Whirlwind Groom by Debra Cowan

whipped out his own gun and fired twice in rapid succession, aiming between her feet. It happened too fast for Josie to react at all.
    She stumbled back a step, hardly able to make herself look down, but she did.
    A blackish-brown snake with dark, indistinct-shaped markings protruded from beneath her skirts. Even she could identify the alternating black and white rings on its tail, and the rattle at the end. Nausea rolled over her. “Oh, dear.”
    She wobbled.
    â€œAre you bit?” Davis Lee rushed up. When he saw that the snake lay unmoving, he holstered his weapon. “Rattlesnake.”
    Josie stared hard at the reptile as if she could will it to remain motionless.
    â€œJosie, are you bit?”
    â€œYes.” She lifted her gaze to his, feeling detached from her body.
    He cursed and scooped her unceremoniously into his arms, carrying her a safe distance away. “I’ve got to get the venom out of your leg.”
    He reached their horses and tugged a rolled-up trail blanket from behind his saddle, snapping it open and wrapping it around her before carefully depositing her on the ground. He went to his knees beside her. “Is your vision blurring? Are you nauseous?”
    â€œNo.” She dragged in air, trying to calm her racing pulse and recall what her father had told her about treating snakebites. “It may be ten minutes or so before that happens. We need to work fast though.”
    She already felt short of breath, but maybe that was because she was close to panic. A rattler. She had been bitten by a rattler. She had never even seen a snake, but thanks to her father she knew how to treat a bite. She had to stay as calm as possible.
    Pulling the blanket around her to keep warm and try to combat the shock she knew would come, she reached for the hem of her skirt the same time Davis Lee did.
    â€œLie down,” he ordered. “You need to be still and quiet.”
    She knew he was right but needed to do something herself. Pain seared her lower leg as if scalding water had spilled on her.
    â€œIs it burning?”
    â€œYes.” Tears stung her eyes.
    â€œIt’s starting to swell, too,” he muttered.
    â€œDo you know what to do?”
    â€œYes.” He lifted her skirts to her knees, pushing up the hem of her drawers.
    She saw several cuts and scratches around a single puncture just above the top of her boot, the bloody blister forming at the bite that was a few inches above her ankle.
    Her breathing grew labored and the burning in her leg intensified. Forcing away the panic that clawed at her, she focused on remembering her father’s instruction. Her hands moved to her bodice. Any constrictive clothing could increase the swelling and push the flow of venom through her blood faster. She shook so violently she could barely unfasten the buttons, but she managed to spread open the cotton fabric then reach for the fastenings on her corset. Sweat broke across her nape and between her breasts.
    Davis Lee stared at her leg, jerking off his hat. “I’m going to have to cut you and suck out that poison.”
    â€œI know,” she mumbled. Biting back a whimper at the voracious fire in her lower leg, she fumbled with the hooks down the front of her corset, hoping this would sufficiently loosen her clothing.
    He glanced up then froze. “What in the hell are you doin’?”
    â€œConstricts my breathing.” She struggled with the last closure just below her waist. “Anything too tight will spread the venom faster.”
    He frowned, but pulled out his whittling knife with its four-inch blade and reached toward her. The whetted steel sliced easily through the thread securing her corset hook. The loosened garment relaxed, freeing her breasts, her ribs, and she dragged in a deep breath.
    He moved back to her leg with the big knife. Josie gasped and lifted herself onto her elbows. “No, not yours. Mine.”
    â€œThere’s no