Elizabeth Lowell by Reckless Love Read Free Book Online

pelted down in an unceasing, cold barrage. Behind the clouds the sun slowly set, its passage marked only by a gradual lowering of the level of light. A wind sprang up soon after sunset, tearing apart the storm until only brief, hard showers remained. Through great rents in the clouds a brilliant half-moon shined. The wind concealed and then revealed the moon again, weaving intricate patterns of darkness and light.
    Shivering, tired, worried about Ty’s strength and his ability to endure any more pain, Janna forced herself to keep going, knowing that that was all she could do to help him. She walked quickly despite her own weariness, using the familiar silhouettes of buttes and mesas looming against the night sky as her landmarks. The moon had crossed more than half of its arc before she stopped and looked toward the bulky, ragged outline of the plateau whose north and east flanks she had been skirting through the long hours of darkness.
    The long, sloping outwash plain glittered with rills and shallow streams as Black Plateau shed water from the recent storm. A branch of that network of shifting, gleaming temporary streams led to her hidden canyon. She hoped that there would be enough water in that temporary stream to hide her tracks, but not so much that it would be dangerous to go through the narrow slot that led to the concealed valley.
    She hoped, but she had no way of knowing until she got there. Everything depended on how much rain had fallen on this side of Black Plateau.
    Until now she had made little effort to conceal her trail, hoping that the violent, intermittent showers would wash out enough of her tracks to confuse any pursuer. But now she was within four miles of her hidden valley. She could take no chance that a wandering renegade would come across her tracks and follow them to the tiny slot carved by time and water into the side of Black Plateau.
    Resolutely she turned toward the nearest shallow wash and began wading. Zebra watched, then calmly paced alongside—beyond the reach of water. Janna waded farther out. Zebra kept walking along the edge of the runoff stream. Finally she waded back toward the horse.
    “Ty?”
    There was no answer.
    For an instant Janna’s heart stopped. She ran up and saw him slumped over Zebra’s neck, his hands twisted into her mane. He seemed to be asleep.
    “Ty?” she asked, pressing against his arm. “Zebra has to walk in the water.”
    Slowly he straightened. She looked up at him anxiously. As she watched, he began to slump again. Obviously he wouldn’t be able to guide the mustang. Nor could Janna lead her. She had never put a rope on Zebra, so the mare wouldn’t have the least idea how to respond.
    “I hope you don’t mind riding double,” Janna said to Zebra. “Stand quiet, girl. It will be a big load for you, but it’s the only way I’ll be able to hide your tracks.”
    She grabbed the horse’s long mane in her left hand and tried to swing around Ty and up onto the mare’s back. It was an awkward mount that was saved from disaster only when Ty wrapped his arm around her and heaved her into place. The groan that ripped through him at the effort told her more than she wanted to know about the condition of his ribs.
    The mare sidestepped, almost unseating both riders. Janna spoke reassuringly and sat very still, letting the mare become accustomed to the added weight. When Zebra accepted the new addition, Janna nudged her lightly with her heels. The horse moved awkwardly for a few minutes, then settled back into her normal rhythmic walk.
    Ty slumped forward once more, keeping his seat by instinct, experience, and sheer determination.
    “Hang on, Ty. We’re almost there.”
    It was a lie, but it was more helpful than the truth, which was that they had a lot of hard going left—and no assurance at all that the slot wouldn’t be choked with floodwaters when they finally arrived.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Ty awoke with the sun shining right onto his face and the