Healing The Forest Ranger. Leigh Bale

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СКАЧАТЬ dangerously near Lyn’s head. She scrunched farther back into the crowded trees. The hair of her long ponytail ripped against the pointed branches.

      One thought pounded in her brain. Kristen. All alone in the world. If Lyn were killed, her little daughter would have no one to love and care for her. No one to keep her safe.

      The rearing mustang beat the PJ’s to splinters, fiercely determined to reach her.

      Lyn screamed in helpless anguish. How had this happened? A calm afternoon of checking the watering hole had turned into a life-threatening situation.

      Lyn glanced left and right, desperate for a safer place to hide until the stallion gave up and left. A thick outcropping of sage and PJ’s jutted from the rocks just to her right. To reach it, she’d have to leave her fragile sanctuary and run for her life. With a crazed beast hot on her tail.

      Bracing her hands beneath her in the dirt, Lyn bent down like a track star, knowing there was absolutely no way she could outrun this horse. Knowing she might be killed.

      Taking a deep breath, she sprinted toward the rocks.

      * * *

      The wild horses were fighting. Caden Baldwin recognized their screams echoing through the canyon, reaching his ranch a mere six miles outside the town of Stokely, Nevada. Riding Flash, his bay gelding, Cade galloped toward Secret Valley. Maybe he’d get to see his beloved mustangs today. He couldn’t remember a single summer in his childhood when he hadn’t watched the wild horses with his grandfather. It’d been several weeks since they’d crossed Cade’s pasture land and—

      A woman’s scream echoed off the rock walls of the ravine like a gunshot. What on earth?

      Cade tapped his heels against his horse’s sides. Flash tore off at a fast run. Someone was in trouble. Someone needed help.

      And then the panic set in. So unexpected that it left Cade breathless and choking. He clung to the saddle, overwhelmed by a flashback to the war in Afghanistan. The drumming of the horse’s hooves became the pounding of gunfire and shells exploding all around Cade, hammering his body with bits of rock, dirt and mortar. The memory of pain and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth seemed so real. And then a vision of Dallin filled his mind, his best friend’s body, limp and bleeding. Broken.

      Cade shook his head, trying to clear his mind and return to the present. Trying urgently to forget the haunting nightmare. He wasn’t in the Middle East now. He was here in the Nevada desert. God had brought him home.

      Safe and sound.

      Oblivious of Cade’s moment of crisis, Flash didn’t break stride. Cade sat frozen in the saddle, his body moving with the strong rhythm of the horse. He clenched the reins, his calves tightening around the animal’s sides.

      As the wild mustangs came into view, Cade recovered his senses and his breathing slowed a bit. His gaze centered on a buckskin stallion rearing and thrashing through the pinions. A woman fought her way through the brush, frantically seeking cover. Chased by the stallion.

      Urging Flash toward the wild mustang, Cade yelled and waved his arms. The lead mare neighed to the rest of her herd. From his peripheral vision, Cade saw her racing toward the sheltering mountains, the other mares and a young black foal following in hot pursuit.

      The stallion snorted, shook his splendid head and chased after his band. Puffs of dust and flying clods of dirt marked their passing. Flash came to a halt, his sides heaving. Cade patted the gelding’s neck, murmuring a soothing word to the breathless horse. Then he looked at the woman...and groaned. In an instant, Cade recognized the drab olive color of her shirt and spruce-green pants.

      Forest Service.

      He’d rescued a government employee. One of those people who wanted to move the wild horses off this land and lock them away in holding pens.

      Cade had half a mind to turn around and ride back to Sunrise Ranch. The last person he wanted to help was a Forest Service worker. But he figured he should at least find out if she was all right. Since returning from the war, he had enough deaths on his conscience and didn’t want to add another.

      “You okay, lady?” he called.

      She sat scrunched back within one of the taller pinions, trying to climb the slim tree trunk. As she descended from her perch, a sprinkle of gray-green nettles showered her head. The limb broke off, and she landed on her rump in the dirt. She gasped but came quickly to her feet, limping slightly. She brushed at her long ponytail and clothing before answering in a shaky voice. “Y-yes, I’m fine, thanks to you.”

      Honey-brown eyes. Beautiful, intelligent and filled with relief.

      Cade pursed his lips and looked around for her vehicle. He saw nothing but scrubby sage and rabbit brush. “How’d you get out here?”

      She pointed to the north. “My truck is parked beside the dirt road about a mile away.”

      He jerked his gaze in that direction. Just great. He’d have to give her a ride.

      “You ready to go home now, or would you rather have more fun upsetting the mustangs?” He couldn’t keep an edge of annoyance from his tone. He was sick and tired of government employees rounding up the wild horses to send them to holding stations where most of them lived their life in captivity. He’d never been overly sentimental, but he wanted to forget what he’d seen and been forced to do as a U.S. marine in a war zone. The wild-horse herds soothed his jangled nerves and helped him cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder.

      The mustangs were Cade’s version of therapy.

      The woman showed a weak smile, her eyes sparkling like amber gems. Streaks of dirt marred the smooth curve of her sunburned cheeks. Pine needles and dirt clung to her long, white-blond ponytail. A smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose indicated she spent a lot of time outdoors. Because of her employment, Cade decided right then and there he wouldn’t like her one bit. No sirree. Not as long as she posed a threat to his wild horses.

      She pointed toward the mountains. “That stallion is injured. He fought with a bachelor, and I was trying to get a closer look to see how bad the wound might be.”

      Her declaration surprised him. Since when did a Forest Service employee care if a wild stallion was wounded or not?

      “The way he hightailed it out of here, I’d say he’ll be just fine,” Cade said. “It’s not wise to come out here and gawk at the mustangs. They can be very dangerous.”

      Her pink lips tightened defensively. “I wasn’t gawking. I was checking water levels and observing the horses, trying to learn their habits and see how well fed they are.”

      He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “You can call it whatever you like. It’s the same thing.”

      “I wasn’t gawking,” she insisted.

      Okay, he wouldn’t argue with her about it. “So, how’d it all work out for you?”

      She didn’t seem to catch his humor.

      “They saw me when I changed position.” A frown of disappointment creased her forehead.

      “As if a wild stallion would ever let you get close enough to offer first СКАЧАТЬ