Read Online Two Wanted Men [Badlands 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) by Elle Saint James - Free Book Online

Reese to come barreling downstairs in rescue.
    Ben crossed to the sofa where her father still snored and tried in vain to wake him.
    “It won’t work.” Miranda was about to the close the door, but when she looked back, Mayor Harris stood on the threshold and asked urgently, “Where’s the doctor?” He looked past her and into the parlor where Ben stood over the settee watching her father sleep.
    She responded quietly, “He’s indisposed.” Dead drunk and passed out snoring on the settee seemed too vulgar of a truth to say out loud, but the mayor wasn’t paying attention to her, anyway. His focus shifted and went over one shoulder behind him.
    Miranda sent her gaze in the same direction in time to see two men half carrying the mayor’s nephew Justin between them. The anguish on the boy’s face turned her heart over. She hated to see anyone, especially children, suffering. Although, Justin wasn’t really a child being twelve years old, since he was small for his age, it made him seem childlike tonight. She closed the door behind the two men carrying the boy gingerly through the entrance and followed them into the parlor, too.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “He fell,” Mayor Harris answered absently.
    Justin moaned again, but she could see he was trying to be brave.
    A protracted snore came from the parlor settee in response.
    “My father just arrived home moments ago. I’m not sure he’s in any condition to treat—”
    “Just wake him up!” Ben motioned her toward the settee having failed to wake her father.
    “I’ll try.” Miranda turned toward the settee and got closer to Ben than she’d normally allow to try and rouse her father.
    “I’ll have my men put Justin in the back room. Hurry and get him awake.”
    Miranda bent over the sofa and shook her father’s shoulders. “Father! Wake up. The mayor needs a doctor for Justin. He’s hurt.”
    Her father’s eyelids didn’t budge. He snorted once, a space of quiet ensued for a few moments and then he resumed his snoring.
    “Let me try again.” Ben waved her out of the way and tried lifting her father up to a sitting position. It didn’t last. Her father soon slumped back to his original position.
    “Damn it.” Ben twisted to stare at her. “Why do you let him get like this?”
    Miranda’s eyes opened wide. “Let him?” Anger guided her feet as she took a step closer. “I don’t ‘let’ him get intoxicated. He does it all on his own.”
    “What are we going to do now? Justin’s shoulder is hurt.”
    “What happened to his shoulder?”
    “How the hell should I know? He fell off his horse and he’s been screaming ever since.”
    Miranda stilled the expression on her face to one of serenity, even though she felt anything but calm. “It’s likely that he’d dislocated it. Maybe I can help since my father is sleeping.”
    Ben rolled his eyes. “Women aren’t meant to be doctors. When are you ever going to learn that?”
    A low miserable sounding moan came from the back room.
    “Is he awake, yet?” Mayor Harris entered the parlor, an anxious expression on his strained face.
    “No. I’m sorry. He’s down for the night. He likely won’t wake until
noon
tomorrow.”
    The mayor’s eyes closed and his shoulders slumped in utter despair.
    Miranda took a step toward Mayor Harris, bolstered her courage and said carefully, “If Justin’s shoulder is dislocated, I can help put it back with your help.”
    Ben huffed. “I told you already women aren’t meant to be doctors.”
    “Can you really help Justin, Miss Miranda?” The mayor’s strained tone of voice was unexpected. Without looking directly, she walked around Ben, who still wore a disapproving expression that she could see out of the corner of her eye.
    “Yes. If it’s dislocated, I can definitely help.”
    “Then let’s do it. I can’t stand to hear the boy suffer any longer. Ben come and help us.”
    “Mayor Harris. I don’t think this is a good idea at all.”