the dark cattle through the steadily falling rain and the horses penned up in the corral.
As he moved closer, staying to the gully behind the ranch house, he caught the sound of laughter, even a snatch of drunken conversation. He inched closer, anxious to see Jinx, praying she was safe.
The smell of smoke grew stronger. As he came around a bend in the gully he could see the light from the campfire under the lean-to and several of the men sitting around the fire. He listened.
If Jinx was with them, she wasn’t saying anything. He had to get closer. One of the men suddenly stepped to the edge of the lean-to and looked toward the house. He said something over his shoulder to the other men.
Dawson caught only the name Rafe and the words that woman, followed by a raunchy laugh as the man rejoined the others.
Rafe was at the house with Jinx? Dawson felt his stomach roil at the thought. Working his way back up through the narrow gully he was almost to the back of the house when the door opened.
He stepped back and waited, hoping it was Rafe.
JINX DARTED OUT THE DOOR only to be grabbed, spun around and slammed against the back wall of the house. Dawson pulled back his fist at the last moment. Rain pounded. Lightning lit the sky.
“Dawson!” she cried and threw herself into his arms as thunder rumbled around them. “I was so scared that you were dead.” He grimaced in pain at her embrace and she quickly drew back. “How badly are you hurt?” she asked, keeping her voice down as the thunder died.
“Never mind that. Where’s Rafe?” Clearly he had been expecting Rafe to come through that door—not her.
“Dead. The others are either watching the cattle or sitting by the fire under a lean-to a ways from here.” She could see that he was still processing the news that Rafe was dead.
“Anyone else in the house?”
She shook her head and he reached around her to open the door, leading her back inside. Jinx hadn’t wanted to go back inside. It was dark and cold in the house. Only the occasional lightning flash illuminated the space. They stood just inside the back door out of the rain.
When he glanced toward the front door and saw Rafe’s body in a flicker of lightning, she said, “It was an accident. I…” She couldn’t form the words to say what Rafe had planned for her or how she’d gone for his gun—another impulsive decision that had almost cost her her life. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Dawson put his good arm around her and pulled her close. “Did he tell you who is behind the ring?”
She shook her head and nestled against his wet clothing, seeking the warmth beneath it. “I don’t think the others will come around until morning.”
“We can’t take that chance,” he said. “We need to get to the horses. What do you have for weapons?”
She told him, handing him his gun and Rafe’s pistol, keeping her own and the knife.
“I’m going to sneak out and get us two horses,” he said. “Can you get the saddles and tack?”
“Yes.” She could feel his gaze on her.
“Be careful. We’ll meet in the gully behind the house.”
“Dawson—” She realized she’d almost blurted out that she loved him. “You be careful, too.”
He disappeared out the back door, with her right behind him. The saddles and tack had been dumped on the porch of the house out of the rain. She rummaged through it quickly and as quietly as possible.
Dawson took two halters from Jinx and she watched him cross to the corral between flashes of lightning. It was far enough from the house and the lean-to that she doubted the rustlers would see him. But if the already spooked horses started acting up, one of the rustlers might brave coming out in the rain to check.
Jinx quickly gathered up what she could carry and took it around to the back of the house out of sight of the lean-to and the men under it to wait for Dawson.
He appeared a few minutes later leading two horses. They each saddled their horses quickly. The rain was letting up, but her fingers were still red and numb by the time she finished getting her horse ready to ride.
“I want you to ride up through that gully at the back of the house and meet me on the other side of the hill,” he said.
She saw that he