Free Compromised Cowgirl by Reece Butler Page A

crouched at a mark that looked suspiciously like a horse. There were some wild ones around, but no wild horse wore a metal shoe. She cast around farther, discovering many more tracks as well as the remains of quirleys. A shod horse could have gotten loose, but cigarette remains proved someone human was around. She looked down the slope. A person standing here could look into the homestead yard. It was too far to see detail, but with a spyglass they’d know if anyone was home.
    Who would gain from that knowledge?
    Frederick Smthye lost the ranch to Ace. Had he sent men to cause problems? Or was this an example of her brothers and cousins keeping an eye on her? She didn’t think any of them smoked. Since she couldn’t tell if the sign was from friend, foe or family, she’d keep the information to herself. For now.
    She followed the ridge, mentally marking narrow gulches, streams, and well-watered places where the grass was still green this late in the summer. She found a few sheltered places where she could lie naked under the sun, just as she did when she was young.
    Having seen Ace naked, and felt Sin’s fingers on her back, she didn’t want to lie alone. She wanted them to do to her what she saw the boys doing in the barn.
    One hot Saturday night Ben, Nevin, Patrick, Ranger, and Ross snuck a couple of women home. She often slept in the hayloft with the cats on a hot night. That night she was furious, as The MacDougal told her he would never, ever let her go to town because she was a girl. She was not to be seen by the rough men who came into the cantina for a drink.
    She woke to an unusual sound—a woman’s happy laughter. She peeked over the edge of the hayloft. Luckily, the moon was bright enough for her to see. She saw the naked white shapes of her brothers and the smaller ones of two women. Instead of being worried with five men there, the women seemed eager to touch and be touched.
    She tried to figure out what was going on, but they moved into a corner. She was sure her brothers took care of one woman while the two MacDougals made the other scream her release. Because it was so dark, she hadn’t figured out how. All she knew was that the women begged to have their breasts and pussies touched, demanding more.
    A week later they sent her to Virginia to become a lady.

Chapter Nine

    Jessie had only one section left to check. She headed Trouble toward a cleft only visible from above.
    “Well, I’ll be darned.”
    She’d ridden past the rock many times from below and never knew it broke into two. From above, she saw a space wide enough for a yearling to go in headfirst. Getting it out would be murderous.
    Trouble baulked when she got within six feet of the rock. She urged the horse forward but it shook its head and danced sideways.
    “What’s in there, Trouble?”
    She sat still and listened but didn’t hear a rattlesnake. After all the poisonous critters in Texas , a rattler didn’t scare her much. At least it was big enough to see and let you know it was near. She climbed down and tied Trouble to a branch. She looked around for cat or wolf scat, but the hard, rocky ground showed nothing.
    She sniffed as she approached the rock. She wrinkled her nose. Something had died in there a while back. She yanked on the brush covering the rock split, expecting it to be rooted in the ground. Branches came loose in her hands and she fell back. She slid for a couple of feet on her ass before her hip smacked against a rock.
    The thick branches in her hands were sliced clean at the roots. The cuts were grey, the outer bark curling, so it hadn’t been cut recently. Someone had a reason to hide that cleft. She scrambled back up the slope and carefully approached. This time she gently tugged on the brush screen. It came free easily. She tossed it away and stepped closer. The path zigzagged before she stepped clear, finding an open area about fifteen feet by ten.
    The remains of three heads stared at her. Human. Her stomach