Free Renegade Riders by Dawn MacTavish Page B

Morgan did.”
    Trace shook his head. “When did all this happen, Mae?”
    “A month, I think. I’ve lost track of time. It’s been one big nightmare for me. I just want to go home to Kentucky. At first I tried to find the deed. I didn’t want Jared to get his hands on Foxtail Hall. But then the situation became too dangerous. I had to get away.”
    “I asked about the name Ahern in town. Nobody seemed to know it.”
    She uttered a humorless laugh. “They know the name, all right. Everybody knew Jack Ahern. They just won’t admit to it. Those who still have a conscience at the Outpost are too afraid of Jared to risk getting involved.” Her poignant brown eyes fixed him. “Now you’ve heard my story. I think it’s time for you to tell me—how do you fit into all this, Trace Ord?”
    Trace answered her question with one of his own. “Is Jared Comstock a horse rustler?”
    She shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past him. He does as he pleases. They’re driving horses in all the time, but I can’t say for certain from where. I’m not allowed near anything to do with his business. I’ve spent near a month locked in my room trying to avoid…” She bit her lip and flushed scarlet. “Why do you ask?”
    Trace drew a ragged breath. For a moment he couldn’tspeak. There was no doubt that she was sincere. His work, however, depended upon anonymity. He never disclosed his position, or his personal affairs, easily. He hadn’t with Preacher, and he hesitated now with Mae. He usually trusted his instincts, but they were clouded by what he was beginning to feel for this girl. He wrestled with that for a good length of time before he spoke.
    “Can you trust me, Mae?” he asked.
    She hurled back at him, “I can’t trust anybody out here!”
    Trace sighed, taking her hand in his. “I can’t say I blame you for that, after all you’ve told me. And with me shooting you—after you stole my horse, mind—we got off to a rocky start. Still, when I caught Diablo he was wild. It took me a long time—a couple cracked ribs and a broken wrist—but he finally trusted me. So I’ll just have to earn your trust, too. I’m putting my life on the line telling you this, but…I’m a renegade rider. Do you know what that is?”
    “No,” she said.
    “A renegade rider is a wrangler who goes about rounding up horses that have strayed or been rustled from their owners,” he explained. “Right now, I’m working for two ranchers up north, who are pretty sure that I’m going to find a large part of their stock on the Lazy C. That’s why I was in such an all-fired hurry to get there. It’s why I tried to hire on, and why Preacher is out there now, hoping to dig up enough proof for me to send for those ranchers and the marshal.”
    Mae’s eyes were wide as saucers.
    “I’m a damn good wrangler,” Trace went on. “I wouldn’t have had one bit of trouble proving myself toComstock, one on one. That foreman, Will Morgan, jinxed it after he and I got off on the wrong foot. Some people are like that—they rub each other the wrong way before the first words are even spoke, and no fixing it.”
    He sighed and added, “I didn’t want Preacher tagging along, but he convinced me that it would look less suspicious: a drifter and a tagalong cook. I figured Comstock would take me and turn him away. I never dreamed he’d send me packing and keep Preacher. I’m worried about that old codger. He’s no match for the bunch you’re describing. When I met him, the old fool was set on trying his hand at mining in Death Valley. I don’t want his death on my hands. Already have too many on my conscience. No room for another.”
    “You’ve got to get him out of there,” Mae said. “That place is a nest of rattlesnakes.”
    Trace nodded. “I’ll figure something. Right now, it’s you we’ve got to deal with.”
    “Our tracks!” she realized with a lurch. “Jared will follow them. He’ll find us! He’s an excellent tracker.