Cowboy PI by Jean Barrett

herd.
    “Managed to turn them. They’re driving them back now. No more fight in them. They’re docile as sheep. How about you guys? You okay?”
    “Fine,” Samantha assured him. “Did you see Irma? Is Irma all right?”
    “Safe along with the rest.” Alex cleared his throat again. “Well, I’ll see you back at camp. Gotta let Ramona know to put the coffee on. Man oh man, what a night.”
    He left the mare with them and rode off. Roark didn’t wait until he was out of sight to address Samantha, his voice husky with emotion. “About what just happened between us…”
    “I know what happened,” she said, making an effort to smile about it. “You were branding me. Or trying to. That’s what cowboys do, isn’t it?”
    Knowing how she felt about cowboys, he wasn’t sure whether it was a teasing observation or an accusation. “Isthat how you saw it? I thought it was a kiss between two people who’ve come to care about each other.”
    “Let’s not discuss it. Come on,” she said, turning away and mounting the mare. “I could use some of that coffee.”
    She thought that what had happened between them was a mistake. Hell, she was probably right. Except his acknowledgment saddened him.
     
    “W HAT HAPPENED OUT THERE ?” the irritated trail boss asked them as everyone sat around the campfire drinking coffee. All of them, that is, except Dick and Cappy, who were watching over the herd.
    Roark knew that Shep was referring to the stampede and not Samantha and him. “The cattle were spooked.” Before he could continue, Ramona spoke up.
    “There was lightning and thunder,” she said quickly. “It woke me up. You must have all heard it yourselves.”
    Roark eyed the woman. She looked tired, worried…and anxious for them to believe that the stampede had to be the result of a natural cause. He felt sorry for the cook, wished he didn’t have to contradict her.
    “It wasn’t lightning or thunder,” he said. “That storm was too far away to set them off, though I grant you it did make the herd restless. Ripe for an opportunity, you might say.”
    “What are you telling us?” Shep demanded.
    “The stampede happened because of something much closer than a storm up in the mountains. Right on the spot, in fact. Wouldn’t you agree, Samantha?”
    Roark looked to her for confirmation. She had seated herself well away from him on the other side of the fire. She was nervous herself, though not for the same reason as Ramona. He could tell by the way the lobe of her ear was squeezed between forefinger and middle finger as she pulled at it slowly.
    She looked so much younger in those jeans and with that braid hanging down her back, nothing at all like thebusinesswoman back in San Antonio with her self-assured, sleek image. This was another Samantha, a vulnerable one who tugged at his gut, making him all the more determined to defend her against any threat.
    Her eyes met his, and he knew she was remembering their kiss and wishing it hadn’t happened. “Roark is right,” she said quietly. “It wasn’t lightning, and it wasn’t thunder. It was another sound.”
    “Gunfire,” Roark informed them. “Probably the crack of a rifle over their heads.”
    The trail boss leaned toward him earnestly. “Are you sure of this? Did you see someone out there?”
    “I’m sure, and I didn’t see anyone. It came from out of sight over on the other side of the herd. Samantha?”
    She shook her head. “I didn’t spot anyone either.”
    Alex was perplexed. “Somebody out there hunting at this time of night?”
    “It wasn’t a hunter,” Roark said. “And it wasn’t an accident. It was someone taking advantage of the storm, because I’d swear that shot was deliberate.” Meant to sabotage the drive, because if the cattle are somehow prevented from reaching Alamo Junction in time, Samantha will fail to qualify for her grandfather’s inheritance. But he couldn’t voice this part of the explanation, not when there was no