The Wildest Heart by Terri Farley Read Free Book Online Page A

me, but we saw each other, and this is definitely part of his territory. Mrs. Allen has paintings of mustangs in her studio. She’s done a lot of them over the years.”
    â€œCool,” Callie said, still staring toward the mountains.
    Sam didn’t add that Mrs. Allen’s favorite models these days were carnivorous plants. But Sam was pretty sure Callie would be just as accepting of that switch.
    One of the things she really liked about the older girl was her tolerance of other people.
    Sam had just an instant to notice the warmth of the little dogs pressing close to her thigh. Then they whined and flattened their ears as lightning tore the pearl gray sky.
    Sam squinted against the brightness. She winced at the hissing crackle and a smell like gunpowder.
    Before either girl could speak, thunder boomed.
    â€œWe’d better go inside,” Sam managed, but Callie was pointing.
    At what? Sam stared, eyes skimming down the wind-fluttered sleeve blowing back from Callie’s wrist.
    â€œWhat’s burning?” Callie asked.
    â€œI don’t see—”
    And then she did. Skinny red arms offered up a crazy, twisting white thread.
    That’s what it looked like until Sam’s brain made sense of what she was seeing.
    The red arms were the branches of the single flaming pine tree. It stood in the middle of the swathe of cheatgrass and the twisting white threads around the tree were smoke.
    The lightning strike had started a fire.
    Suddenly Dad’s words slammed through Sam’s brain.
    â€œIf a fire starts on the flat and gets a western wind behind it, it’ll race over the range and those canyons will act like chimneys.”

Chapter Five
    â€œG o, go, go!” Sam shouted, but when Callie hesitated before climbing down from the tree house, Sam went first.
    Barely looking behind, Sam stepped down on a ladder rung. A sudden wind, so strong it seemed determined to trip her, swirled around her legs.
    â€œWe’ve got to call the volunteer fire department—”
    â€œBefore the fire reaches the sanctuary,” Callie finished.
    With a flash of guilt, Sam realized she’d been thinking of the Phantom. She’d pictured flames licking through brush-filled gullies and narrow ravines, chasing the mustangs, when there were horses—even Ace!—in danger right here.
    Her feet stopped and Sam held her arms up.
    â€œI’ll take one of the dogs,” she shouted.
    â€œOkay,” Callie said, and passed one of the wriggling Boston bull terriers to Sam.
    â€œAngel, sweetie, be still,” Sam crooned as the dog’s slick fur slipped in her fingers. She managed to clamp the dog against her chest with one hand as she held to the ladder with her other, but when Sam’s foot reached downward, Angel decided she’d had enough.
    Her small jaws clamped a warning bite on Sam’s wrist.
    â€œHey!” Sam yelled, more surprised than hurt. Her grip must have loosened, because Angel writhed free. Sam grappled for the dog, but Angel was already falling.
    She hit the ground with a yelp.
    Two rungs above Sam, Callie had Imp pinned between her arm and ribs. She looked back.
    â€œAre you okay?”
    â€œFine,” she said, “But Angel—”
    Sam’s voice broke off with a cough, but her feet kept moving. She reached the ground in time to see Angel stand, shake the dirt from her coat, and begin barking.
    As soon as Callie reached the ground and released Imp, the dogs scampered two laps around the tree, then raced for the house.
    Sam and Callie took off after them, but when their shoulders brushed for the second time, Samrealized they were both staring toward the fire.
    Orange flames danced amid the smoke. The winds warred for control, blowing both fire and smoke from side to side.
    â€œThe horses are penned,” Sam gasped, remembering the barn fire at River Bend Ranch. Trapped and forgotten inside the high-sided round pen, Dark Sunshine