Love's Rescue Read Online Free PDF Page A

teeth. “Señorita,” he said with a slight bow.
    “I’m grateful to you all for your help with those men,” Jess said. “I knew there might be trouble, but I didn’t anticipate violence.”
    Though she was tall for a woman, she still found herself at eye level with either coat buttons or bandanas. She had to lift her gaze to see even the youngest, Reese. Jess glanced at Jake, knowing she could trust him with the truth. “I was trying to wire a high-ranking doctor in the States. My brother—” Her voice caught. She tried again. “My brother, Ambrose, is missing in the war. I wanted the doctor to help me find him. Those men became offended when they heard that Ambrose is fighting for the South.” She attempted a smile. “I don’t expect they cared much for my accent, either.”
    Having said the words, Jess felt the weight of her failed efforts and of the tension that awaited her at home. Writing to Ambrose’s commander had availed nothing, and her attempt to obtain assistance via the telegraph had failed. She could try to wire from another town, but she strongly suspected the response there would be the same. Given her accent and the fact that half a continent separated her from her brother, she felt as trapped as a wild bird in a cage. And the urge to break free nearly choked her.
    Jake briefly considered her, then strode toward his horse. He lifted the blanket and saddle from the fence rail and settled them on its muscular black. As he buckled the cinch, he glanced at the other horses tied nearby, then at her. “Is yours the Appaloosa, Miss Hale?”
    “The Appaloosa, yes. And please call me Jess. I—how did you know?”
    “The stirrups. They’d be a bit short for a man.” He pulled a leather coat over his blue flannel shirt and vest and buttoned it. “I want to take you riding for a while.”
    “Riding?” Jess hadn’t expected that. “Why?”
    “A couple of those Unionist boys are back. They’re keeping to the shadows near the end of the road, but they’re watching. If you leave for a while, I expect they’ll get bored and move on.” He added, “I also think a run on a horse might do you some good.”
    As his words set in, Jess gazed at the long stretch of desert beyond the town. She started to shake her head but almost immediately changed her mind. If she didn’t get away from the city for a few hours, she would go crazy. In the next instant, she was moving to untie her horse. “I’d be grateful if I could borrow your coat until mid-morning,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll leave it for you at my father’s store.”
    “You can borrow it,” he said, “but I’m going with you.”
    “I don’t need a guide, Mr. Bennett.”
    “Jake, please. Aside from those two looking on,” he said patiently, “seven other men who took issue with you a short time ago are still in town. The boys and I can make certain they don’t follow. Not to mention the prospectors all over this territory who are wary of trespassers—they pan gold with one hand and hold loaded rifles in the other.” Behind him, Doyle, Diaz, Taggart, and Reese readied their horses. “There are outlaws, too, Jess.”
    At the concern in his voice, she searched his eyes. Their depths held a glint of something, a meaning he did not choose to share with her.
    Five cattlemen stood waiting.
    Jess grunted with impatience. “You must have more important matters to see to than playing nursemaid to me.”
    “No,” Jake answered. “We came to contract with buyers for the autumn roundup, but it can wait till later. We have time.”
    “Your horses—”
    “Our horses are rested. We broke camp only an hour ago, and they’re going to spend the rest of the day at the
livery stable.”
    Desperate to get away, with or without them, Jess gathered her reins and stepped up into her saddle.
    Ten minutes later, Carson City had disappeared behind her. She raced south, heart soaring, the angles and edges of the red-earthed Sierras flying