Chapter 2 - Five Guns on the RoadRaven backed one step.
Every tranquilizer gun lifted slightly.
“Don’t!”
Emma’s voice cracked across the road.
The man in gray raised his free hand.
“No one’s firing.”
“Then lower them.”
No one moved.
Emma tightened her arms around Raven’s neck.
His skin twitched beneath her.
She knew what strangers saw.
A seventeen-year-old girl refusing to surrender a large black stallion.
What Emma felt was different.
Raven’s breathing.
His balance.
The small tremor under his shoulder.
He was not preparing to attack.
He was trying to find a road that was no longer open.
The man in gray spoke again.
“My name is Cal Dorsey. I handle equine recovery.”
“You were waiting for us.”
Cal paused.
That was answer enough.
Emma’s fear changed.
“What did Harlan tell you?”
“He told us a horse might bolt during transfer.”
“Before he even got there?”
Cal’s expression tightened.
“We were hired for safety.”
“Whose safety?”
A vehicle engine sounded behind her.
Emma looked back.
Wade’s truck appeared around the curve.
Her father’s pickup followed.
Helen sat in the passenger seat.
Mark stopped twenty yards behind Raven.
The road was closed from both directions now.
Emma felt trapped.
Mark got out.
“Emma.”
She turned away.
“Listen to me.”
“You knew they were here.”
Mark did not answer.
Her chest tightened.
“You knew.”
Wade stepped from the other truck.
“This has gone far enough.”
Emma glared at him.
“You planned this.”
“I planned for an animal to behave unpredictably.”
“Raven isn’t unpredictable.”
“You just stole him from a completed sale.”
Emma looked at her father.
“Completed?”
Mark’s face changed.
Wade pulled a folded document from his jacket.
“Your father signed a bill of sale this morning.”
Emma felt Raven shift.
“You sold him before you even told me?”
“I was going to explain.”
“When?”
Mark took one step forward.
“When you finally listened.”
Helen got out of the truck.
“Mark, stop.”
He looked at her.
She wiped tears from her face.
“You never told her you had already signed.”
“I had to make the deal.”
“No,” Emma said. “You wanted to make it impossible for me to stop you.”
Wade interrupted.
“The horse belongs to me now.”
Emma looked down at Raven.
“No, he doesn’t.”
“He does legally.”
“You paid?”
“A deposit.”
“How much?”
Wade smiled without warmth.
“That is between your father and me.”
Emma looked at Mark.
“How much?”
He said nothing.
“Dad.”
“Five thousand down.”
“For Raven?”
“The full price is twenty-two.”
Emma stared.
Twenty-two thousand dollars was a huge amount to their family.
It was also not enough to explain three vehicles and five tranquilizer guns.
Cal Dorsey lowered his weapon first.
“Mr. Harlan, I was told there was a dangerous transfer risk.”
“There is.”
Cal looked at Emma.
“She’s a kid on her own horse.”
“My horse.”
Emma snapped:
“Then why didn’t you tell them the sale was disputed?”
Wade’s face hardened.
Cal turned toward Mark.
“Sir, does your daughter normally ride this horse?”
“Yes.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“No.”
“Has he ever attacked anyone?”
“No.”
Cal looked irritated now.
“This is not what I was hired for.”
Wade stepped toward him.
“You were hired to recover an animal.”
Cal shook his head.
“I was hired to recover a dangerous animal.”
For the first time, Wade seemed to lose control.
“Do your job.”
Raven reacted to the tone.
His front feet danced sideways.
The five handlers raised their guns again.
Emma pressed low over him.
“Raven. Stay with me.”
The horse stopped.
A county sheriff’s cruiser appeared behind Mark’s pickup.
Everyone turned.
Deputy Maria Collins stepped out.
She took in the trucks.
The horse.
Emma.
The dart guns.
Her face immediately hardened.
“Nobody fires anything.”
Cal nodded.
“We haven’t.”
“Good.”
Maria approached slowly.
“Emma?”
Emma knew her.
Maria had grown up two roads over.
“Yes.”
“Can you keep Raven standing?”
“Yes.”
“Then do that.”
Maria looked at Wade.
“What happened?”
Wade held up the bill of sale.
“I purchased that horse.”
Emma interrupted.
“My father sold him without telling us.”
Maria took the document.
“Who owns Raven?”
Mark answered.
“I do.”
Helen suddenly said:
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Mark frowned.
“Helen.”
“No.”
She stepped into the road.
“You don’t.”
Wade laughed once.
“You might want to discuss your family finances somewhere else.”
Helen ignored him.
She looked at Emma.
“Your grandmother bought Raven.”
Emma stared.
“I know.”
“But there’s something you don’t know.”
Mark’s face went pale.
“Helen, not here.”
She turned on him.
“You sold her horse without telling either of us. Where would you prefer I say it?”
Maria looked between them.
“What exactly are we talking about?”
Helen took a shaky breath.
“The original bill of sale.”
Mark closed his eyes.
Helen continued.
“It isn’t in Mark’s name.”
Emma felt something inside her shift.
“Whose name is it in?”
Helen looked directly at her daughter.
“Mine.”
Silence covered the road.
Then Helen added:
May you like
“And yours.”
Wade stopped smiling.
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