it.”
Oh, she would make it. More than her own life depended on it.
She pulled on Pearl’s reins, hoping the horse didn’t dig her hooves into the dirt in stubborn defiance, or worse yet, take it into her mind to follow the wagon.
“I’d have more luck getting my prize bull to get up in this wagon and swear off cows,” Pendragon answered.
At last he had said something she agreed with. Her shoes would have to be sparking flames before she would accept his help.
He snapped a whip at the horse’s ear to set his team racing down the road toward town. Lenore clung to the side of the buggy, looking back at her.
A glance north told Emma that her shoes would indeed be sparking flames if Pearl didn’t get moving.
Chapter Eleven
Matt couldn’t tell which pounded harder, Thunder’s hooves tearing up clods of prairie sod in the mad rush toward Dodge, or his heart slamming against his ribs for fear that Emma had been caught on the road with the fire closing in.
If she believed her precious house would burn, a dozen folks talking good sense wouldn’t make her stay put.
Grit and backbone were a pair of qualities that Matt loved best in his wife. Unfortunately, when her house was involved, those good traits came smack up against a lack of common sense and it made his insides feel like a nervous herd of beeves.
“Dear God,” Matt whispered. Bending low over Thunder’s neck, he rode loose and let the stallion stretch out to his quickest stride. “Make her stay in town…damn it, Emma, stay in town!”
She wouldn’t know how fast a prairie fire could spread. It might seem a mile away one minute and the next have a person boxed in. She wouldn’t know how the smoke could kill you before you ever saw the flames.
Stay in town, darlin’, stay in town.
The fire spread from north to south, a blazing arrow headed straight for the road to Dodge. If he could get past the point where the fire would cross over, he’d be able to get to Emma. He’d take her to the boardinghouse and sit on her all day and night if that’s what it took to keep her in a sensible place.
A wolf raced past Thunder, but neither of the animals took the time to threaten or fear each other. The wolf was as bent on his survival as Matt and Thunder were on Emma’s.
The sky turned from crystal-blue to ominous orange in a matter of seconds and wind shot ash, but Thunder didn’t miss a step. His bold hooves kept pounding the ground.
Stay in town…stay in town, stay safe…stay safe.
He slipped his bandanna up, protecting his nose and mouth from the grit that snowed out of the sky. Without a doubt, Thunder breathed in more soot than he ought to. The brave horse, clearly sensing Matt’s urgency, ran without hesitation toward the danger that every other creature had the good sense to flee from.
Matt closed his eyes against a sudden gust of cinders. Thunder slowed, then stopped. The stallion paced in a nervous circle for a moment before he turned south, bolting away from the road.
“Back to the road!” Thunder ignored the tug on his reins and Matt’s shout. He stretched his long neck and ran. Land fell away beneath his hooves in a blur. Who could blame the animal for seeking the safety of the river? It was instinct to want to stay alive. He prayed that Emma had listened to that instinct.
After a moment of cursing his mount’s sudden stubbornness, he heard a panicked whicker. It hadn’t come from Thunder.
Just ahead, Pearl pranced in a circle. Beyond her a wicked pall of smoke smothered the land. She pawed up clods of dry grass and neighed in fright.
Racing forward, Thunder answered, his call no less agitated. Pearl lifted her nose, sniffed, then dashed into the deadly cloud.
Within seconds Thunder followed. Matt felt blinded. The air had grown too hot and thick to breathe.
Pearl would never be out here by herself. She would never have dashed into this hell of heat and blinding soot if Emma hadn’t been inside. He could only pray that with their clearly better instincts, the horses would find her.
Thunder stopped and pawed the ground. Pearl snorted. Lying near their hooves under a swirl of suffocating smoke lay Emma with her face in the dirt and her hair tangled across her back reflecting the red glow of approaching flames.
Matt dropped from Thunder’s back. The descent