doesn’t make sense to you?” Roxanne snorted softly. “I was the one being shot at and it makes no more sense to me. Maybe he wasn’t shooting at me at all. He could have been aiming for the horse for a little target practice.” Her lips tightened. “There are idiots out there that get a kick out of killing defenseless animals.”
Pierce’s jaw clenched. “They’re idiots, all right, but they’re not stupid enough to shoot at the horses in front of a potentially hostile witness. And it’s not like he didn’t realize you were there. If you were in between the shooter and Sweet Jessie, he had to be shooting at you.”
Maddox inhaled and let his breath out slowly. “I’m glad it was only a flesh wound.” His shoulders pushed back and he looked around the room at his younger brothers. “We’d better get out there and see if we can find out who did this.” He turned to Dante and Tuck. “You two take the truck. I’ll take the four-wheeler.”
“I’m going by horse.” Pierce straightened, anger building with each breath he took. Someone had shot at Roxanne, tried to run over her and almost killed her. The bastard needed to be found. If he’d been faster, smarter…maybe he could have taken the guy into custody back in the canyon. It was his fault Roxanne was still in danger. Pierce should have gone after him while he’d had the chance.
Dante grabbed his cowboy hat from the coat tree in the hallway. “We have to find whoever did this. The prairie and canyons are dangerous enough without people shooting at one of us.”
“Who would want to hurt Roxanne?” Tuck handed the baby to Julia, who nestled Lily into the crook of her arm, a frown marring her brow.
“I don’t know, but we sure as hell are going to find out.” Pierce clamped his hat on his head, grabbed a box of bullets from the gun cabinet and headed for his father’s office. For what it was worth, he placed a call to the sheriff’s department. When the dispatcher came on, Pierce explained the situation and the approximate location.
The dispatcher promised the sheriff’s department would be out to investigate as soon as they had a deputy available. Pierce hung up, shrugging. He’d done the right thing by reporting the incident, but he didn’t have a whole lot of faith or respect for the local sheriff. The man still stood by the theory that Pierce’s father had fallen from his horse and died of head injuries. Pierce and his brothers disagreed. No way their father had fallen from his horse. The man could ride before he learned to walk. But the sheriff refused to put in the effort to find the truth. And Pierce refused to let Roxanne’s safety depend on that kind of man. Whether she liked it or not, he still considered her his responsibility. He wouldn’t let her down, not this time. Not again.
Pierce grabbed a couple of walkie-talkies from a shelf and emerged from his father’s office.
At the same time Amelia Thunder Horse reentered the living room, carrying a large tray filled with thermoses of coffee, and plastic bags filled with sandwiches and trail mix. She eyed the box of bullets but didn’t say anything about them. “No one’s leaving without food. You never know what’s going to happen out there on the plains or in the canyons. They didn’t name it the badlands for nothing.”
Pierce tossed a walkie-talkie to Maddox, grabbed a plastic bag of trail mix and one with a sandwich from the tray, snagged a thermos, kissed his mother’s cheek and headed for the door. “Thanks, Mother.”
She called out after him, “Wakan Tanka kici un.” May the Great Spirit bless you.
He smiled, a tug of nostalgia tightening his chest. His mother didn’t often use the Lakota language his father had taught her and all of his sons. Only when a greater need arose.
In the barn, Pierce removed the saddle from Bear, rubbed him down and settled him in a stall with feed. He led his own stallion, Cetan, out of his stall, threw a saddle over his back and cinched it. Pierce was guiding the horse out into the barnyard when a voice called out.
“I’m going with you.”
Pierce turned toward the sound, his pulse quickening, his jaw growing rigid.
Roxanne stood with her feet planted wide, hands fisted on her jean-clad hips—more beautiful than he remembered and just as stubbornly determined.
“We don’t need your help.” Pierce turned his back on the woman and led the horse away from the barn door. “Besides, isn’t the doctor on his way to check out your noggin?”
Roxanne strode for the barn. “I’ve been falling off horses since I was five years old—Doc’s not going to tell me anything about concussions that I don’t already know. But don’t forget, I wasn’t the only one injured. While you boys play detective, someone needs to check on Sweet Jessie, and her foal. I’m the local contact for the Bureau of Land Management when it comes to those horses. It’s my—”
“Responsibility.” Pierce turned back. “And it’s my responsibility to catch that madman with a gun before he gets a chance to come after you again. You’re staying.”
“I’m not your responsibility, and you don’t get to decide where I go. Maddox said I could ride Sassy.” She marched into the barn and grabbed a bridle from a nail on the wall.
“Did the fact escape you that you were the target of a shooter?”
“No, it did not.” She squared her shoulders, standing taller. “I wasn’t prepared before. I’m aware now and will take precautions.”
“And how will you do that?” His gaze panned her lithe form. “You aren’t carrying any kind of protection, are you? Where’s your rifle?”
“I don’t carry one. Besides, you have one.” She frowned. “Look, Pierce, I’m being sensible. I could have snuck off on my own once you were gone, but instead I’m going with you. I’m willing to be careful, I’m willing to take precautions, but I’m not willing to sit around and do nothing when there’s so much that needs to be done. Accept that I’m going and stop wasting precious time by arguing. It’ll be dark soon.”
She held his gaze a moment longer, then disappeared into a stall and emerged leading Sassy, the sorrel mare.
Pierce didn’t wait around to bicker with the confounded woman. He didn’t want to see Roxanne; he wanted the hell away from her, especially when fire blazed in her beautiful eyes and she stood so defiantly.
Planting his foot in the stirrup, he swung up into his saddle and yanked the stallion around to the north. Named after the Lakota word for hawk, Cetan could outrun even the swiftest of the wild horses in the canyon. He could easily outdistance any of the other horses in the barn, if Pierce chose to let him have his head.
But it would be foolish to expend the horse’s energy when they had a long ride ahead of them. Instead of galloping off into the distance, Pierce nudged the stallion into a canter. That way, Roxanne wouldn’t have any trouble catching up with him. He still didn’t like the idea of her riding out while the gunman was still at large, but the idea of her sticking close and letting him protect her was a hell of a lot better than having her ride out alone.
In the short time they’d been in the ranch house, dark clouds had rolled in. The weather in North Dakota could change at the drop of a hat. Thunder rumbled long and low in the west. Wakan Tanka grew angry. Perhaps the Great Spirit reached out to punish those who brought violence to the people and the creatures of the plains.
The approaching storm reflected
