Ranch Hideout

Dandelion snorted and lunged toward the right side of the trail, away from Buttermilk. Liz’s cell phone tumbled to the ground, and she tightened her grip on the reins in an effort to stay in the saddle.

“Liz!” Gabriel cried out, but she had no time to look at him.

She gritted her teeth and pulled back on the left rein. Dandelion’s head turned in that direction as if they were going in a circle. Then a second shot hit the ground in front of them, and with a loud whinny the horse jerked her head, reared up on her back legs and pawed at the air.

Liz tried to keep hold of the reins, but when they slipped from her hands, she grabbed the saddle horn in an attempt to stay seated. At the sound of a third shot, Dandelion surged forward. Liz tightened her legs on either side of the horse to keep from being thrown, but it was no use. Dandelion bucked once more, and Liz felt herself falling.

She screamed just before darkness consumed her.

* * *

It all happened so fast Gabriel didn’t have time to react. One minute Liz was taking a picture, and the next, bullets were flying. He heard the crack of the rifle and saw the dust kick up. His first thought was to grab for Liz, but Buttermilk lunged away in the wrong direction. She was as terrified as Dandelion. The second and third shots sent the horses into a panic.

He yanked on Buttermilk’s reins as he watched in horror as Liz fell from the saddle to the ground. As soon as Dandelion was free of her rider, she took off running and disappeared down the trail. Gabriel jumped off his horse, which gave a loud whinny and then galloped off after Dandelion.

There was no time to worry about the horses. He pulled his gun from its holster, aimed into the forest where the shots had come from and fired as he ran toward Liz. When he reached her, he grabbed her arm and dragged her across the trail into the trees opposite the shooter. Two more shots hit on either side of him as he pulled her to the shelter of the forest, and he returned the fire.

When they were in the relative safety of the woods, he released his hold on Liz, pulled off his jacket and placed it under her head. His gaze raked her from head to foot. He didn’t see any injuries, but she must have hit her head when she fell or she wouldn’t be unconscious. She could have serious internal injuries. He slipped his fingers into her hair and felt around her scalp but found nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.

He sat back on his heels, closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. He couldn’t believe he’d been so careless in bringing Liz out here. Instead of convincing her to go riding with him, he should have thought up ways to gain her trust without leaving the ranch. He’d only begun his assignment to protect her yesterday, and she’d already had two incidents that reeked of Daniel Shaw’s gang.

Now she lay injured in a forest, someone was out there shooting at them and there was no backup anywhere close by. The more he thought about it, though, the stranger it seemed. If the gunman was a hit man for Daniel Shaw, why were the shots aimed at the trail and not them? From such a short distance the gunman shouldn’t have had any trouble hitting them if that’s what he’d intended. Maybe this had been a warning, an attack designed to scare Liz and keep her from testifying.

He glanced at his watch and realized it had been at least five minutes since the last shot. Maybe whoever was out there had gone. Only one way to find out. He crawled to the edge of the tree line and peered across the trail. He saw no movement. Taking a deep breath, he raised his gun and shot into the forest opposite them. There was no answering gunfire. He shot once more. When nothing happened, he crawled back to Liz. She still hadn’t moved.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in Dean’s number. He answered right away. “Hello.”

“Dean, we’ve had a problem. Someone took a few shots at us, and Liz was thrown. The horses have run off, and we’re stranded. Can you come get us?”

Dean gasped. “Are you both all right?”

“I’m okay, but Liz is unconscious. You’re going to need an ATV to get her. There’s no way we can get her on a horse, and I wouldn’t want to risk potentially aggravating any injuries she might have, anyway.”

“What about the shooter?”

“I think he’s gone, but be careful. He could be waiting until we come out of hiding.”

“Emmett and I will be right there. Where are you?”

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