Caroline's head was pounding and her muscles were screaming when they finally made camp that night. She had been thrown on her stomach across the saddle of an extra horse while one of the outlaws tied it to his own horse and led it across the dusty planes. They had ridden hard and covered countless miles before finally stopping.

Caroline and Jasmine were sat on the hard ground with their hands and feet bound while the men went about setting up camp. Caroline saw them carry the dark haired stranger into a small tent. He appeared to be unconscious and he was covered in blood and she found herself praying that he was going to be okay since he had seemed like the only half decent man among them all.

She had cried for a long while after leaving the cabin but finally her eyes had gone dry… There were no tears left inside of her to cry. She looked over at Jasmine and saw that her face was dirty and tearstained and her blue eyes were scared and wide as she looked around at the outlaws.

Caroline scooted closer to her and leaned into her shoulder. Jasmine looked at her.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked softly. "Are you hurt?" Jasmine shook her head. Caroline tensed when she saw Mitchell walking over to them.

"Hello girls." he said his voice sounding much too upbeat and chipper after the terror they had just left behind. Caroline glared at him.

"What is your name?" he asked crouching down and looking at Jasmine. Jasmine just stared at him. "Answer me girl!" he yelled. Jasmine leaned away in fear. Mitchell raised his hand to slap her but Caroline threw her own body in front of her little sister and his hand landed on her cheek instead.

"Get back! I need to teach her a lesson! When I ask a question I expect it to be answered immediately." he roared.

"She can't speak!" Caroline screamed back. "She never has been able to, you monster!"

"Are you telling me she's some kind of retard?" he demanded. Caroline spit in his face and he wiped it away with a chuckle.

"God you are gonna be fun to break aren't you?" he asked. Caroline nearly gagged at the implication in his words. Just then a man came over from the tent they had drug the dark stranger into. He was covered in blood and looked worried.

"Boss, Ethan is going to die if we don't get him to a doc… That bullet is still in there and he's bleeding bad." he said. Mitchell stood up straight and cursed.

"Well we're fresh outta doctors aren't we? I guess the boy will learn a lesson about going against me."

"But we can't just let him die boss. He's the fastest gun we got… 'Cept you of course." he added quickly when he saw the flash of anger in Mitchell's blue eyes.

"What good is he with that gun if he won't use it unless it's in self defense? The boy is spineless!" Mitchell said angrily.

"You would let your own son bleed to death from your bullet?" Caroline demanded from where she was sitting on the ground. Mitchell thought about smacking her for speaking out of turn but then he realized that she probably knew how to sew.

He reached down and grabbed her arm dragging her to her feet as he led her over to the small tent that Ethan was currently bleeding to death inside.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"You are going to nurse my fool headed son back to health. Your first job is to get that damn bullet out of his arm and sew him up." he replied. "You can sew right?" he added. She nodded.

"I need thread and a needle." she said matter-of-factly. "And some whiskey for the wound." Caroline had removed bullets before… She had lost her older brother to a bullet not long ago after doing everything she could to save his life.

"Franks!" Mitchell hollered as he untied her hands and feet. "Bring that damn pack you grabbed from that cabin that had needle and thread in it and I need a bottle of whiskey." Caroline felt anger when she saw Franks walking over with her mother's flower patterned sewing bag in his dirty hands. He handed it and a bottle of whiskey to Caroline. Then Mitchell pulled his knife from his belt and handed it to her as well.

"Don't even think about trying anything foolish." he warned. "Remember that your beautiful little retard of a sister is gonna be sitting out here with me." Caroline nodded and then ducked her head and entered the tent. She gasped when she saw the man lying with his eyes closed on the blanket covered in blood. No one had even bothered to tie anything around the wound to help stop the flow of blood.

She went to him and got down on her knees beside him. She refused to look at his face as she began to unbutton his shirt. His face was too handsome and she didn't want to see him so pale. She nearly screamed in fear when he reached out with his good arm and grabbed her hands.

"I'll do that." he said. His voice was weak and pain filled and Caroline looked up at him. His dark eyes were locked on her green ones as he let go of her hands and undid his buttons one handed. Caroline helped him sit up so he could remove his shirt and then she looked at the wound in his arm.

"This is going to hurt." she said as she pushed him back down and opened the whiskey bottle.

"I know." he replied. Caroline raised her brow.

"You've done this before?" she asked as she poured some whiskey on the wound. He let out a hiss of pain through his clenched teeth as he nodded.

"I'm sorry about your family." he said as she picked the knife up and brought it toward his arm. She didn't look away from his wound as she shrugged.

"It wasn't your fault. You tried to stop it." she replied as she stuck the knife deep in the wound to search for the bullet.

Ethan bit back a curse and sweat popped out on his forehead from the pain he was in as she dug around after that bullet. He focused on her face to try to block out the pain. She had pretty dark hair though it was a mess of tangles around her face from the ride across the dusty planes. Her skin was tan from the sun and her eyes were the deepest shade of green he had ever seen as she stared down at his arm deep in concentration.

Her nose was a little too big but he saw that her lips were full and pink as she bit them with her perfect teeth. He could see a bead of sweat rolling from her temple down her dusty cheek and he fought the urge to wipe it away. He admired the strength and courage he could see inside of her.

Her entire family had just been slaughtered right there in front of her eyes but she had not broken. He had heard her yelling at his father. He could sense the fire in her spirit and he had also heard his father say he would have fun breaking her. Ethan couldn't explain it but the thought of his father touching this woman made his blood boil hotter than a hot spring in the middle of the desert in august.

"Got it!" Caroline said with satisfaction as she held the crumpled bullet up. Ethan nodded.

"Good…. Now sew that up darlin' before there ain't no blood left to keep in." he said. Caroline grabbed the sewing bag and started readying the needle and thread as Ethan grabbed the whiskey and poured a big drink down his throat before cleansing his wound again.

Caroline was impressed that he did not cry out or moan as she sewed up the wound. She only looked at his face once and had found those dark eyes locked on her. She could not explain the little tremble that made it's way down her spine whenever their eyes met. She should not be feeling things like that after what had just happened today. She felt the tears wanting to fall again but blinked them away and focused on her task of sewing his wound.

Finally she was finished and she used her apron that she was still wearing, since she had been helping her mother and Jasmine bake pies when the outlaws had shown up, and wiped her sweaty face and blood covered hands on it.

"Thank you." Ethan said weakly. He could barely keep his eyes open and knew he would fall asleep soon.

"You are welcome." Caroline said as she put away the rest of the thread and the needle. Ethan wondered why she avoided his gaze… then he reminded himself that he was running with the men that had just slaughtered her entire family.

"What is your name?" he asked. She looked at him then and he swore that she was seeing right into his soul as their eyes met.

"Caroline." she replied.

"You be careful, Caroline. If you see a chance to run you take it and I'll do whatever I can to keep you and your sister safe." he promised. Though he wasn't sure exactly what he could do. He was half dead from loss of blood and his fathers men had stripped him of every weapon he owned except his hands and legs… He was damn good with those but not when he had a bullet hole in his arm.

"I'll go tell your father that you are okay." she said standing and walking toward the tent flap.

"Mitchell." he said quietly. She looked back at him questioningly. "Don't call that cold blooded, murdering bastard my father." He swore he saw a faint smile on her lips before she nodded and left the tent.