Scotsman Wore Spurs by Patricia; Potter Page A

moaned. He leaned down and lifted the whiskey bottle to the man’s lips while Pepper cut away pieces of his trouser leg and pulled them from the wounds. The cook hesitated, then poured alcohol over the torn and bleeding flesh. Ace screamed, then lost consciousness.
    â€œYou take a sip of that yourself,” Pepper advised. “You’ll need it to keep going tonight. Town’s a good day’s ride. Faster you get him to a doctor, better his chances.”
    Drew nodded and went to get his bedroll and a warm shirt. He was wet to the skin and freezing. His arm ached like bloody hell. He hadn’t slept in eighteen hours. And he was facing a long grueling ride with a half-dead man and a green kid, who undoubtedly would cause him nothing but trouble.
    Adventure, he thought, was for fools.

Chapter Five
    Willow Springs, Texas
    â€œI don’t want to leave Ace,” Two-Bits protested. “I want to stay here with him.”
    Drew bit back an angry rejoinder and took a deep breath. He was tired beyond exhaustion and his arm hurt like hell. He wanted to talk to the doctor—privately—then find a bed. Any kind of bed. A floor would do.
    Standing in the tiny waiting room of the doctor’s office, he tamped down his impatience with Two-Bits’s stubbornness. “The doctor says he’ll live and the leg can probably be saved,” Drew said, wishing he shared the doctor’s guarded optimism. He took several heavy coins from a pocket and handed them to his companion. “You get us a room, two of them. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
    Two-Bits stared at him sullenly, hands in pocket. He made no move to take the money. Drew’s eyes narrowed, and finally, with an exasperated sigh, the lad gave in. Nodding curtly, he took the money and left the room.
    Drew watched him leave, shoulders sagging, thinking that in truth the boy had a right to stay with Ace. He’d been a surprising blessing on the agonizing day-long trip to Willow Creek, not only keeping pace without complaint but nursing Ace with unfailing kindness.
    He didn’t know what he had expected, but certainly not the tireless, practical companion who changed bandages with a smile and deftness that seemed to ease some of Ace’s pain.
    That smile, however, had not extended to him, and while Two-Bits would sit and talk to Ace each time they rested, the boy had little or nothing to say to him. Only a mumbled word now and then.
    With a sigh, Drew returned to the inner room where Dr. Sanders was treating Ace. The doctor, too thin and haggard, looked in need of his own services.
    â€œDon’t be too long,” Sanders said. “He needs to sleep.”
    Drew murmured his agreement as Sanders passed him on the way out the door, leaving him alone with Ace.
    Ace’s face was lined with pain. “Doc says I’ll walk again, but maybe not as good.”
    Drew sat on a chair next to the bed. “You’re on a horse all the time anyway,” he said.
    â€œThat’s a fact,” Ace said, some of the anxiety leaving his face. “Used to pick cotton in Texas before the war. Never wanted to stay close to the ground again.”
    Drew pulled out a small package of bills. “Mr. Kingsley wanted you to have this.”
    Astonishment spread over Ace’s face as his fingers shuffled through a number of bills. His mouth worked for a moment, his eyes misting. Then he looked at the bills again. “How … much is here?” he said.
    Drew suddenly realized Ace probably couldn’t cipher. Or read. “Two hundred dollars,” he said gently. “Should see you through four months or more.” He watched as the man fondled the bills.
    Ace shook his head against the pillow. “Never had so much. Never heard of anyone doing this.”
    â€œThe boss is full of surprises,” Drew said with a wry smile.
    â€œTell him I’m mighty grateful,” Ace said.
    â€œI will,”