{Chapter 11}
Erik rode beside Tiny as the galloped the perimeter of the herd of horses, looking for any more sign of the rustlers. It struck him as odd that Toni had someone on watch every night yet she still thought they would strike during the day. If he were a rustler who was trying not to get caught, he would stay out of the way during the day, picking off a few horses at night.
“Erik, I’ve got tracks” Tiny’s voice said ahead of him.
Erik urged Cooper into a gallop and rode up to where Tiny was bent low over the ground, stopping in a cloud of dust.
Tiny coughed. “Do you mind?”
Erik slid off Cooper and looked at the trail of blatant tracks. Whoever these men were, they were complete idiots.
“A blind man could follow this” Erik muttered.
“No he couldn’t because…” Tiny stopped when Erik gave him a look.
“We should follow them as far as we can” Erik said, turning to mount Cooper again.
“Couldn’t these tracks be from our own horses?” Tiny asked.
Erik rolled his eyes. “Look at them, Tiny. Those are deeper than our horses’ are. No, these horses had riders.”
Tiny shrugged and mounted his buckskin. Erik pushed Cooper forward, following the plain tracks. They wound around the rises and falls of the terrain, and it took Erik and Tiny nearly an hour to find anything interesting.
“Look here” Tiny said, pointing to where a set of tracks split from the others and went west. Erik topped a rise to find that they tracks went to the main ranch.
“They go to the ranch” he called down to Tiny.
“Which ones do we follow?”
“Those, of course. We need to find out who these people are” Erik knew exactly who rode the horse to the ranch.
That blame Adrian Jackson. He knew better than to trust the man.
They rode in the direction that they bigger group of a three sets of tracks went, until they went clear off BF Ranch land.
“It’s the rustlers,” Tiny said.
“We can’t know that” Erik said, looking up to where the sunshine chased the clouds all over the sky. His back ached, his head ached, and his temper flared.
He knew deep down inside that the rustlers were behind all of this.
Lord, don’t let me do anything stupid, please. The last thing we need here is for me to lose my temper.
“We need to talk to Boss,” Erik said. “She’ll know what to do about this.”
**********
Toni studied the broodmare and her three-month-old foal. The little thing was sure cute, with its short mane and long legs.
“We’ll need to start weaning her in about another month or so,” Wade said beside her.
Toni nodded as the little foal pranced around in the grass.
The sound of thundering hooves brought her attention to where two riders came running in from the east, and she recognized them as Erik and Tiny. She had sent them out earlier to look at the herd.
Her heart rate quickened as she thought that only one thing could bring them back in such a hurry.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, grabbing the bridle of Erik’s horse.
YOU ARE READING
The Boss Lady's Man
Romance"Look, Toni. Not everyone who comes into your life is there just to use you. Some people are there because they really do care about you" Erik's calmed voice only made her anger worse. "Why do you not trust anyone?" Toni lost it. She was tired of ho...
