“Hi there. Are you ready to hit the trail?”
“I sure am, just let me get my purse and sunglasses. I can leave my things in your truck while we’re riding, okay?”
“Sure, no problem.”
She grabbed her things and after locking the front door joined him on the front porch.
Dave had already started toward his truck when he turned around and asked, “You comin’?”
“I’ll be right behind you.” And what a behind it was. Her heart quickened and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she saw how his jeans fit his backside. His butt was gorgeous, begging to be squeezed. Oh, my God! Did I just think that? What’s the matter with me?
He held the door of the truck open for her and helped her into the higher seat. He got in the truck on the other side, and they were soon on their way to Sue’s.
“I’m sure you’re going to like Sue and Brandon. They were high school sweethearts, and she helped put him through law school. Now he has his own practice and does pretty well for himself,” Tory told Dave.
“How’d they get in the horse ranching business?”
“They both love horses and bought the ranch a few years ago. They intend to make trail rides available to tourists and have trails all over this side of the mountain.”
Tory remembered Sue always telling her she would be happier here in the mountains where she grew up, where she could face her demon and be herself, enjoy life with family instead of work, work, work. Sue had said many times she couldn’t get a clear picture in her head of Tory living at the hot, sandy beach with the ongoing threat of hurricanes every summer.
* * * *
Tory and Dave arrived at Sue’s a few minutes later, and once again Dave assisted Tory out of the truck. Sue and Brandon came out of the barn to greet them. The guys shook hands, and the girls hugged each other.
“It sure is a beautiful day for a ride, Dave. I’m so glad you thought of it. It’s always more fun to ride with a group than alone. Although, Brandon prefers to ride alone early in the morning before dawn, and I’m afraid the horse will stumble into a hole or something,” Sue said as she smiled at her husband with adoration in her eyes.
Miguel, their ranch foreman, had already saddled up the four chosen horses, and they were ready to ride within fifteen minutes. Sue led the way with Brandon following her in single file, then Tory and Dave bringing up the rear.
The cool, fresh wind blew gently through Tory’s hair. The tails and manes of the horses flew freely in the breeze. It had been some time since Tory had ridden, but it came back to her as easily as riding a bike.
Soon the trail began to wind around uphill, and the horses stumbled and scattered small rocks. But none lost their footing. Sue and Brandon had trained them well. Soon they broke out into an open meadow just right for a fast ride.
Tory looked at Dave, eyebrows raised. Dave nodded and the race was on. They took off across the meadow to see who could reach the other side first. Tory looked over her shoulder and found Dave only a few paces behind and sped up.
Sue and Brandon had stopped at the wood line to take a break and remained at the edge of the meadow watching the race unfold before them.
* * * *
Suddenly, Dave heard a shot and saw Tory flying through the air. She landed on the ground and didn’t move.
Dave quickly pulled his horse up and jumped off. He grabbed his snub nose forty-five from his ankle holster and ran crouched to the ground to Tory’s side. He searched the area where he thought the gunshot had come from. Damn! I wish I had my binoculars. He returned his gun to its holster and directed his attention to Tory. When he felt for a pulse in her neck and found a strong one, he was relieved. He exhaled a deep breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
With squinted eyes, he searched again for a sign of movement or a reflection of any kind in the direction from which the shot had come. When he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, he waved to Sue and Brandon across the meadow as he reached for his cell phone and dialed 911.
Tory coughed. Dave turned to her while waiting on the line. When the call dropped for the second time, he threw his phone on the ground and muttered to himself, “damn thing.” Then he gave Tory all his attention. He patted her cheeks and talked to her.
“Tory, can you hear me? It’s Dave. Remember me? Tory, can you hear me?”
Tory turned her head from one side to the other while Dave ran his hands along her arms and legs feeling for anything broken.
“Dave, I’m okay, I think.”
Dave moved within view and looked at her face, and she was smiling, her eyes wide open.
“Can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?” He held up two fingers in front of her.
“Two. Listen, I just fell off my horse. I’ve done it lots of times before. Just gotta get back on, that’s all.” She sighed.
Dave laughed. “I think it was a little more than that, sweetheart. Someone shot at you, spooked your horse and you went sailing off. Do you remember anything?”
Tory rubbed the back of her head. “Ouch, no wonder my head hurts. I have a big bump on it.”
Dave reached behind her head to feel the lump and brought his hand away with blood on it. “I think you’ll need to see the doctor and maybe get a few stitches, Tory. Do you hurt anywhere else? Can you move your arms and legs?”
She raised her hand, rubbed his cheek and gazed into his concerned eyes. “I’m fine, really. I just have a little bump on my head. Stop worrying, okay?”
“Do you remember anything that happened before you fell?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I heard something near my ear like a big whistle, but that’s all,” she said as she sat up.
“That ‘big whistle,’ as you call it, was a bullet meant for you, me, or one of the horses. Who do you think would try anything like this?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been in town long enough to make any enemies or cause any trouble,” she said with a grin. “Give me time though, and I’ll probably have a few.”
* * * *
Sue and Brandon both heard the gunshot coming from the left, and Sue started to cross the meadow when Brandon stopped her.
“Whoever’s shooting may still be out there and able to shoot at us. We’ll head back to the barn and change out the horses for the truck and come back. Tory may need our help and a ride to the hospital. We need to call the police, too.” He flipped open his phone, punched in 911, and explained the situation. Chief Carr was on his way.
Without wasting time and at a much faster pace, they turned the horses around and headed to the barn. The return trip was always shorter since the horses were anxious to get back to their stalls.
“Miguel, would you brush down the horses and put them away? Also, be on the lookout for anyone suspicious that may have been on our property. Someone shot at Tory. If you find anyone, you’ll need to detain them until Chief Carr can get back to the ranch. I’ll have the radio with me at all times if anything comes up. Also, better keep your pistol nearby.”
“Si, senor.”
Sue ran to the house for the first-aid kit, and when she returned, she and Brandon jumped into their beat-up pickup truck with rifles on the back window and headed to the meadow, taking the dirt road along the main highway. They kept their eyes peeled for anyone coming onto or leaving their property.
* * * *
Brandon and Sue arrived within minutes in their pickup truck and pulled in beside Dave and Tory, who was now standing, wobbly, but standing. After Dave explained to them what had happened and that he’d already attempted to call the police, Brandon filled him in on his 911 call and told him the police were already on the way.
Sue opened up the first-aid kit and held a clean bandage to the back of Tory’s head.
“Where exactly do you think the shot came from, Dave?” Brandon asked.
“I think it came from over there,” he pointed to the woods to the east from where he thought he heard the sound coming from, “bu
t I can’t be sure because of the echoing mountains.”
“That’s what I thought, too. Since our land is posted, we can press charges for trespassing if nothing else. That’s assuming we catch the shooter.”
They didn’t have long to wait for Chief Carr to arrive.
“Howdy, boys. What kind of trouble do we have here now?”
Dave explained what happened with a few interjections from Tory. The three men searched for a bullet or fragment of one that had been meant for Tory, but their search was futile.
They went to the approximate site of the shooting. Dave got down on his haunches once they reached a clearing and ran his hand around the stomped or smoothed down tall grasses. He checked for heat but found none. He ran his hands through the tall grasses looking for and hoping to find a shell casing but came up empty-handed. There was no evidence left behind if indeed this was the place the shooter stood within to make the shot. The flattened grasses could have been made by a deer or some other animal bedded down for the night.
“Pretty clean shot from here though,” Chief Carr said as they looked to where the pickup sat with Tory and Sue. “You and Tory were really lucky the shooter wasn’t a very good marksman or markswoman.”
“What makes you think it could be a woman?” Dave asked.
“A lot of women around here hunt with guns and bow and arrows. So it stands to reason it could be either,” Brandon answered.
“You’re right about that Brandon. If we could only find some evidence that would point us in some direction. I really feel Tory’s in danger and being threatened by someone. She’s been run off the road, and now she’s been shot at. I hate to think who may be doing this to her and what they might have planned for her next. And why choose her? Why pick on her? She hasn’t been in town long enough to cause any trouble. I can’t imagine what kind of message they’re trying to send.”
“Who has the most to lose by you being in town, Victoria?” Chief Carr asked.
“No one, I can’t think of a soul I’d be hurting by being here.”
Brandon stood looking across the meadow, rubbing his chin. “Maybe they just want her out of town for some reason. We’ll have to think about this and see if we can come up with something the two incidents have in common and see where it takes us. To me, family comes first, and nobody’s going to get away with hurting one of mine.”
“Now, you boys, don’t go taking the law into your own hands. I’m all for protecting Victoria but abiding by the law at the same time,” Chief Carr said as he made his way back to where he had parked his car. “We’ll be working on this from a lawful angle, and we’ll find the culprit.”
* * * *
Sue checked Tory’s injury herself and decided she didn’t need stitches after all. “Tory, I think you’ll live to ride another day. I’ve got you all cleaned up and bandaged for now. All you can do is apply an ice pack to take down some of the swelling and ease the pain.”
Tory took the ice bag and winced when she placed it on the back of her head.
Because they weren’t exactly sure of the whereabouts of the unknown assailant, they took extra precautions.
“Who’s riding with whom here?” Dave asked.
“Tory and I will take the pickup back to the barn,” Sue said, “and you fellas can take the horses, okay?”
“I’m going to get back to the office and see if anything has come in about snipers in the area,” Chief Carr said as he got in his car and started across the meadow.
Tory waved out the window as Dave and Brandon mounted their horses and headed back to the barn.
* * * *
Missed, damn it. How could that have happened? Especially after almost 75 hours of target practice. There was a clear shot, a wide-open shot. The perfect opportunity, the perfect alibi, perfect wide-open space. Maybe it’s time to implement plan B.
Chapter 13
After returning home, Sue parked the truck beside the barn, got out of the truck, and helped Tory get out of the high vehicle.
“I have some beef stew in the crock pot. How about you and Dave stay for dinner? Then I won’t have to worry about you sitting at home alone with a huge headache.”
“Dinner sounds great, but I’m going to have to go home at some point tonight, aren’t I? Besides, by then the perpetrator will be off doing in someone else, I’m sure of it. Let me talk to Dave and see what he thinks,” Tory said as they walked slowly to the house, holding the ice bag on the back of her head to quell some of the raging headache making itself known.
“Dave, would you and Tory like to stay for dinner? I’ve got beef stew in the crock pot and dinner rolls ready for the oven,” Sue hollered to the guys as they walked behind them toward the house.
“Her beef stew is nothing to turn your nose up at either. I think she got her cooking skills from her mother,” Brandon muttered to Dave.
Dave looked at Tory for an answer. She nodded. It was finally agreed they would stay for dinner.
* * * *
While Sue and Tory put the finishing touches on dinner, setting the table and baking the rolls, Brandon and Dave had meandered into Brandon’s study and had their heads close together talking seriously about something when Tory interrupted them.
“Just wanted to let you guys know dinner is ready and on the table,” Tory said.
After a comfortable dinner and a few more ibuprofen, Tory didn’t feel too bad. She helped Sue clean up the kitchen and was ready to make an exit. The events of the day seemed to come falling down around her, and all she could think about was lying down in her own bed and getting some much needed sleep. One look from Dave and he must have read her mind because he stood up from his comfortable chair in Brandon’s den and took her by the elbow.
“I think it’s time we hit the road. Tory appears to be done in and we all have had enough excitement for one day,” Dave said as they made their way to the front porch. “Good night and thanks so much for the delicious dinner. We’ll probably talk to you tomorrow. In the meantime, I think your ranch should be on full alert since we’re not exactly sure who the shooter was aiming for. Right, Brandon?”
“Don’t worry about us. We’re always on alert to trespassers and such. You take care of yourselves, okay?”
Sue hugged Tory good-bye and whispered something in her ear before giving Dave a hug as well. Brandon shook Dave’s hand and gave Tory a hug, and then they waved to them as they made their way to Dave’s truck.
Once settled in Dave’s truck, neither one said anything for the first five minutes or so. Both were so involved with their own thoughts of the day’s events.
“What did Sue whisper in your ear?” Dave asked as he laughed out loud.
“Are you really sure you want to know?” Tory asked in return.
Dave thought a minute and then said, “Yes, I’m sure. I want to know what I’m up against.”
“If you must know, she told me you’re a keeper, don’t screw it up.” Tory giggled as she said it.
“Wow, sounds like I passed big sister’s qualifications, huh?”
“You sure did.”
“What about you, Tory? Have I passed muster with you yet?”
“I need more time.”
“How about tomorrow night we go someplace nice for dinner?”
Dave asked as he turned into her driveway and parked the truck.
“Unfortunately, I think we need a break, a night off to think about what we’re doing and where our relationship is going, okay with you?”
“How about the next night? Wednesday?”
“That’s good for me. Let’s say I pick you up about seven, okay?” Dave asked as he put his hand on the door handle.
Tory answered, “Sure, seven is fine.” Dave opened his door at the same time Tory did, and he was there to help her down. His arms closed around her, and he leaned down to kiss her soft, moist lips. She put her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his thick, wavy hair. His hands roamed up and down her back, holding her closely as
the kiss began to deepen. She opened her mouth for him and there was a tangling of tongues that lit him on fire for her. He put one hand behind her head, and the other one reached for a breast. Her nipples were hard and erect and begging to be sucked. He slipped his hand underneath her shirt and unfastened her bra, then realized where they were. He slowly turned around and headed toward her doorway, kissing her off and on the entire way.
Once inside her house, she pulled her shirt off and reached for his, wanting to feel their naked, hot bodies touching each other.
He pulled her closer until his erection was totally against her abdomen. She unfastened his belt and unzipped his pants while he struggled with getting her jeans unbuttoned. She helped him unfasten her jeans and quickly threw them aside. He removed his pants and underwear and reached for her. He slowly drew her to the couch while he removed her panties. Once there, he kissed her urgently, as if it would be the last time. His hands roamed her body, reaching between her legs to caress her tender thighs. He felt her quiver. He moved his hand to her feminine curls and played with her, inserting first one finger and then two. She thrust her hips against his hand. He knew she was ready for him. He kissed her lips, her ear, her soft neck, and then her nipples. He moved on top of her and entered her. She was so hot inside. He began thrusting into her back and forth while kissing her and nuzzling her neck and breasts.
She was enthralled with each stroke, each kiss, nibble, and nuzzle. She had dreamed about this, about how it would be to have sex with Dave again. She couldn’t believe how good it felt. She became delirious with sensations. She grabbed the edge of the couch and reached for Dave’s arm. She closed her eyes to concentrate on just feeling. She was overwhelmed with all the emotions. Awe-inspired. She felt such sensitivity and awareness to what was happening. It was wonderful, she couldn’t get enough. The flames were getting higher and higher and finally consumed her. She turned her head back and forth, her vision blurred.
Confer, Lorelei - Deadly Revenge (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 6