Page 52 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

The last thing she needed was to have Ethan McDaniel back in her life. She loved Mandy to death and knew her marriage was one where John was the final authority. When she and Mac had been together, it had been that way as well, and it had worked for the most part. But that ended five years ago, and Willa had no need for anybody’s leadership but her own.

Willa opened the gate blocking the entrance to the canyon, then loped Gator around to the other side of the herd before pushing them toward the entrance. She didn’t want to move them too fast and had to work to keep them bunched up, heading through the tunnel, and moving in the direction she wanted to go once they were out from behind the waterfall. She had to keep them moving. Once she got them into the canyon system, she could ease off since they would be more difficult to find.

As soon as most of the herd had cleared the tunnel, Willa hollered and drove them in the direction she needed to go. She heard the crack of the gunshot only slightly ahead of feeling the bullet whiz by her shoulder, taking a piece of muscle and skin with it, and throwing her forward onto Gator’s neck. Another bullet zipped by where her head would have been if she hadn’t been flung forward. A third shot rang out from a different direction but didn’t seem to be aimed at her.

Over and above the rifle shots, she heard the blades of a helicopter cutting through the air. Willa looked down; the shot that had clipped her had hit something, and she was rapidly losing blood. She surmised the third shot had been from the chopper where a lone figure hung out of the rear door. Willa brought Gator to a halt and watched the chopper land a safe distance away. She turned to see the mustangs gallopingin the opposite direction, putting as much distance between themselves and what was happening as they could.

Her first thought was, shit! Her second was while she’d play hell trying to find that herd again, at least they were headed toward protected land. She wheeled Gator around, prepared to confront whoever it was who had stampeded the herd. The man with the rifle was standing outside the helicopter and seemed to be scanning the area for where the shot that hit her had come.

Willa was unsure as to the cause of her lower belly doing flip-flops as the man left the chopper and headed toward her in a crouched run. Her confusion was resolved when she realized it was Mac. As he came closer, he straightened, and she could see his face clearly—he was not a happy man.

“Marshal?” she challenged with as much bravado as she could manage.

“Don’t you ‘Marshal’ me, Willa. Jesus, you’ve been hit!”

“He just grazed me. Since you stampeded my herd to kingdom come, I suppose I’ll head for home, get this cleaned up, then come back in the morning to retrieve my things.” She turned Gator away from him, but he grabbed the rein.

“Like hell, you will.” Mac hollered at the chopper, “Gus? Come take charge of this beast. Your boss and I are headed to the hospital.”

Gus hopped out of the helicopter and headed toward them.

“Let go of my rein, McDaniel,” she growled.

He grinned. “No, Willa.”

“You can’t tell me no. You have no authority over me.”

“You’d best get used to the idea of no, and that I can and will enforce it.”

“Fuck you,” she spat, ignoring the way his tone of voice and assumption of his dominance over her made her nipples bead up and her pussy clench in anticipation, the latter causing her the most concern.

“I will when you ask me nicely. Now, climb down off the damn horse.”

Before she could put a boot in his face or better her position, Gus had joined them and taken the other rein.

“For Christ’s sake, Willa, you’re bleeding. Let me help you down.” He turned to Mac. “You’re going to take her to a doctor, right?”

“Right as rain,” Mac said cordially. “I’ll make sure Willa is well cared for from here on out.”

Gus laughed. “You may have forgotten that can prove to be a far more difficult task than catching Eastwick.”

“Willa isn’t going to be difficult… are you, sweetheart?”

“Willa,” she said through clenched teeth, “is going to be a major pain in the ass until you leave her the fuck alone.”

Mac surprised her by laughing as he pulled her from the saddle.

“Settle down, or the only ass in major pain will be yours,” he whispered.

Willa was taken aback, not only by his bold words but by how they made her feel. She was almost dizzy from the feeling radiating up from the place between her legs but told herself it was the loss of blood.

Turning to Gus, Mac continued, “Willa is now in federal custody as a material witness.”

As he led her toward the helicopter, he Mirandized here. Willa tried to struggle and break his grip, but her efforts proved unsuccessful. The pilot and another man with a rifle approached.

“Junior, sit up front with the pilot.” Mac ushered Willa into the seat behind the pilot and buckled her in. “Stay put.”

He ran around the front of the chopper and hopped in beside her, then fastened his own belt. The pilot turned to look at Mac,who gave a nod, and the blades started rotating. They were quickly airborne, and he told the pilot to head to the hospital.

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