Read Online Randall Renegade by Judy Christenberry - Free Book Online

it, he was sure. He’d done what heset out to do—rescue Patience and Tommy. And he’d made his peace with Patience, which was more than he’d hoped for.
    And he intended to grow closer to her once they were home. He’d been an idiot to stay away from her for the past three years. Foolish pride had cost him a lot.
     
    T HE SNOW WAS crusty in places, which made it hard going that first hour. And because it was dark, Jim didn’t want to push Patience and Tommy too hard.
    In fact, the time just before dawn had a kind of dreamlike quality that lulled him into ignoring any noises. No one could’ve caught up with them that quickly.
    A shot rang out.
    “Ride on, Patience,” he shouted as he pulled his rifle from his saddle and leaped to the ground, reins still in his hand. He found the nearest tree and began to search the forest behind him.
    Shadowy movement drew a couple of shots from him. Then he waited to see what they would do next. He counted three men. That would be the general and his two lieutenants, he thought.

    Jim was glad. He could hate those men—but not the innocents he’d spent a day training.
    He risked a quick look behind him, expecting to see Patience riding quickly down the trail. She would reach the downward path soon and be out of range. Hopefully he could hold these three up until she was safe.
    But he saw nothing. In fact, there were no tracks much farther down the trail from where he’d stopped. Patience couldn’t have been hit by that bullet, could she? He would’ve noticed if she’d been shot. His heart almost stopped beating at that thought. He wanted to call out, to hear a satisfactory answer, but to do so would put her in danger.
    Suddenly there was more gunfire. He swung around to face his attackers. He returned fire and knew he’d hit one of them. There was a scream and a body fell on to the snow from behind one of the trees.
    That meant he only had two to deal with. The general wasn’t the one who’d taken the bullet. If he had, his men would have turned back. They had no dispute with Jim or Patience. They hadn’t wanted the boy in the camp in the first place.
    More shots were fired, but Jim realized they were random, as if covering someone’s tracks.He swung around in time to face his attacker. One of the lieutenants had circled behind him and was lining up his shot. Jim tried to fire his rifle, but he heard a shot, and then another, and the man fell facedown in the snow.
    Pain seared his right shoulder, confusing him. He thought maybe he’d gotten off a shot in spite of himself, but he didn’t think so.
    When he saw Patience step out from behind a tree with the .22 he’d given her from the cabin, he realized what had happened. She hadn’t gone on, as he’d ordered. She’d gotten down from her horse to help him fight.
    Ducking behind trees, she ran to his side. “Jim, you’re shot!”
    He loved hearing the anguish in her voice, feeling her soft hands on his face. More shots snapped him out of that dazed feeling. “Got to…return fire. Let them know we’re still fighting.”
    Patience put her rifle barrel up against the tree to steady her aim and fired several shots.
    Then she turned into a nurse, opening his jacket to look at the gunshot. In the meantime Jim heard the sound of a horse retreating. He caught a glimpse of a man on the horse, riding away from them.

    “He’s gone,” Jim said, trying to sit up.
    “Lie still. You’re bleeding. Oh, Jim, I’m so sorry! I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
    “I know. Look, it’s not bad. I can still move my hand.”
    “Hush!” She took off her wool cap and used it as a pad to press on the wound and stem the bleeding. “Now I wish I’d paid more attention in my first-aid class in college.”
    “I don’t think they were preparing you for—ouch—gunshot wounds.”
    “Probably not, but surely some of it would’ve helped.”
    “Where’s Tommy?” Jim asked in alarm, trying to sit up until pain had him slumping