A Love Beyond by Kate Welsh

Author:Kate Welsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

It didn’t take long for Jim to confirm what he’d suspected from the second he’d landed in the creek bed. The shooter had hidden in the undergrowth around the recently dried-up creek. They’d all been sitting ducks, but this madman had singled out one lone writer-investigator-bodyguard. It didn’t take a genius to know Crystal was the reason and not someone trying to prevent him from finishing the book he was supposedly there to write.

And that someone was a careful man. Very careful. The perp had even taken the time to pick up the shell casings and to dust out with a branch all the tracks he and his horse had made. The irregular pattern in the dust told the story of where the man had hidden, but it yielded no important clues. Jim was left with only educated speculation.

For instance, he had to assume the shooter had ridden away when Crystal galloped down the creek bed to Jim’s rescue, which explained why he’d felt vibration from both directions. But the tall, hard-packed, drought-browned plain allowed for no hoof prints that might have been traceable.

With Crystal’s help, Jim dug the slugs that had narrowly missed his leg out of the creek bed and the cottonwood. Then she went to round up Duke, leaving Jim leaning against the tree that had probably saved his life. Letting her go off on her own worried him, but since her stalker was clearly long gone from the area he thought it was safe. Prayed it was safe.

He was doing a lot of praying right then because he wasn’t feeling too good and they had a long ride ahead. And though his head wasn’t too clear, he knew air rescue would call attention to his injury and Crystal’s added vulnerability. The way he figured it, the perp didn’t know Jim had been hit and he wanted to keep it that way. Crystal was safer if the guy didn’t learn her bodyguard was injured.

He decided to call Caleb Hart as soon as they got into cell range and have him meet them at the Circle A homestead. But right then he needed a doctor more than a cop. He hoped and prayed Caleb could get Doc Reynolds to come out to the Circle A to patch him up without involving King or alerting the clinic/town grapevine.

Having contacted her men, Crystal returned with Duke. She’d told them to start rounding up the cattle again and asked Ike Cannon to ride to the ranch house and give her a progress report in the morning.

The ride that followed a painful climb into Duke’s saddle wasn’t something he’d been looking forward to. And after those first jarring steps, he knew his imagination had been kind. About an hour’s torturous ride put them in cell phone range and he called Caleb Hart. It was frustrating to have Caleb offer the air rescue he’d already decided to refuse, but if they were going to be keep his injury quiet, he had to ride in on Duke.

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