Kayla & the Rancher, Paige Tyler [story read aloud TXT] 📗

a moment, as if wondering where she’d come from, and then one of the men pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her. There was a puff of smoke and a bang followed immediately by a whizzing sound.

Kayla’s eyes widened, and for a moment she simply stared at the man. He

was shooting at her! Then, as if suddenly regaining her senses, she gripped her horse’s reins tightly and jerked the animal around. Kicking her heels hard, she urged her horse into a gallop, racing back the way she’d come. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that both men had mounted their own horses and

had started to pursue her.

Leaning low over her horse, she snapped at the reins and dug her heels into the animal’s flanks. Behind her, the men had started to shoot, and she cried out as gunshots echoed all around her. She tensed her back, fearing that she would feel a bullet strike her at any moment.

Dismounting, Cord led his horse over to the trough of water beside the barn.

As the big bay drank, Cord’s eyes strayed to the house and he wondered if

Abigail had come back from her ride yet. Most afternoons, she liked to sit on the front porch and sketch while she waited for him to come in, but she wasn’t there. Which didn’t mean that she hadn’t come back yet. Despite the fact that it would earn her another spanking, he wouldn’t put it past her to be in the barn playing cards with the ranch hands again. Or perhaps she’d do it

because it would earn her another spanking, he thought, remembering how

aroused she’d gotten by the strapping he’d given her the day before.

His mouth quirked. Though he’d never put a woman over his knee before he’d spanked his mail-order bride that first night she’d been at the ranch, he

doubted that all women enjoyed it the same way that she did. Abigail Murray was definitely full of surprises, that was for sure.

Just then, one of the hands came out of the barn, and Cord asked him if

Abigail had come back from her ride yet.

The other man shook his head.

“When did she leave?” Cord asked.

The man thought a moment. “About an hour ago, at least. She was heading

north when I saw her head out.”

Cord frowned. She should have been back by now, he thought. Dammit! He

had told her not to ride out of sight of the ranch house. Suddenly a noise intruded on his thoughts. It sounded like light thunder rolling in the distance, he thought. But it wasn’t thunder. Cord recognized it as gunfire, and it was coming from the north. He swore under his breath.

“Get some men and follow me,” he told the man, swinging up on his horse

and kicking the animal into a gallop. The northernmost part of the ranch

joined Dalton Jeffries’ property, and after the other man’s visit yesterday, he wouldn’t put it past Jeffries to be trying something.

Urging his horse faster, he rode in the direction that Abigail had gone.

Shots continued to ring out as Kayla galloped across the floor of the valley.

Fear gripped her in its clutches and she could hardly breathe from it. She swore that if she got out of this, she wouldn’t stick her nose where it didn’t belong ever again. If she didn’t get shot first, she thought. She looked over her shoulder quickly, and her heart plummeted as she realized that the men were gaining on her. If they got any closer, there was no way they would keep missing her. She urged her horse on even faster, but the animal didn’t have much left to give.

Then, up ahead, she saw another rider racing toward her. She tensed for a

moment, thinking that one of the men had gotten in front of her somehow. But then she breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized the big bay. Cord! she thought.

Cord’s worst fear had been realized as he rode into the valley and saw the two men shooting at Abigail. She was pushing her horse as fast as she could, but they were gaining on her. Ignoring the urge to simply ride straight for Abigail, he pulled his gun from its holster and rode right past her at full speed, firing at the two men as he did so.

At the sound of Cord’s pistol going off so close to her, Kayla’s mare came to an abrupt halt, skidding to a stop so fast that the animal’s back legs buckled beneath her, and she had to fight to keep from being thrown over the horse’s head. But she pulled back so hard on the reins that the horse came to a stop in a sitting position and she completely lost her balance. Unable to hold on, Kayla’s feet came out of the stirrup and she slid down the horse’s back,

landing on the ground with a thump. Lucky for her, the grass was deep

enough to be soft, so she hadn’t hurt herself. Freed of its burden, her mare quickly righted itself and galloped off.

Kayla immediately turned to see what had happened to Cord. Relieved to see that the shooting had stopped, Kayla hurriedly got to her feet as Cord came riding back to where she stood. The two men that had been shooting at her

were nowhere in sight; apparently Cord had chased them off. Brushing off the seat of her riding skirt, she started to walk toward Cord.

Cord had wanted to pursue the two men, but when he had looked over his

shoulder to check on Abigail and seen that she’d taken a tumble from her

horse, he forgot all about the men and immediately turned his horse around.

He was worried that she had been injured, and he sighed with relief when he saw her get to her feet and brush herself off.

Slowing his horse, he stopped beside her, but didn’t dismount. “Are you

okay?” he asked her.

She nodded, but looked