Tyra's Gambler by Velda Brotherton

Author:Velda Brotherton [Brotherton, Velda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, western, outlaw, historical, adventure
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2017-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“We’ll continue to follow the Brazos,” Zach said later in the day. “We can lose any trackers that way. The going will be rough as hell, steep banks and rocky inclines, some places the pines are thick, but it’s our best bet for staying ahead of trouble.”

And he was right. The first day lived up to his promise. The going was rough, even the times he led them out of the water to ride through hills covered with pine trees so tall they appeared to touch the fluffy clouds in a bright blue sky. The only good thing, not much brush grew under pine trees, and so the horses had an easy go as long as they didn’t try to run them.

The next day they spent all morning moving through shallow water to keep from leaving tracks. The sun was high above when the sound of white water disturbed the silence.

Zach gauged the rocky incline. “We’ll have to get out of the river. I’ll go first.” He urged his mount upward.

Tyra followed. She was a good rider, and the strong Morgan would take the steep climb in stride.

Behind him, Josh shouted, his horse screamed, and Zach turned in time to see both slide backwards. The horse reared and Josh bounced off into the water, landing flat on his butt.

Zach dismounted and slithered and slid back down, rocks scraping his backside, to help his brother, who scampered forward on hands and knees. Out of control, Zach tumbled right on past Josh. He finally halted his forward motion by stiff-legging a large boulder, just short of falling headfirst into the rushing water.

Pain shot through his wounded leg and sparkles darted around in the edges of his vision. For a few seconds he saw and heard nothing. Then sounds and bright sunlight invaded his sight, and his head hammered in rhythm with his leg.

A horse screamed, Tyra shouted, and he struggled to see what was going on through a wavering dark curtain. She’d been riding between him and Josh. The Morgan must have spooked when Zach tumbled past. Damn animals hated when something flew by one side or the other. She came off her horse and grabbed the terrified animal’s bridle, settled him down even as he reared again, this time over Zach. He dodged, let out a long breath when hooves struck sparks from nearby rocks, sending some flying to strike him in the chest.

Not a way in hell could he get up. The leg felt like it had soon after he was shot. So he remained seated in the edge of the water, britches soaked, while Tyra and Josh took care of matters. Furious that he couldn’t get up but relieved that nothing appeared broken, he cursed under his breath, rubbed the painful wound, and waited for Tyra and Josh to return. His heart was no longer trying to leap from his chest, but he’d come damned close to buying it in those few minutes when everything went crazy. It seemed an eternity before they slid back down to rescue him.

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