Moonrise by Terri Farley Read Free Book Online

bit,” Gram confided.
    Bone-deep fear chilled Sam. It had been years since she’d really thought about something happening to Dad.
    Sam remembered her own awful fall. She’d been unconscious and they’d feared brain damage. And Mom had died from her accident….
    â€œHe’s fine,” Gram insisted, squeezing Sam’s arm. “If you’d heard how many times I had to promise to wake him if he nodded off, you wouldn’t worry a bit.”
    â€œShall I go tell him I’m back?” Sam asked.
    Gram shook her head. “I heard him cross the bedroom floor and look out the upstairs window just before you rode in.”
    Sam shivered, but in a good way. It made her proud to know Dad had watched as she brought River Bend’s horses home.

Chapter Seven
    â€œB lack as midnight with two fine mares running alongside.” Linc Slocum muttered the words as he swung high-gloss Western boots free of his champagne-colored truck.
    Sam was the only one who heard him. Instantly, she knew he was describing New Moon.
    In Gram’s garden, Sam stood and wiped soil-coated hands on her jeans. Who was Linc talking to? It was almost dusk. Gram was inside cooking. Brynna had only been home a few minutes when Dad had whisked her off to the barn. Sam knew they were talking about the dogs and Dad’s accident.
    Linc carried a green plant potted in a white plastic container. Sam guessed it was for Dad’s sickroom.Jake must have told Linc Slocum about the dogs’ attack.
    Forget the carrots and radishes , Sam thought. Before Dad and Brynna confronted Linc about his dogs, she wanted to hear about the Phantom’s son.
    â€œAnybody here?” Linc called out. Leaving his truck door open, he started across the ranch yard, ankles wobbling.
    â€œI am,” Sam said. As she hurried toward him she noticed he was wearing even stranger clothes than usual.
    Linc Slocum usually dressed like a city slicker playing cowboy, but today his yellow shirt with its silver-stitched yoke was tucked into pants patterned with tan camouflage. He’d stuffed his pant cuffs into his boots and the material puffed beneath his knees. Did he think he was dressed for hunting?
    â€œYou saw a black mustang?” Sam asked, shooting a quick glance at the barn to verify they were still alone.
    â€œYep, never seen this one before. Bet he could give that white stud a run for his money.”
    Sam knew Slocum was trying to taunt her into defending the Phantom, but she refused to take the bait.
    â€œWhere’d you see the black horse?” Sam tried not to sound like she was too interested.
    â€œLet me think.” Slocum let his eyes focus on spaceas he trapped the potted plant between his ribs and elbow, then used both hands to heft his belt.
    Strong belt , Sam thought as Linc’s bulging belly lifted with the tooled leather.
    â€œHere,” he said, straightening a few mashed leaves on the plant before handing it to her.
    Sam took the plant, but she’d bet Gram would say this was a sorry excuse for an apology.
    â€œSeems to me that crowbait was by that path up to Grass Gulch,” Linc said, finally.
    Crowbait . She hated the expression some people used for wild horses, but she was only distracted for a few seconds.
    There was no Grass Gulch around here.
    â€œLong Grass Valley?” she suggested.
    â€œYeah, that’s it,” Slocum agreed.
    Sam hoped Linc wouldn’t notice her trembling hands as they clutched the plant.
    Dad had been riding out of Long Grass Valley when the dogs had rushed down behind him. Even though she knew Jake had trapped those dogs and she’d seen them caged with her own eyes, Sam worried about New Moon.
    â€œLinc,” Brynna said as she left the barn and strode across the ranch yard.
    Brynna’s no-nonsense voice sounded like an accusation instead of a greeting. Sam knew she’d hear no more about the black mustang. At least for a