Twice Kissed Read Online Free PDF Page A

cracked panes, Maggie saw Thane saddling two fresh horses, a pinto named Diablo and a buckskin who had been dubbed Sandman. Shouldering open the barn door, she snagged a leather saddlebag from a peg, then stuffed it with things she hoped she wouldn’t need.
    “Here.” She handed Thane one of the flashlights.
    “Thanks.” He took it from her, their fingers overlapping for a second. “She’s gonna be all right.”
    “I know.” But she didn’t. She bit her lip and turned back to the gelding. With deft fingers she adjusted the cinch on the buckskin’s saddle. Her mind ran in circles, and images of Becca alone and hurt, bleeding and pale, frightened as night closed around her, played through Maggie’s mind. She worked by rote, fastening buckles, shortening stirrups, attaching the saddlebag. “We’ll ride up to the ridge,” she said, smoothing a corner of Sandman’s saddle blanket. “It’s…It’s Becca’s favorite spot. If she’s not there, we’ll double back on an old deer trail that winds along the creek. She could have stopped for a drink or to rest or…or well, who knows? If there isn’t any sign of her, we’ll check the north basin, and if she isn’t there, oh, my God, she has to be, she just has to—”
    “Maggie!” Thane turned quickly and grabbed both her shoulders in his big, calloused hands. His fingers squeezed over the tops of her arms and his breath was hot against the back of her neck. “Just slow down a minute, okay. You’re working yourself into a lather.”
    Words froze in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, forcing the horrid pictures in her mind to retreat to the shadows. Taking deep breaths, she managed to grab the remnants of her composure. For once he was right. She nodded and felt his hands shift as he slowly rotated her to face him.
    When she finally lifted her eyelids, she was staring into a craggy face that was hard and drawn, a face so close to hers she could see his pores, read the concern in his gaze as he stared at her with eyes that pierced deeply, searching for the bottom of her soul. “We’ll find her,” he promised.
    Tears filled her eyes.
    “Don’t do this to yourself.”
    Sandman snorted.
    “Of course we’ll…” She swallowed hard, her throat tight, her lungs constricted.
    He gave her another little shake. “I said, ‘We’ll find her.’” His lips were flat over his teeth, his gaze unflinching as he stared down at her. “Do you believe me?”
    She didn’t answer.
    His fingers tightened, digging into the muscles of her forearms. “Do you believe me?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.” His grip relaxed a bit, though he didn’t seem convinced of her answer. “Now, let’s get out of here. You’ll have to lead the way.”
    “I know.”
    “Don’t lose me.” He released her, and she nearly fell backward. The words, said so innocently, catapulted her to another time and place when she would have cut out her heart to hear him utter them.
    “I…I won’t,” she said, catching herself and reining in her runaway emotions. Clearing her throat, she grabbed the buckskin’s reins and, determined not to break down again, led him smartly out of the barn. Outside, even with the security lamp, the night was dark, the breeze thick with the promise of winter. Clouds scudded across the slice of moon.
    With a whistle to Barkley, Maggie swung into the saddle, turned the horse’s nose into the wind, and pressed her knees into his sides. “Let’s go,” she urged, and the gelding sprang forward, kicking up dirt as his strides lengthened. They sped through the open gate and across a dry field before heading into the vast acres owned by the government.
    “Becca!” she cried as the cold wind tore at her face and tugged at the strands of hair escaping from her ponytail.
    “Becca!” The flashlight’s beam bobbed as she swept it over the landscape with her right hand while holding the reins with her left. Barkley, swift on his three legs, tongue hanging