Casey's Courage Read Online Free PDF Page B

some more advice. Don’t drive yourself to the limit every day of your life.”
    A little grin tugged at the corner of Casey’s mouth. “Too late! There is no place to stop without getting run over right now. But I’ll keep it in mind. Maybe soon.”
    “We’ll work on ‘the soon’,” Tres said. On pure instinct, he bent over and kissed her on the lips. They tasted of mint, sunshine, and Casey, like coming home. He brushed his thumb across her lips. “You taste of ecstasy with promise of paradise. Whatever perfume you’re wearing must be laced with pure pheromones. We have unfinished business, my grown-up, little Casey.”
    Before a shocked Casey could reply, he turned and headed toward the breeding barn to find Ira.
    Tres arrived at break of day the next morning. He’d done his homework but felt like he should be doing more. The caterers, with practiced precision, had set up to serve brunch, snacks, lunch, and dinner. The filming crew worked inconspicuously. Tres speculated they had been given explicit instructions to stay out of the way.

    Before the sale started at ten o’clock, Tres lost count of the small planes, fancy cars, pickups—some pulling horse vans—that dotted the landscape.
    Casey assigned Tres the job of meeting as many of the prospective buyers as possible while she and Jake kept things running smoothly. He would have preferred being horseback in the pens working rather than greeting old acquaintances and making new ones. But Casey’s instincts were right on target. He could see and feel that the atmosphere—charged with competition, money, camaraderie, and ‘good ole West Texas’ hospitality—created an environment conducive to a superb market for the sleek Running S horses. Casey and Jake had done the Running S proud.
    By late afternoon, Tres noticed some of the men had begun to drink. Since no alcohol had been served, he supposed they had brought their own. He leaned against the wall near the sale ring to watch the final sale, hoping the drinking did not disrupt what had been an almost flawless day.
    “Ladies and Gentlemen, if you want to see what a Running S horse can do, look at the video screen above my head,” the auctioneer announced. “You’ll see scenes from competitions of our most accomplished mare that Casey Mason rode in college and professional events.”
    Tres watched Casey enter the sales ring riding the quiet, well-mannered mare named Sassy Silk. The crowd cheered while the mare cut and turned, not flicking an ear at the uproar. The bidding soared as Casey put the mare through her paces. In sync, graceful and quiet, Casey and Sassy Silk circled the sale arena, rider and horse at ease, moving as one.

    The audience, even the auctioneer, watched in admiration, silent and still. Out of nowhere, a hissing sound in motion broke the spell. Something resembling a sizzling missile landed on the ground directly under the mare’s belly. Tres felt his heartbeat kick to a thundering pace.
    Firecrackers, bundled together!
    Sparks flew as firecrackers exploded. The mare couldn’t get away from the burning sparks and the earsplitting noise. She reared and screamed in terror. Falling backward, she slammed Casey against the pipe fence of the arena. One of the mare’s front legs snapped as it caught in the fence. Sassy Silk struggled in panic. Casey lay still as stone.
    Tres and other men jumped over the fence in the blink of an eye to immobilize the mare to keep her from falling on top of Casey.
    A horrified hush fell over the crowd as the veterinarian tranquilized the mare.
    A hard, irate voice broke the silence. “We got ‘im.”
    In shock, Tres knelt by Casey. At a glance he knew her right leg was broken and probably her hip. Blood seeped from a gash under her hair. Moving out of the way so the EMTs could secure her to a stretcher, he turned to Jake, who stared at his daughter in horror.

 
    Chapter 3
    The Medevac helicopter from San Angelo met the ambulance en route. With