Page 34 of Waiting for the Rancher
But with the stolen horses in full view and out in the open, Maverick had wanted to wait another hour until darkness fell, hoping to grab several of their best and take them back home. Course, he hadn’t thought through the ramifications.
He closed his eyes to block out the memories, but they came anyway. The moment he’d inched out of hiding and made his way toward the horses, the thieves had started shooting at them.Unfortunately, he and Pa had been outnumbered and pinned down with no easy way out of the gulch. As the hours had dragged by and the temperatures began to drop, their situation had grown dire.
Finally, Pa had decided he’d cause a distraction so that Maverick could make it down the ravine and go after help. Maverick hadn’t wanted to leave Pa behind, but since he’d been a sharpshooter in the war, Pa would be able to defend himself easily enough.
And maybe Pa would have... if the shower of bullets from the thieves hadn’t started an avalanche in the cliffs right above him.
Maverick opened his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts of the image of the sheets of snow and ice tumbling down the hillside directly toward his pa. Even though it had been dark, the moonlight had been bright enough to illuminate the danger. He’d shouted at his pa to run, but Pa’d had only seconds, enough time to glance at the avalanche headed his way, then nod goodbye to Maverick.
He’d been buried under a mountain of snow and ice. Even though Maverick had tried to dig him out, the darkness, the weight of the snow and rocks, and the gunfire from the thieves had made the task nearly impossible. He’d ridden back to the ranch, rounded up as many men as possible, and gone back out to the gulch.
By then, the horse thieves had escaped. But retrieving the stolen horses hadn’t mattered anymore. All that’d mattered was uncovering Pa and praying for a miracle that he’d somehow survived.
At dawn, they’d finally found his body, pale and lifeless. From what they could tell, he’d been knocked unconscious—hadn’t suffered much, possibly even died instantly.
Everyone else had blamed the horse thieves, but Maverick held himself responsible. If only he hadn’t been so proud or impulsive. If only he hadn’t insisted on having his way. If only he’d listened to Pa and turned back and waited until they had more help.
But no, he’d pushed forward with what he’d wanted to do. Had been just as selfish then as he’d always been, seeking the thrill and the glory without considering anyone else.
Tanner was examining the ground carefully, already several dozen paces away from the broken fence, with Hazel following close behind. He halted and peered to the foothills to the northwest of the ranch. “From what I can tell from the hoofprints, your mare headed up into Dead Man’s Gulch.”
With his spine prickling, Maverick again scanned the foothills for signs of any horse thieves lingering about. “How many did the horse thieves get this time?”
Tanner bent and pushed back more of the dead damp grass. “Only one set of prints out here today.”
“So Candy is alone?” Hazel asked.
“Looks that way.”
Maverick poked at the dangling wire. “Then who cut the fence?”
Tanner shrugged. “Maybe it’s been cut for a while, and you just didn’t notice it.”
“Or maybe the horse thieves are back in the area looking to steal more horses.” Course, with everything that had happened, they’d all but given up finding their stolen horses. After the funeral and once Pa had been buried, the sheriff had done the best he could to follow all leads. But the thieves and the horses had never been seen again.
With narrowed eyes, Tanner followed the horse prints for a dozen more paces.
“Any idea what happened?” Hazel anxiously scanned the area ahead for the mare. Boulders and shrubs and clumps of dead grass covered the barren slope.
“The hoofprints belong to a mare carrying the extra weight. I have no doubt she’s your mare, and I also have no doubt she was looking for a private place to do her foaling. She’s probably not too far up the gulch.”
Hazel nodded, then started hiking in the direction of Dead Man’s Gulch.
“Whoa, now.” Maverick trotted after her, easily catching hold of her arm and bringing her to a halt. “You can’t just hike up there.”
Hazel’s expression was set with the determination he loved. Except that right now, he had no intention of letting her run off into the gulch looking for the mare. Not by herself, horse thieves or not.
Hazel’s eyes radiated distress. “Candy might be in trouble.”
“And we’ll go after her, but first we gotta get our mounts and supplies.”
“I’ll be going by foot.”
“We’ll need to ride. Ain’t no telling how far up the gulch she went.”
Hazel crossed her arms and lifted her chin a notch. “I’m sure she’s not far.”
“Reckon we can go faster—”
