Love on the Range: A Looking Glass Lake Prequel by Rebecca Nightsong Page A

neck.
    Exaggerating any noise because she felt so vulnerable.
    Ten minutes ago, she’d thought she’d heard the soft nicker of a horse coming from the trees, too. It had scared her until she’d realized it was probably just the sounds from Calamity and Fat Cat, bouncing off the rocks.
    She shook herself and turned back to the fire. No sense in getting jittery.
    Fear wouldn’t help her stick this out.
    Marlee held stiff fingers over the heat and smoke and stared into the fire. She needed to calm down. Needed to take slow, even breaths and force her thoughts in another direction.
    Like the look on Dad’s face when she’d left. The stern disapproval and the way he’d shaken his head. He hadn’t said much, but his face screamed disappointment . The last thing he’d said to her cut so deep, it still bled.
    Don’t come back until you’re ready for a real career.
    Marlee scooted closer to the fire and set her chin. Like it or not, this was her career. And if she was going to make it, she had to keep pushing.
    Flames flickered lower.
    She didn’t have the luxury of getting spooked at the slightest sound. And she’d get nowhere by sitting around feeling sorry for herself.
    Right now, she had enough strength to get more firewood.
    And enough strength to shove away thoughts of failure.
    Firewood. Warmth.
    “Lord, thank you for warmth,” she said through stiff lips, and then forced herself to stand and trudge beyond the firelight to find more wood.
    She had just fed the fire and stretched out on her bedroll when she heard a grunt and then a shower of pebbles hitting behind her.
    “Jett?”
    There was no answer.
    Maybe it wasn’t Jett.
    She grabbed her knife roll, flicked it open and sprang up, a chef’s knife in both fists. “Jett?”
    There was crashing and then a terrible sickening thud and a man’s groan.
    Two scrambling steps and she was there, bending over him. Her breath came fast, and her heart thudded, blood whooshing loud in her ears.
    Jett lay on his back, eyes closed, face white in the firelight and twisted in pain.
    Marlee knelt, fear balling up in her stomach. “Are you okay?”
    He grunted.
    “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” she snapped. She swallowed a sob.
    Fine nurse she’d make. She trembled all over.
    What if he was seriously hurt? She wasn’t a medic. She had zero first aid training. There were rustlers nearby, and now Jett lay nearly unresponsive.
    “I’m okay,” he said, but when he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, he gasped again in pain.
    “I’ll help you—”
    “Put the knives down first,” he said through clenched teeth.
    But before Marlee had a chance to move, a raspy voice spoke behind her.
    “Put the knives down, lady. Real slow. And step away from the cowboy.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    Marlee froze, her eyes flying to Jett’s face. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, catching the firelight. The man was in a lot of pain, but his eyes were steady. They were telling her to be calm. To follow instructions.
    She glared at him. The thing Jett Maddox always seemed to forget about her was that she was not a quitter.
    “I’d listen, if I were you,” another voice said. “We just want the cattle, but we can’t have y’all two interferin’ with our little party.”
    Stories of the rustlers whirled through Marlee’s head. These men might kill them anyway, no matter what she did. They’d shot at Ben Rockspur. And besides, no thief wanted witnesses.
    She started to lower her hands. Right in front of her knees, Jett’s gun was strapped to his hip. If she was quick enough, she could pick it up when she set the knife down.
    “Just drop them knives,” the first voice said. “No need to ease them down.”
    “I refuse to drop them,” she hissed. “I’m not taking a chance at accidentally slicing him.”
    “Suit yourself,” the voice said. “But that fall he took probably already did all the slicing he can take.”
    Marlee gulped. That might be