Before Frankie could reply, Matt heard a horse approaching. The young woman did, too, because she called, “Who’s that?”
“Sam Two Wolves, miss,” Sam replied. “A friend, so please don’t shoot me.”
“Over here, Sam,” Matt called. A moment later, his blood brother rode up.
“All right, you two, stay there where I can see you,” Frankie warned. “I’ll blow you out of your saddles if I have to. I can do it, too.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second, Miss Harlow,” Matt said. He stayed where he was, not making any threatening movements, and so did Sam.
Frankie stepped out from behind the buckboard and leveled a rifle at them. Matt could see her slim figure fairly well in the moonlight, which meant she could see them, too. Judging by the easy, graceful way she moved, she hadn’t been wounded in the attack or injured in the wreck.
“Get down off those horses,” she ordered.
Matt and Sam did as she said, swinging down from their saddles and standing beside the horses, holding the reins. “Did you get a look at that bunch?” Matt asked.
“No such luck,” Sam replied. “They had already taken off by the time I could get around the end of the ridge. I didn’t even waste any lead hurrying them on their way.”
Frankie said, “You two could’ve been killed, you know.”
“So could you,” Matt said. “Looks like you might’ve come close when that buckboard turned over.”
“Did the team break loose and run away?” Sam asked.
“That’s right. Those horses probably didn’t go far, though. I can find them and ride one of them back to my pa’s place.”
“We’d be glad to give you a hand,” Matt offered. “If the buckboard doesn’t have a cracked axle or a busted wheel, we can set it upright, find the horses, and hitch them up again.”
“You’d go to that much trouble for me?”
“Sure,” Matt answered promptly. “It wouldn’t be that much trouble. Ain’t that right, Sam?”
Sam’s innate chivalry wouldn’t let him disagree. “We’d be glad to do that, Miss Harlow.”
She finally lowered the rifle slightly and said, “You two sound like you mean it.”
“We do,” Matt assured her. “Just give us a chance to show you.”
Frankie hesitated a few seconds longer, then lowered the rifle the rest of the way. “All right,” she said. “I’m much obliged for the help.”
She stepped back as Matt and Sam led their mounts forward. Sam handed his reins to Matt, then went to check over the buckboard as best he could in the darkness. After he’d inspected the vehicle for a few minutes, he said, “It seems sound enough. Let’s tie our ropes to it and pull it back onto its wheels.”
This wasn’t the first time the blood brothers had righted an overturned wagon. They knew what they were doing, and within a few minutes they had tied their ropes to the buckboard, made the other ends fast to their saddles, and had the horses backing away to pull the ropes taut. Matt and Sam went around to the other side of the buckboard and bent to get hold of it, then called out to their horses to back some more. With a creaking of ropes and grunts of effort from the two young men, the buckboard lifted and fell over onto its iron wheels, upright once more. Sam started checking the axles and wheels again to make sure their salvage efforts hadn’t done any damage.
Matt said, “I’ll go find those horses that ran off.”
“You’d better take me with you,” Frankie said. “They know me, and they’ll be less likely to bolt if they hear a familiar voice.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Matt mounted, then held a hand down to her, leaving the stirrup on that side empty so she could use it to help her step up. Frankie hesitated, but only for a second. Then she clasped Matt’s wrist and let him help her onto the horse’s back. She sat behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist to hang on.
“Which way did they go?” he asked.
“They were still headed west, the last I saw of them.”
“Then that’s the way we’ll go,” Matt said as he heeled his horse into motion.
Chapter 11
As they rode, Matt was all too aware of how Frankie’s firm, apple-sized breasts pressed into his back. The warmth of her breath against his neck and the strength of her supple arms around his waist made tingles of delight go through him. Despite her name and her mannish clothes, she was all woman—and having her so close like this was causing a definite reaction in him.
To make some conversation, he said, “Frankie’s sort of an unusual name for a gal, isn’t it?”
“Never you mind about my name,” she said. “Just find those horses. My pa and my brothers are probably starting to get worried about me.”
“Sure. Four horses, right?”
“That’s right.” She took one arm from around his waist and used that hand to point. “I think that’s them over there, isn’t it?”
