Read A Lady Like Sarah for Free Online

slept a wink since Sarah left. He rubbed his neck and stretched the muscles in his back. He wondered if a body ever got used to sleeping on the cold, hard ground.
    However, his low spirits had little if anything to do with his physical complaints. He couldn't stop thinking about Sarah, praying for her safety, wondering whether he'd made a mistake in not keeping better watch over her. The truth was , he detested the idea of handcuffing her. Holding her against her will went against his very nature.
    Even if his chances of catching up to her were slim or altogether impossible, he should have gone after her. If for no other reason but to make her wait till daylight to escape.
    Why hadn't he?
    And why, for that matter, hadn't he stayed in Boston and faced his accusers? Why did he always take the path of least resistance? It was a question very much on his mind that morning as he wandered about in the dawn's early light.
    Marshal Owen woke at his touch. His skin sallow and parched, his cheeks hollow, he gazed at Justin from sunken eyes.
    "How are you feeling?" Justin asked.
    "Like I was run over by an iron horse," Owen replied, his voice weak.
    Justin debated what to do. "Do you think you're well enough to travel? There's a town about thirty miles away." Normally, he would have easily made it there in less than a day, but with two men on a single horse, he wasn't sure how long it would take. "We might find a doctor there."
    The response was slow in coming. "I can try."
    "We only have one horse," Justin said.
    "The prisoner—"
    " Shh . Don't try to talk. You need to conserve your strength."
    "Just don't make me drink any more of that ghastly tea," Owen pleaded.
    The silvery sky gradually turned blue with not a cloud in sight. North and west of him, the Missouri prairie seemed to go on forever. To the far south, the Ozarks rose like ghostly ships sailing across the sealike plains.
    The lawman slumped on the saddle in front of him, Justin made his way along a rutted trail. Travel was slow, but it couldn't be helped.
    Spotting fresh horse tracks, he stopped for a closer look. He felt certain the tracks belonged to Sarah, and the way the hoofs sank into the ground indicated she'd been traveling fast. She was probably miles away by now.
    It was still only May, but already the temperatures began to soar. He studied the landscape ahead for even the slightÂest motion, but nothing, not even a blade of grass, moved beneath the shimmering, hot sun.
    He rode for the better part of the morning, stopping only long enough to water his horse and pack mule in one of the many natural springs that dotted the area, and to check Owen's bandage and make him drink.
    The red, swollen skin around the jagged wound worried him. If only Sarah were here, she'd know what to do, he was certain of it.
    He rode past herds of wild horses and graceful antelope. A lone buffalo bull bellowed, then walked away on legs that seemed too short and thin for such a large, cumbersome body. The sound woke Owen. "Mating season," he muttered before closing his eyes again.
    Never having seen such an odd animal, Justin stopped to watch it. He'd heard that the plains were once filled with the woolly beasts, but he had always assumed the reports were exaggerated. That was before he'd witnessed for himself the unbelievable number of bleached bones strewn across the land. Feeling a sense of sadness, Justin watched the magÂnificent creature until it moved away.
    Around noon, the ground grew muddy. Shallow pools of water made travel increasingly difficult.
    Something caught his eye—a horse. Sarah's horse. He anxÂiously scanned the marshy bogs. Her untethered bay stood a short distance away, grazing, but there was no sign of Sarah.
    Fearing the worst, he urged Noah on. The horse gingerly picked his way around the soggy ground with Moses plodding behind.
    Birds took flight as he drew near. Ducks, geese, and loons rose to the sky and scattered like feathers in the wind.