Montana Bride by Joan Johnston Page A

and smearing blood across his face.
    “Get moving!” Hetty ordered sharply. The sooner Griffin was out of Dennis’s sight, the better. As the children trotted away, Hetty turned back to the two men.
    She gave her attention first to Dennis, hoping to calm him down. “Let me see your face.”
    Dennis stood still as Hetty grasped his chin and gently turned his face back and forth so she could survey the damage. Dennis had a nasty bruise on his right cheekbone and a bleeding cut on his chin. She turned to Bao and said, “Mr. Lin, I’ll need your medicine kit.”
    “What about me?” Karl demanded, hands on hips.
    Hetty glanced over her shoulder and said, “Get out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia. I don’t want to find myself a widow before I’ve had a chance to be a wife.”
    Karl looked disgruntled.
    “Bao can take care of you while I doctor Dennis,” she told him. Hetty wished there was a way she could explain to Karl that she was nursing Dennis because she wanted a chance to question him further about his behavior toward Griffin. She tried meeting Karl’s gaze and sending a message with her eyes, but he turned and stomped away toward the back of the wagon.
    “Come over here and sit down, Dennis,” Hetty said, leading him by the hand to a tree split by lightning that had fallen beside the trail. There was an awkward moment when she tried to free her hand and Dennis held on.
    “I appreciate you taking the time to doctor me,” he said, caressing her palm with his thumb.
    Hetty wished Dennis had been the one with his eye nearly swollen shut, because there was nothing to protect her from the look of admiration in his incredible blue eyes. She knew she shouldn’t feel flattered, but she couldn’t help it.
    Oh, she was a horrible, fickle girl. Hetty would forever regret flirting with one man to make another jealous. She would never, for the rest of her life, do anything so foolish again. So she didn’t understand how she could be feeling like this with Dennis, when Karl’s recent kiss had almost caused her to swoon. What was wrong with her? How she wished for her twin! Hannah would have known how to put this rascally charmer in his place.
    Luckily, Bao arrived at that moment with his medicines and a wet cloth. He set down the box and handed Hetty the rag. He took one look at Dennis and said to Hetty, “No need stitches. You remember which salve for bruises?”
    Hetty opened the box and found the small jar with the salve Bao had told her would ease swelling. “This one,” she said certainly as she picked it out of the many jars inside the box.
    Bao nodded. “I go take care of Boss.”
    Hetty caught the Chinaman by the elbow and asked, “Is Karl badly hurt?” In hindsight, she realized she should have doctored him and let Bao take care of Dennis. Next time she would know better.
    “No bad,” Bao said. “Black eye. Cheek bleed. Be well soon.”
    Before she could ask more, the Chinaman was gone. She turned back to Dennis, who was sitting on the split log staring up at her with a frown between his brows.
    “I didn’t think you cared about Karl,” Dennis said. “In fact, I would have bet my bottom dollar you dislike your husband.”
    Hetty was startled into blurting, “You’re wrong. I admire Karl enormously.”
    “Ah. But will you ever love him? That’s the question.”
    Hetty flushed. “That’s between me and Karl.”
    Dennis yelped as she dabbed at the blood on his chin with the damp rag.
    “Don’t be a baby,” she chided.
    “That hurts!”
    She looked him in the eye and said, “I’m sure Griffin’s face hurts, too. Where you slapped him.”
    Dennis had the grace to look ashamed. “I’m not used to dealing with kids. Especially not a brat like—”
    “Don’t you dare call my son a brat!” Hetty said. “He’s a little boy who made a mistake.”
    “That kind of mistake can be fatal out here,” Dennis countered. “What if I’d broken my neck coming off that horse?