him to suffer any more than he already had.
It was about an hour later when she heard someone come into the house, and then the sound of a man speaking with Rose in the parlor. She thought she recognized the voice as belonging to Rose’s husband, Tom, who was the foreman on the Lazy R. She found out a few minutes later that she’d been right, when Rose came down the hall with him to check on Mason.
“How’s he doing?” Tom asked quietly.
“I got a dose of quinine in him, and I’ve been trying to cool him down,” Larissa explained.
“He’s burning up; that’s for sure.” Tom could tell just by looking at Mason. “Do you have any idea when your father might get here?”
“I wish I did,” she answered. “I sent Burt out to the Nolan place to let him know he was needed here.”
Mason emitted a low groan just then, and she quickly turned back to sponging him down with the cloth.
“What are you using?” Tom asked.
“It’s a special ammonia compound. Sometimes it helps reduce a bad fever like this. Dottie gave it to me when I told her about Mason.”
“I hope it works,” Tom said gravely.
“I do, too.”
“Is there anything else we can do to help until your father shows up?”
“I don’t think so. I’ll stay with him and keep sponging him down,” she answered.
“All right. If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll be out in the kitchen,” Rose said.
As they started from the room, Tom paused to look back at Mason one last time. He gave a slow nod toward Larissa, his expression grave, then walked out.
Larissa pulled the chair up next to the bed and sat down beside Mason. Her gaze went over him, tracing a loving visual caress over his ruggedly handsome features and the broad width of his shoulders. There was no doubt in her mind how she felt about him. She loved him. She always had and she always would. She didn’t know if he felt the same way about her, but right then it didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting the fever to break and making sure he recovered. Reaching out, she took his hand in hers and then stayed quiet, waiting and hoping that he had enough strength left in him to battle back.
Another hour passed, and Larissa noticed that Mason seemed to grow tenser as he lay there. It happened suddenly. Caught up in the grip of the fever, he began to toss restlessly about on the bed, fighting some unseen enemy and shouting out as visions of the hell he’d lived through began to torment him.
The memory of the bullet slamming into him tore at him. . . .
The agonizing knowledge that he hadn’t been able to help Abbie when she’d need him the most . . .
Devastating images of his sister helpless at the hands of the murderous renegades . . .
“Abbie—no!” he groaned, thrashing and twisting about. Then, suddenly, he tried to sit up.
Fearful that he would injure himself even more, Larissa put her hands on his shoulders and tried to press him back down on the bed. “Mason, Mason—it’s all right!”
But Mason was beyond reason. He knew only that someone was trying to restrain him—to stop him from reaching Abbie. He reached up and grabbed her wrists and shoved her away from him.
“I have to get to Abbie.”
Larissa staggered backward from the bed. She couldn’t believe the strength Mason had mustered to push her away. Again he tried to get up, and she went back to his side.
She spoke to him soothingly, not wanting him to hurt himself even more. “Mason, it’s all right—you’re home.”
His eyes were open, but even though he was looking straight at her, she could tell he didn’t see her. He was delirious in the grip of the fever. Then, as quickly as his violent moves had come on, they stopped, and he collapsed back on his pillow and went still, closing his eyes again.
Rose had heard Mason’s shout and rushed back to the bedroom to see what was wrong and whether she could help. She came in just as Larissa was trying to get him to lie still.
“What happened?”
“He’s delirious,” she explained, close to tears as she realized there had been no improvement in his condition.
“You go rest for a while. I’ll stay with him,” Rose said.
Larissa wanted to stay with Mason, but seeing him this way was breaking her heart. She went to stand in the parlor and, unable to help herself, gave vent to her tears. She tried not to make any sound. She didn’t want Rose to know how distraught she was.
And then she felt a gentle, comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Larissa.” Rose spoke softly to her. She understood what the young woman was going through.
Larissa drew a ragged breath and turned to give Rose a teary half smile.
“He’s quiet now, and hopefully that won’t happen again.”
“It’s just so hard to see him this way and not be able to do anything to help.” She looked past the housekeeper toward his bedroom doorway.
“Oh, but you are helping. You came here all on your own, when there was no one else available.” Rose could see the pain in Larissa’s eyes. “Go on back in there and stay with him. That’s where you want to be. That’s where you need to be.”
Larissa knew Rose was right. She wiped away her tears and returned to keep her vigil at Mason’s side.
Burt came back from his long trek to the Nolan ranch with word from her father that the baby had been born but that both the mother and child were sickly, and that he would get there as soon as he could make it.
The rest of the day passed slowly. Several times, different ranch hands came up to the house to check on Mason and see how he was doing. They kept hoping for some good news, but there was none. His condition had not changed.
As evening drew near, Rose got the meal ready to serve, and Larissa came out of the bedroom long enough to eat with her at the kitchen table.
“Will you be staying the night?” Rose asked, hoping Larissa wasn’t planning to leave.
“I’ll stay at least until my father arrives,” she promised.
“Thank you. I know Faith will be forever indebted to you when she learns what you’ve done, and I am, too.” Rose looked back down the hall toward Mason’s room. “I just hope to God he doesn’t get any worse overnight.”
She had voiced the fear that gripped them both.
“So do I.”
They shared a worried look across the table and said no more. Larissa found she couldn’t eat much, even though the food was delicious. She left most of her dinner on the plate and went back to keep watch over Mason.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Mason’s thoughts were jumbled, and nothing seemed real as he slowly came awake. His head hurt and he ached all over. He tried to remember what had happened during the day, but his mind was blank. He opened his eyes to look around, wondering what time it was, and it was then that he
saw her.
Larissa—asleep in a chair beside his bed in the dimly lit bedroom.
For a moment Mason thought he’d died and gone to heaven and that she was an angel, but then he realized he wasn’t dead. He felt too bad.
And with the recognition of the pain came memories.
Mason frowned, confused, wondering why she was there . . . with him.
“Larissa.” He managed to say her name, though his voice was hoarse.
Larissa awoke instantly at the sound of his voice and quickly went to him. “Mason, you’re awake.”
“What time is it?” he asked, trying to get oriented.
“It’s late—after midnight, I’m sure,” she told him.
“Why are you here?”
“You had a bad fever. Rose sent for my father, but he wasn’t home, so I came out to help her.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Early yesterday morning.” She gazed down at him, all the joy she was feeling over his obvious improvement shining in her eyes. “Thank God you’re better.”
“It was that bad? I don’t remember much.”
“Be glad that you don’t—it was terrible.”
“And you stayed?”
“My father still wasn’t back from the Nolan ranch, and I didn’t want to leave Rose here by herself. I was too afraid for you.”
Mason looked up at Larissa, seeing her beauty, and her kindness, and her generosity. Until this moment he hadn’t realized just how much he cared for her, but her devotion touched him, and he knew then the truth and depth of his feelings for her. He lifted his hand toward her, and he was glad when she didn’t hesitate to take it, holding it tight. Ever so gently, Mason drew her to him.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Oh, Mason.”
He slowly pulled her down close and kissed her.
Rose had chosen to sleep at the main house in the extra bedroom that night, just in case something happened. The sound of voices awakened her, and she feared Mason was delirious again. She got up, threw on her robe, and hurried toward the bedroom.
