Page 30 of Wagon Train Promises
Her chest hurt.
The thump of wood being tossed aside echoed in her head. Gentle hands touched her shoulder. “Can you get up?” He guided her to a sitting position.
A painful gust of air rushed into her lungs. She gasped, hungry for more.
Cool fingers brushed her brow. “What have you done to yourself?” He turned over her hands and examined them front and back. “You’ve a nasty bruise on this one.”
“I fell.” She blinked back at the log she’d climbed on to get over. “Lost my load of wood.”
“The wood doesn’t matter. How badly hurt are you?” His warm grasp on her shoulders made her lungs tighten again.
“I’m all right.” Maybe. With every breath, another portion of her body made itself known in a painful protest. “All I did was fall.” People survived falls all the time without so much as a bruise.
“There’s a cut on your forehead.” He touched the spot, and she winced. “And a nasty scratch down your cheek.” He trailed a fingertip down the right side of her face, presumably where he saw a scratch.
A shiver trickled across her shoulders.
“I’ll help you up.” He caught her elbows.
His face was inches away. Close enough she made out the laugh lines fanning out from his eyes. Dark eyes filled with concern. For her? Why? It unsettled her stomach. She lowered her gaze along his cheeks. Black stubble covered the lower part of his face. She might have shivered with fear at his dark intensity. Except he would never hurt her, and she managed a weak smile.
“I can do it on my own.”
He didn’t release her even when she got her feet under her and her legs straightened.
The trees wobbled and waved. She groaned and closed her eyes, willing away dizziness.
“Can you walk?”
Was the concern in his voice due to him wondering if he’d have to carry her back?
No one had ever had to worry about whether or not she could manage, and she sure wasn’t going to let it start now. “Of course, I can.”
But he chose not to believe her and held her elbow as they climbed over the log that had caused this upset and retained it as they crossed the clearing.
She pulled back. “What about the wood?”
“Unless it sprouts legs or wings, it isn’t going anywhere. I’ll get it later. First, you need to get back to camp where you can sit.”
She tried to pull free, but he wouldn’t release her. “That’s ridiculous. There’s no point in going back empty-handed.”
“I’m not empty-handed.” His gentle chuckle warred with her determination to manage on her own. “Louise, it’s all right to let someone help you. You don’t always have to be the strong person in charge.”
Protests sputtered from her mouth. Words with no definable shape. “I don’t think I have to be in charge.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“You say the right thing, but I don’t think you mean what you say.”
“You could be right.”
“Why are you being so agreeable?”
Another gentle chuckle. “It seems someone should be.”
The wagon and dying campfire were a few yards ahead. How had they gotten out of the woods?
She flung around to stare at him, the movement making her head spin. Not that she’d ever, ever let him know it. “Did you trick me?”
