and every other creature with more sense than she had.
“Come on, Pearl, we’ve got to go faster. Matt’s bound to come looking for us.” The horse, while not unwilling to follow the road home, went at her own cautious pace.
“Hawker will kill Matt if he goes into town.”
Pearl stopped to snort when a wisp of smoke curled over the road and across her hooves.
“Come on, girl, that fire is moving a whole lot faster than we are.”
The horse tested the road, one careful footfall at a time. Apparently she expected to step on hot coals at any moment.
After only a quarter of a mile, she stopped altogether. Maybe Pearl’s eyes had begun to burn like Emma’s had.
Lordy, it felt as though she stood on the windward side of a campfire. Her hair became saturated with the scent of burning prairie grass, and her throat felt raw and dry.
No more than a mile down the road the air looked clear and breathable. If only she could convince Pearl to move, they could be on their way and catch Matt before he rode blindly into horrible danger.
And ride he would. Hadn’t he already faced the preacher for her? Hadn’t he ridden into a storm, with crazed cattle on the verge of mayhem, to pluck her right out of the muck? Could she ever forget how he’d knelt, bare chested beside her in the mud and the rain, braving who knew what kind of fever or illness, to help save her trees?
Emma had no doubt that Matt would ride right into the sights of Angus Hawker’s gun to see her safe from the fire without knowing his danger.
“He’d come even if he knew, wouldn’t he, Pearl? He’d come with Hawker’s gun pointed right at his heart to see us safe.”
From high on Pearl’s back, Emma watched the flames’ orange teeth eating up the grass. From this distance they looked no more than knee-high. She could probably jump right over the fiery line if she held her skirts high enough. There was still time to get to safety if only she could convince the horse to move.
“Get along, Pearl.” She clucked her tongue, but the only movement from the horse was a shiver running from the tip of her nose to the flick of her tail.
Emma slid off her back. “I know it’s frightening, not being able to see the danger. But we’re going home.”
Emma tugged gently on Pearl’s reins and urged her down the road. The smoke grew suddenly thicker and the clear spot up ahead farther away.
On the far side of the smoke, dust kicked up from the road some distance off. Relief swept through her at the thought it might be Matt. She’d catch him before he went galloping into town.
After a few moments she heard the creek of a buggy and the hoofbeats of a pair of horses, coming fast. She pulled Pearl to the side of the road when she thought the driver might not see them, coming through the haze as fast as he was.
The buggy, carrying a man and a young woman, rattled by and kicked up enough dust to make her cough. It mixed with the smoke and took its time settling back to the ground. Through the haze she recognized the reckless driver.
Of course the man would assume the road belonged to him alone.
Blast! Lawrence Pendragon had reined in his team and turned the buggy around. How ridiculous he looked, puffing on his infernal cigarette when the whole countryside was being incinerated!
“Have you lost your way, Mrs. Suede?” Pendragon plucked the smoldering stub from his lips.
“Certainly not.”
“You can’t mean to continue on this road.” He leaned forward in his seat. “The fire will cut you off from front and back. You’ll never make it.”
Mercy, but she wasn’t about to explain her need to get home and warn Matt about Angus Hawker. Pendragon would like nothing more than to see her a helpless widow.
“In that case I’d better hurry along my way,” she said.
“Don’t be a little fool. Turn back.”
A fool? A little fool!
“Why you low-down…” Lenore moved closer to her father, making room for Emma. “Your cowboys probably started this fire!”
Lawrence Pendragon leaned across his daughter to speak. “That may be, but not by my orders, and not intentionally. My cattle graze this land.”
Lenore tugged at her father’s sleeve, looking paler by the second. “Papa, make Mrs. Suede get in the wagon and come along with us!” Lenore reached her hand toward Emma.
“You’ll never make