Sunrise Over Texas by MJ Fredrick

Author:MJ Fredrick
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2010-10-29T22:00:00+00:00

***

A shot from a rifle woke Trace from a deep sleep. He bolted upright, searching for Kit as he tore his way out of the bedroll, her name ripping from his throat. He scrambled to his feet, gun in hand, in time to see a shadow of a figure with a rifle. He lifted his gun before he recognized the silhouette of Kit’s skirt. Lowering his rifle, he ran toward her.

“What is it?” he whispered, aware of Agnes and Mary coming out of their cocoon in the wagon as he passed it.

“I think I got a deer.” She grinned in the moonlight. “Get a log from the fire so we can find it.”

“You got a deer,” he repeated, dumbfounded.

“I think so.”

He clapped a hand over his chest. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“I’m sorry. But Trace, it’s meat.”

“Then let’s find it.” He went back to the fire to get a piece of wood, fanned the glow to a flame and followed her.

She’d shot a young buck, and hit it high enough on its shoulder that it was still alive when they found it. Trace jabbed the log into the earth, then unsheathed his knife and finished the job.

“This is going to be messy.” He shucked his coat and shirt and stripped his long underwear to his waist. He sure as hell didn’t want to ride into the Austin colony drenched in blood. “Go on, now. I got this.”

“Are you crazy? I shot him. I want to help. Show me what to do.” She tossed her wrap on top of his coat and unbuttoned her bodice, peeling down each layer until she wore only her chemise.

He stared at her bare arms, her nipples peaked against the thin fabric. He dragged his attention away, back to the deer carcass. “Kit, you’re going to catch a fever.”

“I’m fine.”

He flipped the knife toward her, hilt first. “You want to do it?”

She took the knife hesitantly, hovering the tip over the animal’s belly.

“Not there.” He guided her hand down to the genitals. Her hands shuddered and hesitated as they sliced through the flesh. “Let me get through the bone, then you can get out the heart and lungs.”

She nodded and handed him the knife to cut through the breastbone. He looked into her face.

“You want me to do this?”

She shook her head, her gaze on the gaping body. “I want to do it.”

He watched as she sliced the heart and lungs free, and pulled them out, the organs spilling over her hands, the distasteful expression on her face priceless.

Then he went in deeper, pulled out the esophagus and drew the guts out all together, scooping them out on the ground, warm blood slicking his arms almost to his elbows.

“Help me turn him.”

Working together, they rolled the buck onto his belly to drain and cool. Trace pulled up a handful of grass and scrubbed the blood from his skin. Kit imitated him, then climbed to her feet as he did. He lifted the buck by his hocks.

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