Read Scars of the Heart for Free Online Page B

that much better. I keep forgetting what awful creatures run wild out here.”
    Unruffled, Kade kicked sand on the fire and gathered his belongings. “What ‘awful creatures’?”
    “You know. Snakes, scorpions, Indians.” She noticed the way his shoulders stiffened. Slowly, he turned to face her. His lips were a thin line, his expression unreadable.
    “Kade?” Suddenly, his expression changed. A lightning-quick movement of his arm drew Carly’s attention. Her deafening scream pierced the air as the cowboy’s razor-sharp knife sped, blade over hilt, toward her.

Chapter Five
    Eyes squeezed shut, she waited for death. For a split second, she even welcomed it. Death would rescue her from this life of hell. Death would reunite Carly with her beloved mother.
    A sharp noise near her ear told Carly the man had missed his mark. The blade skimmed the top of the rock, sending small pebbles crumbling down her shoulder. She opened her eyes. While she stared at her crazed captor, her hands roamed her torso, confirming the lack of injuries. Lungs aching with a need for air, she carefully inhaled, afraid to move, afraid not to.
    Kade stood stone-still, a look of irritation covering his dark features. He didn’t say a word. When he started forward, Carly scrambled to her feet. She willed her legs to run, yet they refused to move. Fear froze them to the earth below.
    The man’s long strides gave her little time to think. He reached her before she could react. Carly closed her eyes once more, praying for a swift and merciful end.
    She felt him brush past, but her mind was hesitant to accept another pardon from death. Gingerly she opened her eyes. The man walked a few feet beyond the boulder. He knelt in the brown grass to retrieve his knife, then pivoted and reached for something else. As Kade stood, he held out the long, slender body of a rattlesnake.
    Carly’s knees quivered. She swallowed back the bile rising in her throat.
    He moved toward her. “If you scream one more time, I swear I’ll . . .”
    Kade didn’t finish the threat; there was no need. She didn’t have the strength to continue standing, let alone cry out. Her legs buckled, and she folded to the ground.
    Rushing forward, he asked, “You’re not going to faint, are you?”
    The six-foot serpent still hung limply from his hand. Carly stared at it and fought another wave of nausea. “Please,” she choked, “please get that thing away from me.”
    He inspected the decapitated snake. “But this is some good eatin’, and I—”
    Groaning, she rolled to her hands and knees. She scrambled to the other side of the large rock. Convulsions racked her small form as her stomach emptied its contents.
    Carly sat up, still shaky and weak. She wiped her mouth with her palm, then rubbed her hand on the already filthy trousers she wore. Slowly, she raised her head to meet his gaze. He stared at her as if she had grown a third eye.
    Without retracting his disbelieving expression, he tossed the rattler’s body to the bushes behind him. Finally, with a shake of his head, Kade turned and silently walked away.
    She watched as he cleaned his knife and slid it into a leather scabbard hidden beneath his pant leg. He didn’t even glance at her again as he went back to the business of packing his horse. Carly rose unsteadily and found the canteen. The cool water on her face eased the nausea. She rinsed her mouth, then took small sips of the liquid. Pulling her hat down snugly, she focused on the stranger again.
    He bewildered her. Just as uncivilized and brutish as the other men she’d been forced to keep company with, he seemed somehow different. Carly shook her head. It’s simply because he thinks you’re a boy, she reminded herself. And if you want to live long enough to get home to Virginia, you had better do a finer job of keeping your wits about you.
    She glanced around to see what else needed to be done before they departed. Kade had everything cleaned up and stood