Passion to Protect Read Online Free

for the safety of the stable.
    His balance hampered by his prosthetic leg, Jake had a hell of a time convincing both animals that he, and not their flight instinct, was in charge. Though he was far from an expert horseman, he’d watched Deke on enough occasions to mimic the soothing, confident tones that normally put horses at ease.
    But he was no Deke Mason, and there was nothing normal about tonight. Jake might have succeeded in keeping both animals from bolting, but he wasn’t kidding himself. The buckskin would dump him and race the pinto back home if he let his guard down for a moment.
    Still, he risked calling out again, “Liane, can you hear me?”
    Once again there was no answer other than the echo of his own words.
    Jake swore, then swallowed past the lump in his throat. In spite of her coolness and the fact that she’d once more wasted no time ditching him, his gut clenched as he imagined finding her out here somewhere, hurt, her braid unraveled and her delicate face—a face he remembered kissing so thoroughly on that last day, before she’d gone off to college—transformed into a mask of blood. Just as painful as the idea of losing the first girl, the only one, he’d ever offered his love was the idea of telling Cody and Kenzie that their mother had been killed in an attempt to find them.
    That, just as he had been, they would have to be raised by their only surviving relative, a single grandparent.
    Breathing a silent prayer that it wouldn’t come to that, he continued forward, grateful that the surefooted buckskin, at least, seemed to have recovered his senses. Feeling a little more secure, he pulled the radio from his pocket and switched it to the channel he knew the Masons used.
    “Deke?” he said into it. “This is Jake Whittaker. What’s your location? Is Liane there with you?”
    Again and again he tried to raise the older man as static crackled, coinciding with the flickering lightning. Recalling how he’d seen Deke tinkering with his handheld only a few days earlier, Jake nearly gave up hope before he heard the indistinct chatter of an excited male voice, but the transmission was so broken up, he couldn’t make out a single word.
    * * *
    Though Misty would ordinarily growl at a stranger’s approach, she fanned her bushy tail as a rider emerged from the darkness. Blinded by the powerful flashlight beam cutting through the smoky haze, Liane raised her arm to shield her eyes and called, “Who is it?”
    A horse whinnied as it was reined to an abrupt stop, while behind it, a second animal danced and snorted.
    “Thank God,” came Jake’s voice. “When I found your horse running loose, I was afraid you might be—are you hurt? I’d get down, but...”
    She nodded, knowing that he would find it tough to climb back on board a nervous horse without a mounting block. “I fell and bumped my head. Smashed my flashlight, too, but I’ll be okay. And I’m really sorry I ran off the way I did.” Her words were clipped, embarrassed, reminding her of another time when she’d left him, but she couldn’t afford to waste time thinking of things she could never undo. Overhead, lightning flashed, a long, low growl of thunder on its heels. “I’ve been out of my mind worrying, but at least the fall knocked a little sense into me.”
    “I’m worried about this smoke. This lightning’s definitely sparked off something.”
    “Do you have any idea where the fire is?” She prayed he wouldn’t say Elk Creek Canyon.
    “Can’t see anything from this far down the mountain,” he said. “Smoke could be blowing in from miles away or over the next ridge. Considering the weather, more than likely there are multiple ignition points.”
    Anxiety knotted her stomach. If there was fire between her and her family, then what? The only other way into the canyon was an even rougher path off an old logging road so far to the north they would have to ride back home, then trailer the horses to reach it.
    “You