Spitfire Sweetheart: A Four Weddings and A Kiss Novella by Mary Connealy Page B

pommel of his saddle. She was glad to be wearing britches.
    Rylan pulled hard to bring his horse to a stop, and he unloaded his gun on the bear. The horse tried to rear andtossed its head in fear. The iron bit jingled as the horse fought Rylan’s control.
    Maizy turned to her left to watch the bear wheel to face the bull. The bull must’ve thought better of fighting now that his herd was out of the way. He turned and ran.
    The bullets were little more than stinging wasps to the bear and only served to turn its attention back to Rylan.
    The powerful red horse pivoted, and on its first stride leapt into a full gallop.
    Grizzly bears, huge as they were, were mighty fast. Maizy knew that from growing up in the mountains of New Mexico and meeting up with a few, though never this close. But their speed was short-lived—or so she’d heard.
    She sure as shootin’ hoped that proved to be true. If the horse could outrun the monster for a few yards, they’d make it.
    Maizy, head down, clung to Rylan’s right leg. The pommel cut into her gut, and her own legs dangled off the other side. She wanted to search for that empty stirrup but was mindful not to jar Rylan or distract him from getting the most out of his thoroughbred.
    Those thundering front hooves kicked up nearly to Maizy’s face. She lifted her head enough to peek around Rylan’s boot and saw the bear gaining on them. Its jaws gaped open. It closed in on the horse even with the stallion going at full speed.
    “Hang on.” Rylan kicked his horse and the valiant chestnut, already wild with fear, dug deep and found more speed. The bear lunged forward and a huge paw, claws bared, tooka swipe and snagged the horse’s tail. That swipe broke the bear’s charge.
    Finally they were stretching out the distance between them as the bear slowed. It dropped to a trot, then a walk, then stood up on two legs, front paws extended in the air, and sent them on their way with an ugly chain of growling threats.
    Maizy’s belly was being stabbed good and hard. She hadn’t paid it much mind until now. The horse was safely away, and Maizy saw the grizzly turn and jog back the way it’d come. “It’s stopped,” Maizy shouted.
    “Hang on!” Rylan’s ordered shout brought Maizy’s head around, and she saw that the ground was broken ahead. This was Rylan’s land, but Maizy had lived here all her life. She knew this was a bad stretch, littered with boulders and cut by water running off the mountain to the river.
    The horse was running away, terrorized. Rylan was easing the horse up, but they weren’t going slow enough to navigate the dangerous patch. No horse racing full speed could hope to get through it unharmed.
    The horse tossed its head and fought the reins, but finally began to respond. Maizy recognized the expert handling of the reins as Rylan tried to gain control of the panicked horse.
    They reached the first line of scattered rocks.
    Rylan picked his moment and yelled, “Whoa!”
    He pulled back hard and the horse skidded until it nearly sat down on its haunches. As they came to a stop, the horse neighed and reared, straight up, higher and higher. Maizy felt the stallion going over backward.

    Rylan shoved her so she fell off feetfirst and he dove to the other side. Maizy rolled over and over, afraid of where the horse might land, until she came up hard against a massive stone. She whirled to see Rylan being dragged, one foot stuck in the stirrup. Leaping to her feet, Maizy drew her gun to shoot the horse that had saved their lives, just as Rylan fell free and rolled hard against a boulder.
    Maizy heard the crack as Rylan’s head struck stone.
    She raced on shaking legs to where he lay flat on his back. Out cold. His face white as ash.
    Maizy crawled to his side, terrified that he was dead. His chest rose and fell steadily. He was alive! Looking around, she saw that his horse was nowhere in sight. A lump was already rising on his forehead, and seconds later she saw blood