Lady Outlaw by Stacy Henrie

Author:Stacy Henrie [Henrie, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical Romance
ISBN: 9780373829347
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-09-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Jennie forced open her eyes and blinked at the strange shadows around her. Why was she lying in a buggy indoors? Confused, she sat up. Her left arm throbbed. She stared down at the bloody jacket next to her on the seat and remembrance flooded her aching head. The stage bandits shooting at her from the second-story room. The bullet grazing her arm. The escape into the livery stable.

She pressed her back against the seat, her muscles tensing as she waited for someone to materialize beside the buggy and snatch the money. No one appeared, though.

Careful to put little strain on her injured arm, she climbed out of the buggy and picked up the money bag. She had to get out of Fillmore—now.

Enough moonlight came through the high windows that she was able to locate the horse tack in one corner of the livery. Gathering what she needed, she walked down the line of horse stalls, assessing each animal. She needed a strong horse, one that could get her to Cove Fort and then to Beaver as fast as possible. Once there she’d make arrangements for returning the horse.

Jennie opted for a black thoroughbred mare about sixteen hands tall that stood alert and awake in its stall. Sliding her hand along the horse’s nose, she let the animal nuzzle her to get used to her smell and presence before she entered the stall. She saddled the horse and tucked the cash, her purse and pistol into a saddlebag she’d found with the tack. After hiding the empty money bag beneath the straw in a corner of the stall, she looped the reins around her good hand. The horse whinnied softly as Jennie led her out of the livery.

Outside, she used a broken crate to hoist herself into the saddle and tied herself to the saddle horn, in case she fainted. A wave of nausea from jostling her wound made her bend over the side of the horse and retch on the ground.

Jennie drew a shaky hand over her mouth. She needed medical help and soon, but first she wanted to be as far away from Fillmore and the bandits as she could. Once she reached Cove Fort, she’d only be a day’s ride from home.

She held the horse to a trot, hoping to avoid any undue attention, as they rode down the quiet street. Most of the windows still had lamps shining in them, which told Jennie that she hadn’t been unconscious for too long.

A quarter mile outside of the city, she pushed the mare into a full gallop. The moon disappeared at intervals as the storm clouds moved across the evening sky. Jennie hoped the dark night and the horse’s black color would keep her from becoming a target for other thugs or Indians.

The steady movement of the horse beneath her and the unrelenting pain in her arm lulled Jennie into a state of semi-wakefulness. Ahead of her, she could see the faces of the thieves she’d robbed. They watched her with hard, ugly eyes, their lips pulled back in angry sneers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.