Authors: Melissa Jones
Fallen Angel
Fallen Angel
By Melissa Jones
Contents
hapter 1
Angelica leaned low over the horse holding tight and trying to keep the driving rain out of her face, she didn’t have time to think about where she was going
. She just had to get as far away as possible as fast as possible. She still couldn’t believe what she had seen, she didn’t think even her name would protect her this time. Her heart was still racing with fear, she didn’t know how many miles it would take to make her heart rate slow but she intended to ride until it did.
The driving rain and darkness made it impossible to see enough landmarks to know where she was as she raced across the country side. She finally allowed the horse to slow but not soon enough. A bright flash of lighting coupled with a clap of thunder caused the horse to rear and she slipped out of the wet saddle. She screamed involuntarily flailing trying to catch herself then everything went black.
Luke Harrison kept his horse in constant motion moving around his herd, the spring storms were the worst
. They kicked up unexpectedly and the lighting and thunder always riled the cattle. As if that wasn’t bad enough the ground was already saturated so if they got much rain the gullies flooded. Any storm meant moving the whole herd to high ground. No easy task considering the high ground was quite a distance from the house. Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky followed closely by a crack of thunder. He lifted his face to the sky, at least this storm seemed to be fast moving. His sensitive ears picked up a sound that didn’t belong and he turned peering into the darkness. He could swear he’d heard a woman scream. He couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. He turned back toward the herd and put his thumb and forefinger to his lips producing a loud whistle. A few moments later another mounted figure rode out of the darkness toward him.
“Boss?”
“Hey Tom, I heard something, I am going to go check it out. Keep an eye out.”
“Will do.” Luke turned his horse out away from the huddled cattle into the rain. He was certain he had heard something but he had a hard time believing his first thought that it had been a woman’s scream.
What would a woman be doing all the way out here in the middle of the night and in this weather? He scanned the horizon looking for any figures that didn’t belong. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He knew this landscape like the back of his own hand. Even in the darkness if there was someone out here he would know. He shook his head thinking he must have heard a frightened animal. He turned to head back to the herd and another bolt of lightning lit up the landscape, the brief flash was enough for him to see the outline of a person lying on the ground a short distance away.
Luke leapt off his horse and ran to the prone body
. She was lying in a small dip that was rapidly filling with water. He rolled her onto her back and felt her throat for a pulse. She had a steady heartbeat so he shook her gently and called out but she didn’t respond. She was completely soaked and covered in mud he looked around but he didn’t see a horse or any other people. He shook her again and tapped her cheeks but she remained motionless. He sighed, he couldn’t just leave her there. As gently as possible he hoisted her over his shoulder so he could get back in the saddle. Once he managed to get mounted again he turned her so she was cradled in his arms instead.
“Whatcha got there, Boss?” Tom asked, as he approached the herd.
“It’s a woman.”
“A woman? What is she doing out here?”
“I have no idea, she is unconsc
ious.”
“I’ll be
dammed, it is a woman.” Tom leaned in for a closer look.
“I am going to have to take her back to the house, will you guys be alright till I get back.”
“We’ll be fine, don’t worry about coming back, storm’s almost over.” Luke looked up at the sky it was raining as hard as ever but he didn’t question Tom, he knew better. Tom’s sense of the weather was uncanny.
The unknown woman didn’t make so much
as a peep on the ride back to the house, he leaned over her trying to use the brim of his Stetson to keep the rain off of her face and he found that as he got close to the house the rain was tapering off. He smiled to himself Tom was right again.
He laid the woman on the bed and still she didn’t stir. He examined her qui
ckly now that he had some light. She was covered in mud but it looked like there was blood mixed with the mud matted in her hair. He carefully moved her hair and found a gash on the back of her head. It looked as if she had a large bump on her forehead as well that was turning purple. The rest of her seemed to be relatively uninjured but she was still wearing the wet clothes, there was no way he was going to undress her but it had to be done. He sighed and went to wake his housekeeper. Housekeeper seemed like such an inadequate term. Ella kept the whole ranch running, she was like everyone’s mother. She made sure everyone was fed and clothed. She even made sure they all attended some sort of church service on Sunday.
Luke paced outside the door until it finally opened again.
“Did she wake?” Ella shook her head and he sighed and went back in the room. Ella had redressed her in clean dry clothes, most likely her own considering she was the only female at the ranch.
“Where did you find her?”
“Out in the middle of nowhere, not far from the high ground. I just can’t figure where she came from.”
“Well she is covered in bruises. I would say she took quite a tumble.”
“Maybe she was thrown from a spooked horse and it bolted because I didn’t find a horse.”
“
Have you ever seen her before? In town maybe?”
“No. I have no idea who she is, I guess we’ll just have to wait for her to wake up and tell us.”
“I think her name is Angel.”
“Why?” He frowned, wondering how Ella could have deduced that from the sleeping woman. Ella stepped forward and pointed at a locket around the woman’s neck, the word angel was inscribed across it. “Oh.”
“Well one of us should stay with her so she doesn’t get upset when she wakes in an unfamiliar place.” Ella said, still gazing down at the sleeping woman. Luke sighed.
“I’ll stay with her, you go back to bed.” Luke sat down in the chair beside the bed as Ella quietly left the room. He looked at her, with all the mud washed away she was actually very pretty, she had
dark hair and light creamy complexion, Angel seemed to fit her. She could be an Angel.
Angelica moved slowly, everything seemed to hurt, her head most especially. She tried to open her eyes and it felt like daggers shooting straight back through her head. She forced them to open and all she saw was a white adobe wall. She turned slowly looking around the room, she saw a chest of drawers and a closet, there was an open door leading to a hallway. Nothing looked familiar. She felt slightly alarmed as her gaze fell on a man in the chair beside the bed. His long legs were stretched out in front of him one crossed over the other. His arms crossed over his chest. He had a black hat tipped over his face so she couldn’t see his features but nothing about him seemed familiar, in fact nothing at all seemed familiar. She didn’t know where she was or how she got there. She struggled to sit up despite the pain that seemed to be radiating from every part of her. The man moved sitting up and pushing his hat back up on his head and pierced her with an intense and startlingly blue gaze. She felt herself shy away from the intensity, physically moving away.
“W-Where am I?” Her voice sounded strange in her ears.
“The Double H.” His voice was soft but the words meant nothing. She frowned, wondering if she should know what that meant. “I found you out in the middle of nowhere, do you know how you got there?” She shook her head, she was trying to remember but all she could remember was waking up and being in pain. “What is your name? Where do you live?” She looked up into those piercing eyes and felt panic rise up in her chest.
“I-I don’t know.”
Suddenly she felt like she couldn’t breathe, why couldn’t she remember her own name?
“Take it easy, you got a pretty nasty bump on the head. It will come back to you just give it time.” The man said in a soothing voice. She took a deep breath trying to at least appear calmer, and pain shot through her head. She closed her eyes as a wave of pain induced nausea washed over her.
“Ah she’s awake.” She opened her eyes at the sound of a new voice and saw a plump woman stride purposefully into the room, she had brown hair with silver beginning to streak through it. “How are you feeling dear?”
“Everything hurts.” At least that question she knew the answer to.
“I am sure it does, what happened did you get thrown in the storm?” She opened her mouth to say she didn’t know but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything so she just shrugged.
“She doesn’t remember anything.” The man said softly.
“Oh well that’s not unusual. Is there someone we can contact for you, family?” The woman smiled warmly at her and she felt the tightness in her chest again.
“Ella, she doesn’t remember anything.” The man reiterated. The woman looked from him to her.
“Oh dear,” She said softly. “Don’t worry Angel, it will come back to you, and I am sure someone will be looking for you.” She nodded swallowing back the lump of emotion trying to creep up her throat. “Well my name is Ella and this is Luke. I’ve got breakfast on the table, do you think you could eat something?” Food was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment but she felt herself nod anyway. She moved slowly to the edge of the bed but it seemed that every movement caused her pain somewhere. She tried to stand and winced instead. “Angel just stay put, I’ll bring it to you.” The woman said quickly. The man stood up and she was struck by how much taller he was than he had seemed stretched out in the chair. He walked silently from the room and she found it odd that his boots didn’t make a sound on the wood floor. The woman left as well and she eased back to the center of the bed. She looked down at herself, she was wearing a nightgown, it didn’t look familiar but it was most likely not her own. She looked at her hands even her own hands didn’t seem familiar, they didn’t give her any clues as to where she belonged either. There were no rings so she was most likely not married, her nails were short and clean but really they were just hands.
“Here we are Angel
.” The woman returned with a tray of food and placed it on the bed.
“Why do you keep calling me Angel?” Ella looked up and met her eyes and smiled. She leaned forward and gently lifted the locket. Angelica looked down at it then unclasped it so she could see it better. It was an oval shape and had the word Angel across the front she ran her thumb across the front the gold was smooth but the back was worn to high shine, it was obviously something she wore often it must be important. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated on the locket
. Why couldn’t she remember? She opened it and saw a faded black and white photo inside. She looked at the photo intently the woman was smiling and very pretty.
“Is this me?” She held the locket out for Ella to see.
Ella took the locket and examined the picture.