The Rancher Meets His Match by Pamela Ladner

the morning.  Have the horses ready by five.”  He turned to go in and held the door open for the dog that was on his heels.  Bubba followed J.W. to his room where he began packing things into his saddlebags.   Then they headed to the kitchen and added more stuff to the bags.  J.W. knew he would get no sleep so he didn’t even try.  He, went to the coffee pot, putting coffee on and headed into his office. 
                  J.W. just sat there for a long time staring at the wall, of pictures of his daughter and finally to the most recent picture of Josey, Hilary and himself.  Cook had taken the picture without him even knowing.  He handed him the picture a few days later.  He told him, he took the picture because he hadn’t seen J.W. smile in a long time and because he wanted to play with the new digital camera, he’d just bought. 
                  They looked like a family in the picture.  He ran his finger over the faces of the two beautiful women in his life.  He had finally found a woman who could best him and still be a mother to his teenage daughter and he might lose them both.  He stuffed the picture in his shirt pocket, and got up to leave the room.
                  Reid stood in the doorway.  “You love my sister, don’t you?”  He asked although it was more of statement than question.  J.W. answered in a low voice “Yeah, I guess I do.  I need them back Reid.”  “I know man, I know.”  Reid said.  “We’ll get them back.” He promised. 
     

Chapter Fourte en
     
                  Josey, walked for hours before she found anything familiar.  She was tired and dirty.  Her feet hurt.  She had blisters on them where the socks had bunched up.  The boots were great for riding but they weren’t very good for walking.  She had briar scratches all over her where she hid from the men chasing her.  It was the only place she could hide and it worked but she was cut up really bad. 
                  She found the creek that ran through their ranch and followed it, south.  She knew where she was now, she found the little spring off the creek that was cold. She knelt down and got a drink of water.  The water was good and it felt so good to drink.  Her mouth was already parched.  Her throat was dry and she could barely swallow at first.  She walked all night to get here. She hadn’t stopped anywhere.  She realized it was getting daylight and she knew she needed to continue walking.  She got up and started up the hill careful to make sure no one was around before going out into the open.  She walked until she couldn’t walk anymore.  She sat down against a tree facing the creek.
                  Taking off her boots, she knew before she even removed the socks that her feet were bleeding.  She had bloody blisters all over her feet.  They burned when the air hit them.  She washed her feet in the creek and let them soak for a while before drying them off and putting her socks back on.  She didn’t want to put her boots back on but she knew if she had to run, she would need them on.  So she put them on.
                  She sagged against the tree and fell asleep.  She fought it but it came.  She was exhausted and nothing could have stopped h er from sleeping.  She awoke suddenly .  Her eyes went wide with panic.  She stood up to run, but was caught in a steel grip.  She felt the whispers in her ear calming her.  Realization finally hit and she stopped struggling.  She recognized the voice of the boy who now held her.  She stopped fighting and he loosened his hold she turned around and fell into his arms, crying.
                  Heath wrapped her in his arms and let her cry.  He held her and whispered to her that it was alright.  “Can you ride?” he asked.  She nodded her head and he helped her to get on his horse.  They headed to meet up with the rest of the search party.