Free The Wild One by Terri Farley Page A

movie in which the villain had died struggling in quicksand. The last shot had shown his hat, sitting on the surface of the gritty ooze. But she didn’t bring that up.
    â€œThink you all have time to quit joshing and move some cows?” Dallas asked.
    The men mounted up. Sam gave Gram a stiff smile and went off to get Ace. She imagined the earth cracking and a black goo swallowing her without a trace.
    As always, Jake read her mind. “You can swim right out of it,” he said, quietly. “If you don’t panic.”
    â€œYou take care of your little girlfriend, now.” Flick grinned at Jake. “Even if they have good bloodlines, dudes scare real easy.”
    Sam ignored Flick, just like she would any smart-mouthed jerk at school.
    â€œSam’s no dude,” Jake responded. Sam felt herself relax before he added, “More of a dudette , I’d say.”
    Jake wheeled Witch away from the other riders, away from Sam. That was a good thing, too, Samthought as Witch carried Jake splashing away into the gray morning. She still had an empty mug in her hand and she could barely suppress the urge to fling it at Jake’s head.
    Â 
    Stop. Go. Stop. Go. All morning they followed the cautious cattle through the rain, never pushing, just watching.
    Dallas hadn’t asked her to ride drag today. He assigned her to ride on the right side of the herd. She knew better than to ask why.
    Thunder rumbled overhead and a cold wind blew.
    Sam hunched her shoulders inside her slicker and pulled her brown Stetson lower on her brow. Her cheeks were cold, but rubbing them with her gloved hand didn’t help.
    â€œHey dudette, how’s it goin’?” Pepper called from the other side of the herd. He sounded good-natured, but Sam didn’t answer.
    Whether it was Pepper’s shout, the thunder, or her bovine imagination, a big brindle cow wearing Slocum’s brand spooked. She bolted away from the herd, just yards in front of Ace.
    Ace tensed to follow, to gallop after the cow and return her to the herd. Sam clapped her heels to the gelding’s sides and let him fly off in pursuit.
    Dudette, am I? Sam stayed loose in the saddle, as Jake had told her to do when riding a cutting horse. But the brindle cow didn’t want to go back.
    â€œHey!” Sam shouted. No way was this cow going to slip past her. Holding her reins in one hand, Sam snatched off her hat and flapped it at the cow, trying to scare her back toward the herd.
    Rolling her eyes white, the cow bowled past Ace with a bellow.
    Humiliation made Sam glance back to see if any of the cowboys had noticed her failure.
    What she saw made her sick.

Chapter Eight
    F RIGHTENED BY THE BRINDLE cow’s bellows, the rest of the herd split off in all directions. Some trotted with their heads held high, ears swivelling in confusion. Others galloped, eyes rolled white. Big red bodies slammed each other as the cattle ignored everything but fear. Though the cowboys kept their horses at a walk, trying to regather cattle without scaring them even more, Sam knew what had happened. She’d caused a stampede.
    Once she returned the brindle cow to what remained of the herd, Sam rode at the edge of the restless bunch. She surveyed the playa , hoping she’d see no animals sunk in quicksand.
    What she did see was Jake, shepherding about thirty head her way.
    Sam braced herself, but Jake didn’t yell, didn’t accuse, didn’t even give her a hard look. He kept his eyes on the herd.
    Somehow, that was worse.
    â€œJake, I was stupid,” she said. “I was trying to show off, to prove I knew what I was doing, and I did just the opposite. I moved too fast. I didn’t think—”
    Jake’s mouth was set in a hard line as he nodded. Agreeing. He sent Witch off at a gentle jog after two cows with calves.
    It took the experienced cowboys about twenty minutes to regather the herd, but to Sam it felt like hours.
    Stupid,