Give My All to Jessie (Third in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Jeremiah groaned as he opened his eyes and then squeezed them tightly shut against the sunlight that poured in the window beside him.

Where the hell was he?

Feminine humming reached his ears. Jeremiah cracked open one eyelid and saw a soft bodied woman in a black skirt, light blue blouse and red apron kneading bread. Something about the woman was familiar and he studied her closely, attempting to determine exactly what it was.

She had soft brown hair, pulled back in a tight bun upon her head. She had side to him and he could tell by her profile that she was a pretty enough woman. A bit thin-lipped and a bit too full bodied but still decent.

But who the hell was she?

The woman turned to face him and a smile curved her lips, deepening dimples at their corners. Her wide eyes were almost silver in color—rare and quite beautiful. Not that he had any interest in the woman. Apron wearing women were homemaking women, settling down women, and Jeremiah didn't have any use for one of those.

"Well I see you're awake again," she stated and even the lilting hint of a Scottish accent was familiar to him somehow.

Jeremiah frowned. "Again?" he rasped, his throat and mouth painfully dry.

The woman nodded as she took a glass of water from the table and carried it across the room to him. Jeremiah was happy for the help as she assisted him in taking a few good swallows. "You were awake several days ago but you succumbed to fever once again. You're cool to the touch now so I'm fairly certain you're going to be fine."

"I was awake?"

It was the woman's turn to frown. "You don't remember? You were quite unpleasant," she assured him before returning to the kitchen and her bread.

Jeremiah thought back hard and several flashes of memory returned to him. He didn't remember clear details but he caught onto enough to let him know he was lucky the woman hadn't bashed his skull in. He'd been damned mad when she'd tossed him out in the dirt but looking back now, he had deserved it.

What the hell had happened to him? He'd been spiraling for years. Ever since Marston had caught the crazy and settled down. He'd been drinking more, whoring more and caring less and less about everyone around him. Granted, he'd been raised to be a cold-hearted jackass but there had actually been a time when he had been the nicer brother!

But then had been before. Before Rose. Before Marston had caught the crazy. Before Duke had decided to settle down. Before Jeremiah had turned his back on his nephew. Before Jeremiah had lost what little shreds of decency he might have once had.

Jeremiah's head ached and he wished he could stop thinking. Damn, but he could sure use a drink of whiskey. He knew he wasn't going to get one though. He could remember the woman pouring it all out. He was still pretty damn pissed over that. Once his wounds were healed, he might have to pay her back for that act.

Jeremiah lifted the blanket a bit to assess his wounds and realized that he was naked. Where the hell were his clothes? He didn't like knowing that Holly Homemaker had seen him naked. Usually he wouldn't care but Jeremiah didn't look like anything more than a dirty skeleton just now.

The bandage around his thigh was red with blood and his leg felt hot, proving that he'd been infected. He hoped that since his fever had left, it meant he was on the road to recovery. He was damned lucky he hadn't had to have his leg removed.

"Would you like some broth?" that lilting voice asked.

Jeremiah grumbled as he let the blanket fall back over himself. He was about to yell at the woman but then he remembered that doing so the last time had gotten him tossed out in the rain.