The Gentrys: Abby. Linda Conrad

herd. My mustangs have been having some trouble with your fence lines for the past few weeks.

      “Then, when I discovered that a section of the Gentry Ranch fence was down near the dry wash, I began to worry that the ponies might’ve wandered through. I was riding Thunder Cloud…” He let his words trail off for a second. “We ride together in the old way. No saddle. No bridle or bit. No horseshoes. Anyway, I thought I heard a horse’s whinny coming from the wash. I didn’t want to force Thunder Cloud into the rocks, so I dismounted and left him on the rim.”

      “You left your horse? I should go back and get him. I’ll see to it that he gets fed and watered then returned to your ranch.”

      He shot a surprised glance in her direction. “You’re worried about my pony?”

      “Of course.” She said it so directly, so simply, that Gray was amazed.

      A Gentry would be concerned over one horse? And another man’s horse at that?

      “Do not trouble yourself over Thunder Cloud,” he told her. “He goes where he wishes, and he’s more at home on the range than in a corral.”

      Gray still needed to finish the story, his pride be damned. “As for the snake, I never saw him, never even heard him. I don’t understand how I might have disturbed his nap.

      “I track with the Comanche wisdom,” he continued. “My grandfather taught me. The nemene belong to the earth, they do not trample upon it.”

      She tilted her head, lowered her chin. “Do you remember how you got that wound on your head?”

      Gray touched the spot on his temple that now was swollen and bruised. “No. I must have hit my head on a rock after the snake startled me.”

      Abby nodded. “That would explain why you didn’t just walk away from the rattler bite and ride for help.”

      He couldn’t remember. The sounds of the beating drums had been so strong in his head that they obliterated everything else.

      Was he going crazy? He needed to call his grandfather to ask about the dream—and why this Gentry girl had heard the drums, too.

      At his first thought of the eerie drumbeats, Gray could swear he heard them again. But of course, that was nuts. A minute later he recognized the sounds. A helicopter was landing outside.

      “Ah. The paramedics are here,” Abby said as she headed to take the barricades from the door. “It must be dawn.”

      “I’m okay now,” Gray muttered. “I remember you administered antivenom. I was very lucky you carry such things on the range.”

      He didn’t need the embarrassment of having to be airlifted off the ranch for a simple snakebite. “I’m well enough to find my own way back to the Skaggs Ranch. Thunder Cloud won’t have gone too far.”

      Abby started toward him and smiled—the first real smile he could remember having graced her face. With the early-morning light seeping through the open door and under the cracks in the window coverings, Gray finally saw what he’d hoped was true. Her eyes were a gray-green.

      The swift arrow of lust he felt as he watched her walking to his side left him shaken. There was nothing overtly sexy about this woman, yet…

      That must’ve been it, he mused. For the first time, he’d actually recognized the woman inside the tomboy’s form.

      It had been so long since the spark of desire had shot through him, he barely recognized the feeling. Returning to Texas after his mother’s death had only brought him anguish, pain and hard work. Not women.

      He didn’t have time for that nonsense now, either. Especially since it involved the one who’d saved his life, and most especially because she was one of the rich Gentrys. Besides, as a white woman she did not have the blood of the nemene running through her veins.

      “You look like you’re going to survive, but you haven’t even gotten to your feet yet,” she said. “Why don’t you try standing first? Then you can decide about the paramedics.”

      Abby took his arm, assisting him to get up. His head swam and his stomach rolled. Apparently seeing his weakness, she gently pushed him back down on the cot.

      “Well, that answers the question. If you can’t stand, you can’t walk back home.”

      Gray groaned with misery and embarrassment as two men in jumpsuits, carrying large plastic cases, piled into the little room. “Sorry it took so long, Miss Gentry. We’ve been filled in on the patient’s condition, so we should have him stabilized and delivered to the regional hospital within a few minutes. Don’t worry.”

      The paramedics had been true to their words. Over Gray’s protests, they’d taken his vital signs, administered oxygen from a portable bottle and started an IV containing fluids to rehydrate him. Within minutes they had him loaded into the chopper and on his way.

      Afterward, as Abby rode alone to the main house, she’d had a long discussion with herself about letting imagination overtake reality. Now, a few hours later, after a bath and nap, Abby began to feel human again.

      She must’ve been exhausted and in a state of shock herself to imagine smoke and drums last night. And to believe that somehow Gray’s body had been spirited away…. Well, it was all just a crazy dream.

      Abby had more important things to attend to this afternoon. She needed to give her older brother, Cinco, a piece of her mind. How dare he go over her head and speak to Billy Bob and Jake about her safety?

      She knew he’d always been wrapped up in security issues, that he’d felt responsible for her and their brother, Cal, ever since their parents’ death. But in return, Cinco knew about her dreams of becoming the foreman on Gentry Ranch. She’d told him many times.

      To think he’d actually told Billy Bob to watch out for her. Here she was, trying to prove that she was a capable ranch hand and nearly ready to become the foreman for the entire Gentry spread, and Cinco continued to under-cut her efforts. She loved her brother, but he had to start treating her like an adult who could take care of herself.

      She stormed through the old homestead, stalking Cinco, but he was nowhere to be found. Abby slapped her thigh with the leather gloves she was about to put on. Dang, but he led a charmed life.

      When she pushed into the kitchen through the swinging doors and found her new sister-in-law, Meredith, Abby’s mood lightened considerably.

      There hadn’t been a woman besides herself and Lupe, the old housekeeper, on Gentry Ranch since her mother’s disappearance over twelve years ago. Abby had developed a real soft spot for Meredith, a tough ex-Air Force pilot who possessed a sympathetic and warm center. Besides, her sister-in-law could make Cinco listen to reason.

      Her brother had generally been an insufferable control freak for the past twelve years. But since getting married, he’d softened some. At least, she’d thought so until Billy Bob’s words yesterday on the range.

      “Abby Jo! I’m so glad to see you.” Meredith quickly embraced her. “When we heard about what happened out on the range, we thought you might’ve been in trouble…or hurt.”

      Abby denied her own need for the warmth and comfort of her sister-in-law’s hug and stepped away. “Of all the danged silliness. You might not know me well enough to be sure I can take care of myself, but Cinco does.”

      She narrowed her eyes and continued. “Where is the great ranch manager? I have a few things to say to him.”

      Meredith smiled and held out a plateful of chocolate chip cookies. “Lupe made these just this morning. Have a couple. They’re her usual triumphs.”

      It would be impossible to pass up any of Lupe’s cookies. Abby took a handful and stuffed one in her mouth.

      “I think your brother is still out on the range,” Meredith said, finally answering her original question. “He decided to ride up to line shack twenty-three—”