The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

her head as she tied off three of the legs then threw her hands in the air. “How’d I do?” she yelled.

“Eleven seconds,” the cowboy with the watch yelled.

“I’m next,” another cowboy said. He roped one in ten seconds.

She knew she could do ten, but could she do nine? She mounted up and cut another one, and when she finished, the cowboy with the watch yelled, “Ten seconds.”

After five attempts, neither of them could break ten seconds, and Ensley called it quits. “I’m done.” Her hip was killing her, and there wasn’t a patch on her that wasn’t coated with mud or cows’ blood. And the stink of burning hide stung her nose.

“C’mon over, Miss Ensley, and have some roasted testicles.”

Cowboys had bullied her into eating her first roasted testicle when she was a teenager, and she had to eat it or lose face. The funny thing was, they weren’t awful. Roasted, they looked like slices of ham, crisp and brown on the outside, and on the inside, they had a meaty flavor. Bull balls were slightly sweeter than ram balls.

She removed her gloves and tossed one from hand to hand while it cooled. Then she popped it into her mouth and chewed. “Not bad,” she said, smiling. “Now I’ve had enough fun for one day. I’m going to clean up and work on my book for a while until Mr. Roosevelt comes back.” She waved. “Thanks, guys.”

She returned Lucky to the picket line and unsaddled and brushed him, then left him to graze while she went to Tesoro. “Come on, boy. You deserve a good brushing and a bath.”

She gathered hers and the horse’s grooming supplies and led Tesoro through a grove of cottonwood trees down to the river away from the camp. She wanted privacy to take a sponge bath. This was probably the filthiest she’d been during her entire time in the past. Her clothes would never come clean, but at least she could wash underneath them. She would never get used to putting on dirty clothes after a bath, but she loved being here. That could all change at any minute, but for now, she was a happy camper.

While she was brushing Tesoro, he started acting jittery, jumping to the side, swishing his tail, and neighing louder than usual. “What’s wrong, boy?” He wasn’t a sensitive horse, so when he acted like this, she was alarmed but remained calm. If she didn’t, he’d never settle down.

When he curled his upper lip, she knew he sensed danger.

She glanced toward the grove, and the hairs on the back of her neck twitched. “Okay, I believe you. Let’s get out of here.” She gathered the supplies and untied the rope, becoming more alarmed by the absolute silence surrounding them. Even the river, turbid brown from eroding the banks, grew still. And the stone-gray sky seemed to meld with the earth, blurring the line between them.

What the hell’s going on?

The wind picked up and tugged at her hat. They must be downwind of something unsettling because Tesoro broke loose, neighing louder than any horse she’d ever heard. The glands around his shoulders and neck emitted a reddish liquid that made his fur look darker, giving the appearance of bleeding, stark in the grayness of the late afternoon.

Then he reared, and his legs climbed the air, fighting some unseen foe. His feet touched the ground, and he reared again.

Now she was seriously alarmed. No, she was downright terrified. She reached for her rifle, but it wasn’t there. It was with her tack at the remuda. Her heart beat faster, diverting the blood from her gut to her limbs.

Run! Now!

But before she could move, a black bear appeared at the edge of the grove.

“Holy shit.” Fear skewered her heart. Her gut tightened, and stomach acid driven by that fear heaved up into her throat.

Tesoro’s feet touched the ground, and he reared again, screaming.

The bear dropped and ran toward her, but Tesoro stood between them. She expected Tesoro to run, but he didn’t. He reared again, and his scream was even louder. That’s when she realized it wasn’t a black bear. With a shoulder hump and those short, rounded ears, she knew it was a grizzly, and his four-inch claws could rip her horse apart.

The bear could rip her apart, too. It could outrun, outswim, outdistance her on its worst day.

The bear lurched at Tesoro, batting at him with one of his giant paws, scraping his claws down Tesoro’s golden underbelly, shredding the skin, and Tesoro’s screams grew louder.

“Run, Tesoro!” she shrieked. “Run! Before he kills you.” She waved her arms to distract the bear. “Run, Tesoro.”

Tesoro screamed again, rearing and biting the bear. Why didn’t anyone hear the shrieks? They were loud enough to wake a village.

Tesoro was sacrificing himself for her.

Run—now!

But she couldn’t abandon her horse.

What the hell can I do?

She ripped the tie-back off her hair and attached the Clovis Point to a long stick. She’d done it so many times it only took a couple of seconds. Now she had a weapon.

“Tesoro!” she screamed as terror punched her heart. Why didn’t anyone hear the commotion?

The bear wrapped both arms around the horse and threw him on the ground. Then he fell on top of him, biting his neck with jaws that could crush a bowling ball. She threw her spear, but it didn’t penetrate the bear’s tough hide. Instead, it hung there, caught in its fur. The bear ripped off more of Tesoro’s skin with its deadly claws.

Oh, no! Please, get up, Tesoro. Get up. Run.

But as still as he was, she knew he’d never run again.

So she ran, and when she reached the grove, she glanced back. The bear climbed over Tesoro’s body, growling. Then it dropped down on all fours and lumbered toward her. His giant paws left bloody footprints in his wake, and the shaggy hair on its neck and shoulders bristled as he moved. His fangs were red with Tesoro’s blood. The bear’s glittering, evil