Just relax and have a good time. You’ve earned it.”
She nodded and glanced around to see Gabriel mounted on Buttermilk. He grinned and swept his hand out in front of him. “Lead the way, Liz. I’ll be right behind you.”
She gave the horse a nudge, and they headed out onto the trail that led to Rattlesnake Creek. She’d ridden there once with Dean and knew that the ride would take them through some beautiful country. Familiar with the territory, Dandelion plodded along the trail.
The path grew wider, and Gabriel rode up beside her. She eyed him and noticed how relaxed in the saddle he looked. She’d seen some of the guests riding since she’d been here, and sometimes it was quite comical the way they seemed to be clinging to the saddle. Not Gabriel, though. He rode as if he’d been doing it all his life. Then she remembered he’d said he grew up on a ranch.”
“I can tell you’ve ridden before. Where did you say you grew up?” she asked.
“Texas,” he answered. “We had a ranch there. My parents left it to me, but I sold it about five years ago and left the area.”
The way he clamped his lips together and grimaced told her that he wasn’t about to say more about his early life. “So what do you do now?” she asked.
He didn’t answer right away but then said, “I’m a consultant with a large organization that works with different agencies and businesses around the country to advise them on their operating practices. I’m taking a bit of a vacation for a while before I decide what I want to do next. What about you?”
“I’m a loan officer in a bank,” she replied. “Not a very glamorous occupation, but I enjoy it.”
“I’d think that would be difficult when you have to refuse to loan someone money.”
She nodded. “It is, but it works the other way, too. Right before I came to Little Pigeon, I helped a young couple buy their first home. Their happiness and gratitude made me forget about those I’d seen disappointed.”
He turned his head and stared at her. “I know the feeling when life hands you a disappointment but when you do something that helps someone out, it gives you a feeling that you’ve made a difference in another person’s life.”
A trace of bitterness laced his words, and she darted a glance at him. He stared straight ahead with his lips pursed as if he was lost in thought. Since she didn’t understand what might have triggered his reaction, she cast around for a distraction.
Her gaze fell on some plants ahead. They hadn’t been in bloom when she’d ridden here with Dean a few weeks earlier. She pointed to the brilliant display. “Look at that!”
A large group of Joe-Pye Weed plants stretched upward perhaps ten feet, and each of the stalks was covered with delicate lilac blooms. The sight took her breath away.
She pulled Dandelion to a stop and sat there drinking in the beauty. Gabriel halted Buttermilk beside her and rested his arm on the saddle horn as he gazed at the flowers. “What are they?”
“Joe-Pye Weed,” she answered. “They blossom in the fall in the Smokies. Dean and Gwen had told me how beautiful they are, but they weren’t in bloom the last time I rode this way.”
He shifted his gaze to her. “You sound like you really enjoy looking at flowers.”
“Oh, I do. When I was growing up, my mother always had flowers, and I would help with her garden.” She sighed. “Now that I live in an apartment, I miss being able to have my own little spot to putter in. Maybe when I can go back home...”
She stopped before she said too much. She glanced at him and saw that he was studying her with a somber expression on his face. After a moment he swallowed and looked back at the plants. “That’s certainly a breathtaking scene.”
Relieved that he hadn’t pushed her on what she’d meant to say, she reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “I think I’ll get some pictures.”
She fumbled with balancing the reins and the phone. Gabriel reached over and grasped the reins in his hand. “Let me hold these while you take the picture.”
She released her grip, shot a quick smile his way and aimed the phone camera at the flowers that towered above them. Before she could take the picture, Dandelion raised her head and whinnied. Liz tightened her legs on either side of the horse and grabbed for the reins that Gabriel held. She had just wrapped her fingers around them when a gunshot split the air. The bullet kicked up dust a few feet in front of them.
Dandelion snorted and lunged toward the right side of the trail, away from Buttermilk. Liz’s cell phone tumbled to the ground, and she tightened her grip on the reins in an effort to stay in the saddle.
“Liz!” Gabriel cried out, but she had no time to look at him.
She gritted her teeth and pulled back on the left rein. Dandelion’s head turned in that direction as if they were going in a circle. Then a second shot hit the ground in front of them, and with a loud whinny the horse jerked her head, reared up on her back legs and pawed at the air.
Liz tried to keep hold of the reins, but when they slipped from her hands, she grabbed the saddle horn in an attempt to stay seated. At the sound of a third shot, Dandelion surged forward. Liz tightened her legs on either side of the horse to keep from being thrown, but it was no use. Dandelion bucked once more, and Liz felt herself falling.
She screamed just before darkness consumed her.
* * *
It all happened so fast Gabriel didn’t have time to react. One minute Liz was taking a picture, and the next, bullets were flying. He heard the crack of the rifle and saw the dust kick up. His first thought was to grab for Liz, but Buttermilk lunged away in the wrong direction. She was as terrified as Dandelion. The second and third shots sent the horses into a panic.
He yanked on Buttermilk’s reins as he watched in horror as Liz fell from the saddle to the ground. As soon as Dandelion was free of her rider, she took off running and disappeared down the trail. Gabriel jumped off his horse, which gave a loud whinny and then galloped off after Dandelion.
There was no time to worry about the horses. He pulled his gun from its holster, aimed into the forest where the shots had come from and fired as he ran toward Liz. When he reached her, he grabbed her arm and dragged her across the trail into the trees opposite the shooter. Two more shots hit on either side of him as he pulled her to the shelter of the forest, and he returned the fire.
When they were in the relative safety of the woods, he released his hold on Liz, pulled off his jacket and placed it under her head. His gaze raked her from head to foot. He didn’t see any injuries, but she must have hit her head when she fell or she wouldn’t be unconscious. She could have serious internal injuries. He slipped his fingers into her hair and felt around her scalp but found nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.
He sat back on his heels, closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. He couldn’t believe he’d been so careless in bringing Liz out here. Instead of convincing her to go riding with him, he should have thought up ways to gain her trust without leaving the ranch. He’d only begun his assignment to protect her yesterday, and she’d already had two incidents that reeked of Daniel Shaw’s gang.
Now she lay injured in a forest, someone was out there shooting at them and there was no backup anywhere close by. The more he thought about it, though, the stranger it seemed. If the gunman was a hit man for Daniel Shaw, why were the shots aimed at the trail and not them? From such a short distance the gunman shouldn’t have had any trouble hitting them if that’s what he’d intended. Maybe this had been a warning, an attack designed to scare Liz and keep her from testifying.
He glanced at his watch and realized it had been at least five minutes since the last shot. Maybe whoever was out there had gone. Only one way to find out. He crawled to the edge of the tree line and peered across the trail. He saw no movement. Taking a deep breath, he raised his gun and shot into the forest opposite them. There