them see that his legs barely held him up and he was shaking like the leaves on an aspen. The moment he was out of the house, he slumped against the barn wall and fought to control his trembling as he wiped sweat from his face with his sleeve.
He’d done it. There was no turning back now.
JACKLYN’S HORSE SHIED an instant after she heard the ominous rattle. Both caught her by surprise. She only had one foot in a stirrup as the animal reared. The next thing she knew she was falling backward, her boot caught there.
“Jack!” she heard Dillon yell as he lunged for her and her horse.
She hit the ground hard and felt pain shoot through her ankle as it twisted. Her horse shied to the side, dragging her with it, the pain making everything go black, then gray.
When her vision cleared she saw Dillon leap from his horse and grab her mount’s reins, dragging the mare to a stop before he gently freed Jacklyn’s boot from the stirrup.
She would have cried out in pain, but the fall had knocked the air from her lungs. She lay in the dust, unable to breathe, the throbbing in her ankle so excruciating it took her a moment to realize the real trouble she was in.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rattlesnake coiled not a foot from her. The snake’s primeval head was raised, tongue protruding, beaded eyes focused on her as its tail rattled loudly, a blur of movement and noise as it lunged at her face.
The air filled with a loud boom that made her flinch.
The snake jerked. Blood splattered on the rocks behind it, then the serpent lay still.
In that split second before she saw the rattler lunge at her, and heard the deafening report of the gun, Jacklyn had seen her life pass before her eyes, leaving her with only one regret.
The boom of her gun startled her into taking a breath. She gasped, shaken, the pain in her ankle making the rest of her body feel numb and disconnected.
Dillon dropped to the ground next to her, her gun still in his hand. Later, she would recall the brush of his fingers at her hip in that instant before the snake struck.
She took deep ragged breaths, eyes burning with tears of pain and relief and leftover fear.
“How badly are you hurt?” Dillon asked as he looked into her beautiful face. There was no doubt that she was hurting, even though she tried to hold back the tears. Her body was trembling, but he couldn’t tell if it was from pain or fright.
“I’m fine,” she managed to say, lying through her teeth. He could see that she was far from fine. But he let her try to get to her feet, ready to catch her when she gave a cry of pain and was forced to sit back down.
He handed her the gun. “Let’s try my question again. How badly are you hurt?”
“It’s my ankle,” she said, replacing the pistol in her holster with trembling fingers.
“Let me take a look.” He gently urged her to lie down, watching her face as he carefully eased her jeans up her leg. “I don’t want to take off the boot yet.” She wouldn’t be able to ride without it. Also, it would keep the swelling down.
As he carefully worked his way down one side of her boot with his warm fingers, tears filled her eyes. She tried to blink them back and couldn’t.
“I don’t think it’s broken. But if it’s not, it’s one nasty sprain.” He looked past her and saw that both horses had taken off, skittish over the rattlesnake or the gun blast.
“I need to go round up the horses. Will you be all right for a few minutes?”
“Of course.”
He nodded, glancing around to make sure there were no more rattlers nearby. “I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time. I’m fine.”
He rose to his feet, then leaned back down. “Do not try to walk on that ankle. You’ll only make matters worse if you do.”
“I’m aware of that.” She sounded as if she would have cried if he hadn’t been there.
THE MOMENT DILLON WAS gone, Jacklyn eased herself as best she could away from the dead snake, putting her back to a warm rock. She prayed that her ankle wasn’t broken, but the pain of just moving it almost made her black out again.
As Dillon disappeared from view, she felt a sob well up inside her,