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“I got the impression that he might have had some trouble with the law. Has he?”
Her mouth curved in a smile that didn’t match the cool, measuring look of her eyes. “Laredo said you asked a lot more questions than you answered.” She was taking her time, sizing him up. He had the feeling this was one woman who made few mistakes in judgment. “If”—she stressed the word—“Laredo has ever had any trouble with the law, it happened on the other side of the border. One of those cases of being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, I suppose. If he wants you to know more than that, he can tell you himself. But I think you have already discovered that he’s the kind of man you want at your side when there’s trouble.”
“We both know I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for him.” He stated it as a fact, without any show of emotion.
“I hope you remember that.” She started to turn away then swung back. “As soon as Laredo gets back with a set of clothes for you, I’ll bring them in. They probably won’t be the quality you are used to wearing. Just jeans, shirts, and some underclothes—”
“They will be fine,” he cut across her words, a little irritated that she seemed to think he believed he was above wearing ordinary work clothes. “I’ll pay you back as soon—” He broke off the sentence, recalling that Laredo had told him he didn’t have a cent to his name. It grated to think he was dependent on someone else.
“Don’t worry about the money right now. Just eat your soup.” Hattie pointed to the bowl in an admonishing gesture. “And don’t try to get up by yourself. With all the blood you’ve lost, you’re likely to be as wobbly as a newborn calf. I’ll come back later to pick up the tray.”
The first few spoons of soup took the edge off his hunger, but he ate every bit of it, determined to regain his strength. Yet the effort tired him. Eyes closed, he relaxed against the supporting pillows.
All the unanswered questions came swirling back. It took some effort, but he managed to ignore them and concentrated instead on the few facts he knew about himself, searching for something that felt familiar and right.
A pickup rattled into the ranch yard. He listened to the creak of its door opening and closing, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching the house. Already they had a familiar sound to them, and he guessed they belonged to Laredo.
Within minutes the cowboy walked into the bedroom, toting a big sack. Laredo’s eyes were quick to notice the empty soup bowl.
“Good to the last drop, I see,” Laredo observed.
“It filled the empty places,” he replied and glanced at the sack. “Hattie said you were going to pick up some clothes for me. Do you have some pants in there?”
“Sure do.” Laredo tossed the sack on the bed and lifted off the food tray. “I’ll get this out of the way first.”
He knew better than to make any sudden movements that might start his head spinning again, and pushed himself off the pillows with care. The paper sack rustled as Laredo dug into it and pulled out a pair of Levi’s. He swung his bare legs out of the bed and reached for the jeans.
“I’ll give you a hand getting into these,” Laredo said. “I don’t want you taking a nosedive onto the floor. In case you don’t know it, Duke, you’re a load to pick up.”
“That’s what Hattie called me,” he remembered.
“Until you can remember your own name, Duke is as good as any.” Laredo worked the pants legs over his feet and kept a steadying hand on him when he stood to pull them the rest of the way up. “And you didn’t take it too kindly when I called you an old man.”
He saw the mischievous glint in the cowboy’s blue eyes and took no offense. “No man likes to be called old. You’ll find that out . . .” He paused and swept an assessing glance over Laredo. It was difficult to pinpoint the cowboy’s age, but he thought he was on the long side of thirty. “And it won’t be too many more years before you do.”
“I’m afraid you’re right about that,” Laredo conceded with a rueful grin.
The movement had started his head pounding in earnest again. Gritting his teeth against it, he looked around. “Is there a bathroom close by?”
“Just down the hall. I’d better walk with you, though. The house is old and the floor is uneven,” Laredo warned.
Unsteady on his legs, he had to rely on Laredo’s support more than he liked as they crossed the bedroom and entered the short, narrow hall. When Laredo pushed open a door on the left, he waved off any further assistance and entered the bathroom alone.
After relieving himself, he shifted to the sink and inspected the face in the tall mirror above it. It was rugged and rawboned with age lines carved deep around the mouth and eyes. Layers of gauze were wrapped around his head like a turban. The dark brown hair below it showed a heavy salting of gray. He studied every detail, but the brown eyes looking back at him belonged to a stranger.
“Old man,” Laredo had called him. The gray hair and age lines seemed to bear that out, but there was plenty of muscle tone in his broad chest and shoulders, indicating he still had ample strength and vitality. He examined the variety of scars on his torso. Most of them were old and faded, with a straightness to them that suggested surgical incisions. But one, along the side of his ribs, had a fresh look to it that suggested it wasn’t much more than a year old.
But he had no memory of how he had gotten any of them.
His own mind bombarded him with questions that had no answers. Who was he? Where did he live? What did he do? Did he have a wife? A family? Was anyone looking for him?
There was a light rap on the door. ?
??Are you all right, Duke?”
He turned away from the mirror and kept a steadying hand on the wall as he moved to the door. “I’m fine.”
Laredo ran a sharp eye over him when he opened the door. “What took you so long?”
