Читать книгу Beneath The Texas Moon - Elle James - Страница 9

Thirty years ago

“Thanks for bringing me home, Addie.” Jenny reached to open the door to the pickup. “I’ll see you tomorrow to finish the cleanup.”

“You sure you don’t want me to take you all the way up to the house?”

“No, thanks.” Jenny patted her friend’s hand and smiled, then she stared out at the night through the windshield of Addie’s old truck. “George will be expecting you home soon. Besides, with the moon so full it’s almost like daylight out here. And I could use a little fresh air after the festival.”

Addie’s face creased in a frown. “I’m gonna have a talk with Art. He had no right to be so rude to you. He knows you and Frank are crazy for each other. Even though he owns the notes on every piece of property in town, he doesn’t have the right to be so rude.”

Jenny sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Go home. That’s where I’m headed.” She climbed down from the truck to stand in the caliche gravel and waved as Addie backed out onto the highway, easing her truck back toward town.

With a deep breath, Jenny inhaled the pungent scent of scrub cedar and dust. Although she enjoyed the clear, dry warmth of the night, she knew if it didn’t rain soon, many of the ranchers would be devastated. Which would play right into Art Nantan’s hands. He’d gone too far threatening her with foreclosure on her husband’s ranch. But to threaten his Indian spirit magic was utterly ridiculous. Just because Art was of Apache descent, didn’t make him any more intimidating in Jenny’s mind. Nor did his magic talk scare her one iota.

As far as she was concerned, a man who threatened a woman wasn’t much of a man. And why couldn’t he understand that she was happy with her family? She was completely in love with Frank and her little boy, Mac. Her feet moved of their own accord, carrying her down the half-mile road to the house that had been part of her husband’s family ranch for over a hundred years. Forward to her husband and son. Mac would be asleep already, but she still wanted to kiss him good-night.

After only a few steps Jenny sensed, more than heard, something in the scrub brush lining the gravel road. The hair on the back of her neck stood at attention and she strained her hearing to pick up even the slightest movement. Perhaps she’d been too quick to dismiss Addie’s offer to drop her at her door.

Hadn’t the ranchers been complaining about missing animals? Speculation had ranged from coyotes to wolves, and even the possibility of a mountain lion.

Her pace quickening, Jenny tried to shake off the uneasy feeling threatening to overwhelm her. She only had a half of a country mile between her and her family. She’d walked this road many times before in the moonlight.

As she rounded a bend on the gravel road, a dark shape leaped from the bushes, blocking her path.

Her heart clogging her throat, Jenny had to gulp in air before she could scream. Then she was running through the scrub cedar, the prickly branches tearing at her skin, slapping her in her face. But she ignored the pain. She had to get away. She’d never seen anything like this creature. And she knew beyond a doubt that if it caught her, she’d never see her family again.