Texas Proud (Vincente 2) (10 page)

She felt so helpless, and her voice seemed
trapped in her throat. Why did her chest feel as if
it were on fire, and the rest of her felt ice cold?
Why couldn't she move? "Where... am 17

"Rachel, you are at Casa del Sol. I brought you
here after you were shot do you remember?"

She tried to think past the nausea that rocked
her in waves, and past the throbbing pain that
sapped her strength. Shot had he said she'd been
shot? Her eyes widened and terror iced through
her veins. She flinched when Noble reached out
to her. She wished she could get up, move, run!
But when she tried to rise, Noble's hand came
down on her shoulder to hold her in place. It
didn't take much effort for him to subdue her, because she was as weak as a newborn baby.

His voice came to her muted, as if he were
speaking to her from a deep cavern. "Rachel,
you've been shot and "he started to explain.

"You... shot me." She licked her lips. "And
now you want to finish me off?" Her eyes fell to
the knife and deeper terror took possession of her.
"Go ahead I can't stop you."

Noble felt sick inside because she feared him.
How could she think he'd harm her? He remembered her at the river, beautiful, tantalizing, irresistible, and he spoke to her with gentleness. "You mustn't distress yourself Try to remain calm." He
wanted to wipe away her fear. "I only want to help
you, Rachel. You should know that I would never
do you harm."

Rachel tore her gaze away from Noble's and
looked for help from the Mexican woman who
seemed to be studying her with compassion.
"H-help me, senora...he...he will" Darkness
hovered over Rachel like an ominous bird of prey,
circling, circling until there was only a tiny pinpoint of light. Her instincts were sharp, but her
body was encumbered by weakness. Her hope,
like the light, was quickly being swallowed by
darkness, leaving her powerless to defend herself.
Rachel allowed the blackness to win. She floated
on an endless sea where there was no pain - a
safe, dark place to hide.

If this was what it felt like to die, she thought,
it wasn't so bad.

Noble took a deep breath and gripped the knife
handle, nodding at Margretta. "It's a blessing that
she's lost consciousness again." He crossed himself, a prayer lingering on his lips. He needed
God's help to guide his hands on his quest to save
Rachel.

Rachel awoke in a state of confusion. She felt as
if a weight were pressing down on her chest, and
when she attempted to move, searing pain made
her head spin, and bile rose in her throat. She
gasped for breath and was finally able to take air into her lungs. After a moment, she turned her
head to stare at the lamp flickering on a nearby
table. The feeble flame lent very little light to the
darkened corners of the room.

Everything was unfamiliar. She had never seen
the massive hand-carved wardrobe that was in her
line of view. Inch by inch she turned her head to
puzzle over the double doors that stood open, allowing a slight breeze to circulate through the
room. She surmised that the doors led to a balcony, because she could see the treetops.

Where was she?

As she became more alert, she could hear the
mumbling of male voices just outside the door,
but they weren't speaking loud enough for her to
hear what they were saying. And did she really
care? She was so weary, she just wanted to sleep.

Suddenly the door opened and Noble stepped
into the room, his dark gaze going directly to her.
"She's awake," he said to someone behind him.

Vague memories flickered through her mind.
She remembered now she was at Casa del Sol.
She took a deep breath, allowing air to rush into
her lungs. Bits and pieces of memory fell into
place. She'd been swimming naked with Noble.
She clutched at the sheet, remembering how wantonly she had thrown herself at him. But after that
everything was a blank. No matter how hard she
concentrated, she couldn't recall how she got to
the Casa del Sol.

Rachel cried out with relief when Dr. Nathan Stanhope came into the room. Calm settled over
her and she was comforted by the presence of the
doctor who had brought her, and most of the babies born in Madragon County, into the world.

Rachel tried to rise but she didn't have the
strength. She tried to speak but her throat tightened and she couldn't utter a word. She wanted
to tell Dr. Stanhope that she was in danger in this
house. Again she tried to move but it felt as though
she were pinned to the bed. Her eyes were pleading as she said in a raspy voice that was hardly
audible, "Please... take me away from here, Dr.
Stanhope."

The short, wiry, slightly balding man bent over
her, his soft gray eyes reflecting serenity. His
broad brow wrinkled as he smiled at her. Rachel
knew that his profession was his life. He'd never
married, so his devotion was to the babies he'd
brought into the world. Rachel looked into his
calming eyes, knowing she'd been rescued.

"I'll have to examine your wound, Rachel, so I
can determine if you can make the trip to the Broken Spur."

Rachel's eyes went to Noble and then back to
the doctor, her heart contracting with fear. "I
want to speak to you... alone, Dr. Stanhope."

He turned to Noble. "Wait outside while I examine her. I'll call you if I need anything."

Noble nodded grimly and left, closing the door
quietly behind him. He leaned against the wall
outside his bedroom, waiting for the doctor to tell him Rachel's condition. He hoped that by removing the bullet, he hadn't done her more harm than
good.

Rachel's tongue darted out to moisten her dry lips.
"You have to get me away from here." She paused
to catch her breath. "Noble will.. .kill me."

Dr. Stanhope's voice was compelling, his eyes
sympathetic. "Rachel, it just doesn't make any
sense to me that Noble would put a bullet in you
and later remove it."

She closed her eyes, feeling more helpless than
she had at any time in her life. When she opened
them and looked at Dr. Stanhope, she tried to
sound composed and not like some hysterical female. "I saw him with a knife."

He nodded and patted her hand gently. "You
saw him with the knife he used to remove the bullet from your chest." His winsome smile dug deep
crevices in his face as he dropped a spent rifle shell
into her hand. "The souvenir that Noble removed
from you."

Rachel stared at the shell in confusion. "Are you
saying that Noble took this out of me?"

"Yes, he did." Dr. Stanhope set his black bag on
the bed and opened it, removing his scissors. "Noble sent his foreman, Alejandro, to town to fetch
me. Unfortunately I was delivering Helen Simon's
baby and couldn't come right away. Her delivery
wasn't an easy one." While he talked, his scissors
deftly snipped at the bandage. "However, mother and baby are doing fine, and Gilbert is now the
proud papa of his seventh son."

Rachel scarcely heeded the news of Gilbert
Simon's seventh son. She was trying to reach back
into her memory so she could keep a grasp on reality. "I still think Noble will try to kill me. There
was a woman here with Noble, a Mexican
woman-ask her what Noble tried to do to me."

"That would be Alejandro's wife, Margretta." Dr.
Stanhope made the last snip in the bandage and
pulled it away. After a moment he nodded in satisfaction. "And a fine job Noble did too. I couldn't
have done better myself"

Why wouldn't Dr. Stanhope listen to her? "You
don't understand. Noble has his reasons for wanting me dead."

The doctor spoke to her as if he were speaking
to a child. "What reason would that be, Rachel?"

"He...I despise him. I swore to avenge my father's death. He knows I'll do it."

"Hell, Rachel. Noble had the whole Yankee
army shooting at him. Do you think he's worried
about one small woman?"

"He realizes that I..." Her voice faded away.
She couldn't think clearly, and she couldn't think
of a solid reason why a man like Noble would
want her dead. "Some people don't need a reason
to kill, Dr. Stanhope."

"And you believe that Noble is one of those people?"

"No' she said truthfully. "But it seems to me
that-"

"Do you want the truth?" he asked kindly.

She nodded, trusting Dr. Stanhope as she had
trusted her own father.

"Noble probably saved your life by removing the
bullet. It missed your heart by less than a quarter
of an inch."

She shivered at his words. She searched her
memory carefully, feeling as if she viewed it
through a fragile veil. Noble couldn't have shot
her because he certainly hadn't been concealing a
gun at the time she'd been shot. They were both
naked in the river! Distress filled her mind. When
she tried to move, pain shot through her as if it
were tearing at her flesh. She lay very still, gasping
for breath.

She wouldn't try that again anytime soon.

"You will have to remain quiet, Rachel, if you
want the wound to heal," Dr. Stanhope told her
sternly while he patted her hand. "Try not to upset
yourself"

Rachel hardly heard him because she was still
trying to sort out her thoughts. "If Noble didn't
shoot me himself, he could have had one of his
men do it."

"Who?" Dr. Stanhope asked, with a slight edge
to his voice. "Kindhearted Alejandro? He would
die for Noble, but he wouldn't kill a woman for
him. Perhaps you think Margretta did it-or one
of her sons. Understand this, Rachel. Noble didn't shoot you, and he didn't have anyone else do it
either."

"One of the vaqueros could have done it."

"No. They all left after Don Reinaldo died."

"So they deserted Noble," Rachel said with satisfaction.

The doctor nodded while he applied healing
ointment to her wound and then rebound it. "I
have a gut feeling that most of them will hightail
it back when they hear Noble has returned. The
vaqueros of Casa del Sol have a strong loyalty to
the Vincente family."

"Well," she said, changing the subject, "someone shot me, Dr. Stanhope. I certainly didn't do it
myself."

"That much is true." He studied her for a long
moment. "Noble didn't tell me any of the particulars. He just said that the two of you were together when you were shot. Would you care to tell
me what you remember about the incident so I
can relate it to Sheriff Crenshaw?"

Her face reddened and she looked away. She
couldn't tell anyone, especially not Dr. Stanhope,
that she'd been swimming naked with Noble Vincente. "I don't remember... very clearly." With
effort she raised her hand to her chest, feeling the
bulkiness of the bandages. "When can I go home?"
she asked, wishing she could leave with him.

"Not just yet. I don't want you moved for at least
a week. You've lost a lot of blood, and I can't take
a chance on your rupturing the wound."

Rachel had been so terrified of Noble when she
thought he was going to kill her. Now she no
longer feared him, but she was deeply ashamed
because of her brazen conduct at the river. How
could she ever face him again after he'd seen her
naked?

Dr. Stanhope took her silence as consent. "You
will have the best of care here, Rachel."

"You never believed that Noble shot my father,
did you, Dr. Stanhope?"

"Nope. I've known Noble all his life, and a cowardly act would not be in his nature. Like his father before him, Noble's a man of honor." The
doctor offered her a spoonful of some foulsmelling concoction. "Take it like a good girl," he
said, smiling.

She wrinkled her nose just as she had when
she'd been a little girl and he'd coaxed medicine
down her throat. "What is it?"

"Just something to take the edge off the pain so
you can sleep."

Reluctantly she allowed him to lift her head and
spoon the liquid into her mouth. With a satisfied
nod, he eased her head back against the pillow.
"Do you want me to send for your sister?"

"No!" She almost shouted the word, and then
quickly said in a softer tone, "I don't want Delia
to know what happened. Not until I'm able to go
home."

Dr. Stanhope picked up his black bag and ambled for the door. "Suit yourself. I'll be back to see you in a day or two. I'll leave instructions with
Margretta on what to feed you. After today I expect you to eat plenty of red meat to build your
strength." He turned back to face her. "You don't
still believe Noble shot you, do you?"

Already the medicine was taking effect and she
was feeling drowsy. "No."

"Noble believes whoever shot you was aiming at
him and hit you by mistake."

"Most likely," she said, yawning and drifting off
to sleep.

Noble was waiting in the hallway when Dr. Stanhope emerged from the bedroom. His face was
etched with worry. "How is she?"

"She'll be all right. It would have been a different story, though, if you'd waited to remove the
bullet until I got here. Gangrene could have set
in.,,

"I was scared as hell, Doctor. I never want to go
through that again. I don't know how you do that
day after day."

Dr. Stanhope chuckled. "So are you saying you
have a little more respect for my profession?"

"I've always respected you. But more now that
I had to...well, it wasn't easy to stick a knife in
Rachel."

"I can imagine. Sometimes she's downright formidable. She's a rule unto herself here in Madragon County. Her pa raised her like a son, and she
carries responsibilities many grown men would shirk. And yet everyone respects her. Hell, she
could've been married a dozen times if she'd so
chosen, and it isn't because she owns the Broken
Spur. She's grown into the real beauty of the family."

Noble could have told the doctor just how beautiful Rachel was, but he only nodded grimly in
agreement, wondering why Rachel had never
married. His gaze met Dr. Stanhope's. "She must
not be moved too soon or she could break open
the wound."