She ran through her ablutions quickly and walked into the kitchen to find it empty. Maria had left her a note and breakfast on the table. As she drank her coffee and ate the biscuits and jam, she thought about the day ahead of her.
Maria said she'd be out most of the day because Red, the man that did the cooking for the ranch hands was down sick and she would be in the kitchen behind the bunkhouse most of the day trying to sort things out and prepare food. Emma imagined the men would be hungrier than usual after a day of branding.
She wished she could see it. She cursed the lie she had told. If she'd only confessed about her leg, she knew she could be out there now, watching and learning, or she could be helping Maria prepare the next meal for the hungry men.
But instead, she was stuck here through no fault but her own.
It took her only a matter of moments before she realized she was all alone and there was nobody stopping her from doing what she wanted. As long as she was careful and didn't let anyone see her, she couldn't see any harm in going out and having a little look-see.
She went to the window and saw no one. The sky was blue, the grass was green and she could almost smell it from here.
There was absolutely no reason she could fathom why she should stay cooped up in this house all day. It wasn't like there was anything really wrong with her. Her ankle didn't need to mend as Luke thought it did.
Luke and Maria both would be away from the house all day and she could do as she wanted.
And she wanted to be outside.
She went back to her room and with a new sense of purpose, put on her sturdy walking shoes and quietly slipped away from the house.
Luke took the hot brand away from the twisting heifer and stepped back from the two men that were restraining the animal. He gritted his teeth and looked around him. He couldn't see anything out of place but he had an itch in his brain that told him something wasn't right. He couldn't explain it, but no matter how many times he tried to concentrate on the work he was supposed to be doing, he couldn't. He wasn't even halfway finished with the branding that needed to be done today, but he had a searing in his gut that was telling him he needed to be somewhere else. Once again, he tried to ignore it, and returned to the job at hand. Finally, he gave up all together, told Jesse he had something he had to take care of and mounted his horse and rode for the house.
Chapter Six
Emma shifted slowly from one foot to the other to relieve the stiffness in her leg and stared in horror at the rattlesnakes that almost completely surrounded her. She concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths and figuring a way out of this mess. How long exactly had she been standing here? How long could she go on standing here?
She'd been raised in the city and had never seen a rattler before, but there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that those were the kind of venomous snakes she was facing now.
Who knew that they lived in groups? She hadn't ever thought about it, but what she was seeing could only be one thing. A big, fat home of rattlesnakes. The unmistakable noise she'd read about, the diamond shape of their heads, and the brown coloring of their bodies were proclaiming them for what they were.
Trouble. Deadly trouble.
If she were any other girl, facing down the rattlers wouldn't have posed much of a problem. The three snakes were far enough apart that if one were quick about, one could run right past them.
But she wasn't quick.
She took her eyes from them just long enough to slowly move her head and look behind her again. Nope. No doubt about it, she couldn't go backwards because there was a deep gully cut into the earth that was covered in brush that resembled what she thought must be tumbleweeds, and she could only guess what was in the pit at the bottom.
And the three snakes were spread out around her in an arc that she had to pass through to get to freedom but couldn't.
She stood and waited, as still as she could possibly be, and tried not to make any noise or attract any unwanted snake attention.
How fast would rattlesnake venom kill her? Would it be a long, terribly slow death? An agonizing, painful way to depart this earth? Or would it be quick and final?
The sun was high in the sky and only a small problem compared to the snakes, but she could already feel her nose and cheeks burning. Sweat slid down her spine and she felt the wetness seeping through her clothing in spots that made her dress stick to her skin.
The ache in her leg that seldom bothered her anymore was screaming at her loudly. She had to stop herself from screaming several times, and her teeth bit into her lower lip until she could taste the blood.
She was altogether uncomfortable and only just managing to hold back sheer terror.
She kept her eyes on the snakes and began to think that maybe this would be a good enough time to start praying.
She hadn't gotten as far as finishing the first Lord's Prayer in her mind before she heard the crunching sound of boots on the rock and dirt. She took her eyes off the snakes just long enough to see Luke slipping closer toward her from her left side.
She hurried and finished up her prayer and just remembered to thank God for his quick answer before she turned her attention to Luke.
Evidently he recognized the situation she was in because he didn't speak, didn't make any extra noise just looked at her and mouthed the words be still.
She obeyed the command completely. She had no choice. She was scared spitless.
Luke appraised the situation in the blink of an eye. He'd left his horse and shotgun some yards away and there was no way in hell he was going to take the time to go back for it, because it might be too late by then. He was concerned about a ricochet from his pistol hitting Emma, but if he shot from the side and away from her she'd be safe. He had a full round of ammo in his gun, and he could see three snakes clearly and one that was hidden in the brush she probably hadn't even noticed. So, he had six shots for four snakes. His aim was usually accurate, but Emma was in immediate danger and he'd never been this spooked before. In seconds, he made the decision to take out the three snakes closest to her, because if he missed, he'd have an extra shot for at least two of them. The rattler that was furthest away, he'd only have one chance at. He slid the pistol from the leather holster at his side and when he did, he saw Emma slowly raise her hands, close her eyes, and cover her face.
With rapid fire succession, he shot six times and the noise reverberated down Emma's spine. With the gunshots ringing in her ears and the smell of gunpowder in her nostrils, she pulled her hands from her eyes and stared in awe at the dead snakes.
She looked at them in satisfaction. While she hated to be mean, she readily admitted she was learning to appreciate dead snakes.
And then her eyes lifted to Luke's and she was suddenly more terrified than she had been moments ago when she stood alone with the snakes.
His visage was savage, his stance fearsome, and she began quaking in her shoes.
"Come here." His tone was abrupt.
She took one step and spied the bloody mess of the snakes and her feet stalled in their tracks. "But--"
"But nothing, Emma. I'm waiting." The calm words did nothing to soothe her frayed nerves, and she began counting backwards from one-hundred as she carefully picked her way toward him.
When she was three yards away from him, her feet came to a grinding halt and wouldn't budge another inch.
"Closer," he commanded.
"I don't think I can."
"Sweetheart, I don't want to spook you, but you're not out of danger yet. That den behind you is still too close for my comfort. Come on now."
"Den?" Her voice was weak.
"That's a rattlesnake den behind you. And if you think those four were all alone, you'd be mistaken. Now come closer. It'll be easier on you if you don't rile me anymore."
Four? Emma swallowed and caught her breath and held it as she took the last few steps until she was within his reaching distance.
He stepped forward and pulled her by one strong hand wrapped around her upper arm and propelled her forward a few more feet until he must have thought she was safe.
"You allow rattlesnakes to live in dens on your ranch?" Her words were whispered, she didn't really know what she was saying, she was just scared of the look on his face and felt better if there was some conversation going on between them.
He let out a deprecatory laugh. "You're funning me, right? Let them live on my ranch? Hell, I burn them out once or twice every year. Funny thing about rattlers, they kind of live where they want to live no matter what I have to say about it."
"Oh," she managed hoarsely.
"You could have been hurt real bad, Emma." His eyes blazed down at hers. "I'm not a happy man right now." He sucked in a deep breath and ran his eyes over her as anger etched his features.
Luke wanted to teach her a lesson so badly he could feel it taking over his whole body. He was still so shook up from the close call she'd had. There was no damn way in hell she would have been quick enough to make it past the rattlers. And if he hadn't had that eerie feeling--he didn't know what.
He wanted to shake her and then take her over his knee and whip her butt so hard she'd never forget it. Then he wanted to strip her naked and soothe the redness he'd put on her bottom with long strokes of his tongue in the most inappropriate places.
He felt his arousal grow as his erection stiffened against his jeans. The primal emotion blended with the anger surging through his bloodstream and he knew what he was feeling was a dangerous combination that he had to control with an iron will.