Page 32 of Seaside Cowboy's Fairy Tale

“We have company. Duck!”

Shots thundered in the air.

Chapter Nine

THIS COULDN’T BE HAPPENING. For the third time!

As bullets whizzed overhead, it apparently could.

Rachel threw herself on the boat’s floor, and thankfully, Tex crouched beside her without her needing to tackle him again.

But he didn’t stay down. Instead, he crouched forward.

“What are you doing?” she hissed in his direction.

“We need to get out of here.” He started the motor, which revved to life.

“Good point,” she muttered.

Then another thought iced her blood. The shooter or shooters didn’t necessarily have to hit Tex or her. If they could get the fuel supply—or tank, or whatever that thing was called—to explode, that would be it. Or if they damaged the motor, the two of them could be adrift in the ocean, and who knew when rescue would arrive. There was a dinghy with oars to use, of course. But the tide was going out, and the wind was picking up.

Despite growing up near the ocean she didn’t have much knowledge about boats and it would’ve come in handy now. She’d never been able to afford even a simple rowboat, never mind a motorboat, and whenever her stepmom and stepsisters had gone sailing, they’d never taken her. Right now, she would love to know where the fuel tank thingie was on the shooters’ boat.

Never mind. Her eyes narrowed as her heart raced and determination powered her decision to act. These days, Rachel was the one doing the rescue instead of being rescued. Okay, she needed to prove that point. She looked out from the boat’s edge and fired back at the boat the shots had come from.

“What are you doing?” Tex threw her own words back at her.

“Um, shooting?” She fired another shot, then hid again.

“I meant, stay hidden! Stay safe!”

Seriously? There probably wasn’t any safe place in the boat right now since fiberglass or whatever that was wasn’t much protection, but saying so wasn’t the right time. And she wasn’t the type of person to stay hidden for long, but again, not the best idea to discuss that now. Adrenaline pumping, she raised her head above the sidewall again.

She understood his intention. He was trying to put as much distance between them and the shooters as possible, but since they were giving chase in a speedboat nearly as powerful as his but smaller and more agile, he wasn’t making much progress.

At the same time, he was radioing the incident in, but help wouldn’t arrive soon. Even via helicopter. Her heart dropped, and guilt stung her.Shewas the reason they were so far from help. She’d asked Tex to go further out to sea, and the weather was good enough for that.

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