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Page 379

| a knife lodged squarely in his back. His head lay sidewise, his eyes locked in a death trance. |

| Sasha smoothed Bianca's heavy hair back from her face, relieved to discover her breathing and looking up at her. "Thank God, you're alive," she said, cradling Bianca's head on her lap. Her gaze swept over her, seeing only a small spattering of blood on the sleeve of Bianca's upper right arm. |

| "I'm not hurt badly," Bianca reassured her in a faint whisper. "His bullet only grazed my flesh." |

| "How did this happen?" Sasha asked. "Why were you here? Oh, Lord, Bianca, I have been so worried about you. Where did Stanford take you after he abandoned his sheep station? Where have you been?" |

| "He took me to . . . to a cave close to your sheep station," Bianca said, her voice drawn with pain. "He watched and waited for Ashton to go to . . . to the chest. After the fire, he left me in the cave to have my baby alone, surely to die. I . . . I began following him. I followed him here. When I got the chance, I sneaked up on him and threw the knife into his back. Before he died, he managed to shoot me." |

| She closed her eyes and groaned, her hands clutching at her abdomen. Then she opened her eyes and looked wildly at Sasha. "The child," she cried. "It is coming! I feel it! I cannot help but bear down!" |

| Sasha's pulse raced. She looked frantically over at Ashton. "Ashton!" she cried. "Come quickly! Come and help me. Bianca is having the baby!" |

| "God," Ashton said, hurrying to kneel down at Bianca's feet. He spread her legs apart, lifted her |

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