Page 41 of Texas-Sized Secrets

A ring of portable corral panels had been erected and her cattle were penned inside, their frightened bellows rising into the night air.

Rage ripped through Mona and she fought hard to control her first inclination to charge down there and tear down the panels. No, she had to keep her cool.

Reed’s head turned right then left, his brows furrowing. “Where are the rustlers?”

For the first time, Mona noticed the cattle were there but the rustlers weren’t. A chill swept down her spine that had nothing to do with the cool wind slashing her hair against her face.

Her eyes wide, she stared across at Reed. “You don’t suppose they went back to get the other herd in the central pasture?” Jesse could be riding into a trap, while she and Reed sat there staring at a captured herd. “Come on.” Mona ran toward her horse, grabbed the reins and attempted to stick her foot in the stirrup. It took her two tries with her belly getting in the way. When she finally had her foot anchored, she prepared to swing her leg over the top. Strong hands lifted her from behind and set her in her seat.

Reed swung up onto his horse in one fluid motion.

As Mona spun her mount back in the direction of the central pasture, the sound of multiple small engines alerted her to the fact they were no longer the only humans there. Half a dozen small headlights raced across the empty prairie, bumping over the dried clumps of grass and sage, headed directly toward them.

At first, Mona thought to ride right past them and back in the direction of the house. She pulled the revolver her father had given to her out of the holster strapped to her thigh and aimed at one of the lights. Before she could pull the trigger, the sharp crack of gunfire ripped through the air. Her horse reared, the revolver flew from her hands and it was all she could do to hold on and not be dumped in the midst of a pack of rustlers. Mona yanked the reins, turning the horse in the direction of the canyon and dug her heels into its flanks. As she raced across the prairie, the first fat drops of rain splashed into her eyes.

Chapter Ten

Reed raced after Mona, placing his body and horse directly behind her, hoping the bullets flying toward them wouldn’t knock the woman from her horse. He prayed the storm would hold off until they could find a safe place to hide. His prayers went unanswered. Rain pelted him as his horse picked up speed, galloping across the open prairie toward the maze of canyon walls.

They skirted the pen of cattle, headed into the twisting, turning paths that led into the gorge.

His horse stumbled on the rocky ground, terrain four-wheelers could negotiate just as easily, if not better. A horse could break a leg or rear up and dump its rider on the ground, injuring both Mona and her baby or leaving them vulnerable to the thieves.

His pulse hammering against his temples, Reed raced at a breakneck speed following the brave woman ahead of him.

When she made a sharp turn into what looked like a dead-end ravine, he almost shouted out his frustration. They’d be trapped. And then what? Would the thieves kill them to keep their identity a secret? Or post an armed guard until they were finished loading the cattle?

Reed wasn’t taking any chances on the former. The latter option he could handle. A herd of cattle wasn’t worth Mona’s life, or the baby’s. They should have stayed back at the ranch and waited until the rustlers had taken the cattle, then called the state police to stop the truck. Surely the electricity would have come back on within minutes. If not, they could have gone into town and used the computers at the library the next day to track the cattle.

His hindsight wasn’t doing him any good at this point, when all his focus was needed to negotiate the darkened trail only lit with increasing intensity by the storm swirling overhead.

The trail narrowed into a rocky ravine fit only for agile animals, not four-wheelers. When he emerged at the top, Reed looked back. In the meager lightening flashes, he could see three foolish bikers careening up the pass after them. One of them flipped, the four-wheeler tumbling over the top of him and back down the steep draw, just missing the last one coming up.

“Come on!” Mona called out. She raced her horse across a flat plateau that led to another ravine snaking upward to the top of the canyon. At the base of the ravine, she dropped out of her saddle and slapped the horse’s behind, sending him up the trail riderless. Then she ran toward the bluffs, disappearing into the shadows.

Reed swung out of his saddle, grabbed the rifle from the scabbard and slapped his horse’s flanks. Startled by the slap, the gelding bucked forward and followed the mare up the ravine.

As Reed dived for the shadows, the two four-wheelers leaped over the edge and onto the plateau.

One rider paused, racing his engine, then he turned in a slow circle panning the flat area, searching for his quarry.

When the light turned in Reed’s direction, he hugged the ground, lying across his rifle, closing his eyes to avoid any glare off metal or pupils.

The engines roared like raging lions and gunshots blasted into the night, mixing with the sound of thunder. He resisted the urge to cover his ears, knowing any movement could give him away. Rain dripped across Reed’s forehead and down the back of his neck, but he remained motionless.

The noise went on for only half a minute, then everything stopped. Silence reigned except for the shouts from the rustlers gathering the cattle far below and the booming thunder echoing against the cliffs.

What were they waiting on? If Reed thought he could take both of them out without risking Mona, he would attack. But if he shot at them, they’d shoot back. With Mona somewhere behind him, he couldn’t risk a bullet finding her in the shadows.

Rocks trickled down the upper ravine and the sound of a horse’s whinny high above the plateau caught the riders’ attention.

Engines roared to life and the four-wheelers shot up the steep, rocky embankment. With the rain increasing in force, the ravine turned into a stream, slowing their progress.

Reed lay still for several seconds longer, before low-crawling through the mud and deeper into the shadows.

“Mona?” he called out softly.

“Here.”

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