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refused to give up. After each attempt, she would rest her tired, aching
body until she felt a little of her waning strength return. She couldn t
allow that bastard to win. Not when she d finally found a reason to
live, to enjoy life to the fullest. She was so in love with her three
lovers and vowed they would know how she felt. She wanted to spend
the rest of her life loving the men she had only just found. She wanted
to have their children, share the sorrows and joys life threw their way
until they grew old. She wasn t giving up without a fight.
Renewed energy flowed through her body, giving her the
determination she needed to bear the pain she knew was coming. She
took a deep, fortifying breath, letting it out slowly, and rolled to her
stomach. She gritted her teeth together, using her aching shoulders to
steady her upper torso, and bent her knees. She pushed the pain
Double E Ranch 99
shooting from her right knee to the back of her mind and pushed up
with all her might. The guttural growl emanating from her throat
sounded like a wounded animal, but she panted through the agony.
With one last breath and her remaining strength, she jumped to her
feet. She stumbled, crying out, but remained on her feet by taking two
little sideways jumps. She was standing, and that was all that
mattered. She was going to make it back to her men if it took her all
night.
* * * *
Jack saw Luke run to his car, pick up the microphone of his radio,
and call his two deputies to get their asses out to the Double E Ranch
pronto. While the sheriff was organizing his deputies and the
equipment he wanted them to bring out to the ranch, Jack, Billy, and
Tom were organizing the ranch hands to help search for the men s
missing lover.
Jack, with help from Tom and the hands, tacked up the horses and
made sure they had any emergency supplies they thought they would
need. Nan was getting food and water ready for everyone, and Billy
and Tom placed the small packs of food in their saddle bags.
By the time Jack, his bosses, and the ranch hands had secured the
packs and bedrolls to the back of their saddles, Luke was greeting his
two deputies. Luke had called his deputies in to drive the four-wheel
drive behind the horses in case the vehicle was needed to get Felicity
back to the house or to medical help. He knew his bosses weren t
going to leave anything to chance. Luke handed out portable radios to
him and the hands, mounted up beside Tom and Billy, and then they
were off.
Jack had heard Luke tell Tom and Billy they weren t going to
head back home until they had their woman safely back in their arms.
His two bosses and the sheriff let their mounts have their heads as
they raced across the open fields.
100 Becca Van
Jack directed the remaining hands to head in different directions,
hoping they would cover more ground as they searched separately. He
hoped his bosses and the sheriff were the ones to find Felicity before
nightfall, but he didn t hold out much hope, since there was only
about an hour of daylight left. He just hoped they got to her before
that deranged bastard, James, could do any damage to the petite
woman. Jack decided to head for the southernmost field near the old
timber shack, which had been erected way before Tom and Billy had
bought the Double E Ranch. The shack was a good place to bunk
down in, if and when the weather turned bad in winter. All the ranch
hands were aware of the shack, including ex-ranch hand James.
When Jack finally arrived near the shack, it had been dark for a
couple of hours. His horse was breathing heavy and was sweating as
Jack slowed him to a walk. He needed to cool his horse down slowly
so he wouldn t catch a chill. He d ridden his mount hard over the last
couple of hours. Jack had wanted to slow walk so his animal wouldn t
be so tired, but urgency kept them both moving. Jack stopped as he
came to a section of tall grass that was flattened. He dismounted and
hunkered down to peer at the ground. Something really heavy must
have flattened the grass. He grabbed his flashlight from his saddle,
flipped it on, lighting the flat grass. He could just make out tire tracks
on the edge of the squashed grass. He quickly mounted, kneed his
horse to a canter, and was sliding from his horse s back minutes later.
The door to the small timber shack was wide open, and there were fire
embers smoldering in the hearth. Jack went back outside, flipped his
flashlight on once more, and began to study the ground near the
shack. He could see where a heavy vehicle had been, but hoped to
find a sign of a lighter person.
Jack worked his way out from the door, methodically studying the
grass, following any sign of movement he could. He found a long,
thin line of flat grass and knew he had found what he d been
searching for. The trail was leading toward the trees in the distance.
He grabbed Caesar s reins and set off following the trail, pulling his
Double E Ranch 101
stallion along behind him.
Jack froze in his tracks when Felicity s trail merged with that of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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