Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
I was dozing when Kate and Eric showed up, and when I checked my watch, I saw it had taken an hour for them to make it out to us. They peered into the wagon where Annalise was curled up in a snugly ball under several blankets.
“She snores loud just like her mother,” Kate cried, leaning into me.
I put my arm around her. “I’m sure you snore beautifully.”
Her husband scoffed.
“Maybe read the room, Eric,” I suggested, shooting him a look.
He coughed softly.
“All the other horses are still being dried off, and they’re scrambling to get heaters going in the stable,” Kate said, sniffling.
“Well, mine were all in their rain gear, even though they hated it. And it’s normally always warm in the barn, with all the hay and the animals.”
They both nodded.
“I have sleeping bags if you all wanna just have a quick nap before you go back.”
They both thought I was brilliant.
“Thank you so much, Glenn, for taking care of our daughter,” Eric said, and I saw his eyes flutter with how tired he was.
“Yes,” Kate echoed, openly weeping. “Thank you.”
She and Eric were so wrung out, I had no idea how they were standing.
“It was my pleasure,” I assured them, then got out bedrolls, pillows, and sleeping bags for them. Once they were both lying down, they were asleep in seconds.
Putting on my raincoat, I went out to check on everyone else and see what help I could offer. It was how I was raised. My mother had drilled the lesson in from childhood.
I was surprised when I neared the bunkhouse that Rand’s stallion, as well as Mac’s, were tied to a post, still in the rain. Because I knew better, it was obvious neither man was aware that their mounts weren’t being taken care of. Probably the men at the Lone Pine were supposed to be attending to them, but somewhere along the line, wires got crossed.
I took both horses with me, neither giving me a moment of trouble, both too wet and tired to even think about pulling away from me. Once I got them to the barn, I found towels and blankets, got them both dried off, warmed up, covered up, and fed and watered. I was beat by then. Between my injury and how late it was, I got a bedroll and a blanket and lay down next to the stall where Juju was. She bent and blew air into my face, smelled my hair, and when I checked, she was looking down at me.
“Go to sleep,” I told her, and closed my eyes.
I was asleep maybe twenty minutes at most—confirmed by the illuminated display on my watch—before the phone beeped beside me.
“Yeah?” I answered belligerently because I was starting to get the lack-of-sleep-and-caffeine headache, and it would be really bad if it kicked in and rendered me useless.
“Hey, sorry,” Mac said on the other end, and from the sound of it, he was still out in the rain. “But I’m checking with everyone to see if they’ve seen Murphy and—”
“Is Murphy your palomino?”
“Yeah,” he said, sounding relieved. “Do you have him?”
“I do,” I assured him. “He and Demon are—”
“Who?”
“Rand’s stallion.”
“Glenn, that horse’s name is not—”
“The two of them were tied to a hitching post just getting wetter and colder, so I brought them with me to the barn.”
“Oh, that’s where you— I’ve been looking for you everywhere and…”
He stopped talking. No more. I waited a moment but…nothing.
“Okay, well, I have both horses, so you can collect him whenever we’re getting outta here in the morning. He’s warm and dry and—”
The barn door opened then and Mac came in, closing the door quickly behind him, the driving rain pounding down for seconds behind him.
It was dark in the barn, so I turned on the SOS light on my sat phone so he could see where I was. He made his way quietly in the dark and was standing over me a moment later, shivering and wet, looking about drowned.
“Oh, man, you’re gonna get pneumonia,” I told him, snatching his hat off his head and putting it on one of the stall poles. I then walked over to the rolled-up horse towels, intending to grab two. “Take everything off—I promise not to look—and then dry yourself off. Your gear is soaked, so I’ll get another sleeping bag from the wagon.”
I turned to go, but he took hold of my bicep and wouldn’t release me.
“Mac, your hand is like ice,” I informed him. “Please let me take care of you just this once.”
He nodded and slowly released his grip. I was at the towel pile and back in seconds, having grabbed three instead of two so I could immediately put one on his head.
“Okay, cowboy,” I teased him, grinning. “Take it off.”
He scowled at me as I held up the towel in front of me and turned my head.