them firing at her with a pistol.
Cord kicked his horse as hard as he could toward the bottom of the gorge, but he knew it was hopeless. He could never make it there in time to help her.
She would either fall and kill herself just as Hannah had done, or the men following her would shoot her.
Rocks were flying down the slope all around Kayla, and for a moment, Cord
couldn’t help but admire her riding skills. The gorge was so steep that her horse was almost sitting on its haunches to stay in control, but Kayla kept the animal moving.
The men who had been pursuing her were apparently not as skilled. Both of
their horses lost their footing, and the men were lost in the sliding rock before they were halfway down the slope. Seeing how their bodies were battered by the flying rocks, Cord could only hold his breath and pray that the same didn’t happen to her.
With a final leap over a large boulder, Kayla reached the bottom, heading
directly toward Cord. He reined in his horse and dismounted just as Kayla
reached him, and she slid from the saddle to run into his arms. Tears ran
down her cheeks, and though she tried to make them stop as she clung to the man she loved, she couldn’t seem to. The events of the past twenty-four
hours were suddenly just too much for her.
“Cord, I...I thought you were dead,” she said, the words muffled against his chest.
His arms tightened around her and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head. “I know, sweetheart. I know. Did he hurt you?”
Kayla knew exactly whom Cord was talking about, and she shook her head.
“No, he didn’t have time,” she said. She didn’t add anything else. All she wanted to do was to stay in Cord’s arms forever, but then the thought of
Dalton Jeffries intruded, and she took a step back to look up at Cord.
“Dalton and some of his men were chasing me.” She looked around wildly,
but didn’t see him anywhere. “I don’t know where he is...”
Cord’s jaw clenched for a moment, but then his expression softened as he
gently brushed her hair back from her face. “I know, sweetheart, but you’re with me, now. I won’t let Jeffries hurt you.” He glanced over her shoulder, frowning for a moment before turning his attention back to her. “Come on.
Let’s get you home.”
He took her arm, leading her to where their horses stood, but before either of them could mount, a gunshot echoed through the valley. Startled, Kayla
jumped, instinctively taking a step closer to Cord, only to see him grimacing.
Her mouth went dry as she saw blood running down his arm.
“Cord...?” she began, but he shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Keep going, get to the horses,” he told her.
He would have gotten both of them on their horses and out of the open, but the animals had gotten so spooked by the gunshot that they had taken off.
With no choice but to face Jeffries, he drew his pistol and turned to face the man, shoving Kayla behind him as he did so.
Instead of riding down the gorge like his men, Dalton Jeffries must have
ridden around, and was now bearing down on him and Kayla. Behind him,
Cord could feel her trembling as he lifted his pistol. Though Dalton’s bullet had only grazed him, it still made it difficult to hold his arm out straight, and it trembled as he aimed at Jeffries.
“Cord...” Kayla said nervously as Jeffries continued to draw nearer, firing continuously.
Cord didn’t answer. Unlike Jeffries, he was waiting until his target got closer; when he shot, he wanted it to count. Grinding his jaw, he released the breath he had been holding and slowly squeezed the trigger. His aim was true and
Dalton Jeffries fell from his horse to tumble to the ground.
Behind him, Cord heard Kayla’s soft sob of relief, and he turned to wrap his good arm around her.
“It’s over, sweetheart,” he said softly against her hair. “It’s all over.”
An hour later, Cord and Kayla were back home. Lucas and a group of men,
many of the ranch hands among them, had met up with them as they were on
their way back. Kayla had listened as Cord explained what had happened at
the gorge, and had been relieved when the forman said that he would take
care of things. All she had wanted to do was go home and be with Cord.
Now, as she looked at the bandage encircling his upper arm, she frowned
slightly. “Are you sure that you shouldn’t have the doctor look at that?” she asked.
He gave her a lopsided grin as he pulled her into his arms. “I’m fine,” he said.
“Anyway, having the doc take a look at it would mean going into town, and all I want to do is be alone with you,” he added, kissing her gently on the mouth.
Unwilling to argue with that, she rested her hands on the smooth muscles of his bare chest and parted her lips under his. When he lifted his head a
moment later, she saw that he was regarding her intently.
“You know,” he said, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “I believe that we were in the middle of something when we were interrupted last night,
weren’t we sweetheart?”
Kayla’s brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, and then her eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t possibly be referring to the spanking, could he?
“Cord...”
His mouth quirked again. “If I remember correctly, you over my knee and
waiting to be spanked with your hairbrush, weren’t you?”
Kayla blushed as she felt a familiar tingle between her legs. “But
