She saw Cate’s hands flail, as if she didn’t know where to touch or what to do, and Elise stepped closer, dropping down and placing her hand flat to her back. She was used to being the strong one, to pushing her own fears aside to be there for someone else.

“What do you need me to do?” Elise whispered, taking in the shirt tied tightly around his waist, blood having soaked through much of the fabric. She was no nurse, but even she could see this man wasn’t going to survive without some kind of medical assistance.

Cate’s wild, pained eyes met hers, but after a moment of just staring at Elise and breathing, she seemed to find herself. Elise could see her steadying, could see the change in her as she turned back to the soldier and quickly removed the extra coat she’d been wearing to help him into it.

“We need to move him,” Cate said. “We need to move him as quickly as we can, before he loses more blood.”

“There’s no way we can carry him between us,” Elise said, studying his big frame. “I don’t know how—”

“We can’t leave him here! We have to try,” Cate cried, and attempted to haul him up herself. And then Jack grunted, eyes still half-shut as he slowly rose.

“You’re right, we can do this, we’re not going to leave him here. I wasn’t for a moment suggesting we leave him,” Elise agreed, knowing that even if they failed in the end, she had to at least try instead of giving up before they started. This man deserved better than to be left to die in a ditch; she just had no idea how two small women were supposed to haul him all the way back to her house, undetected.

“I can walk,” Jack said with a grunt as he righted himself, but Elise quickly positioned herself under one arm as Cate stood steadfast beneath the other. “Let me”—he sucked back a breath—“walk.”

“You walk as best you can, and we’ll be here for the rest of it,” Elise told him, speaking English so he could understand her, and instinctively knowing that there was no way he could even get himself out of the ditch, let alone walk. But she understood pride, and she wasn’t going to knock him down.

“Who’s she?” he groaned.

“She’s the cavalry,” Cate muttered as they propped him up and attempted to get him out of the ditch. “There’s no one else coming to save us, we’re all you’ve got.”