Chapter 25

At length, he moved her again, on her belly over the saddle, and he kneeled behind her between her spread legs and fucked her long and deeply, all the while making love for her with the poetic murmurings of his rich baritone voice. He possessed her fully and several times and in various positions in front of the crackling fire throughout the chilling spring night. Her young, masterful, virile oak.

The next afternoon, Abegail and Kolester were riding over the last ridge and within sight of the Water Creek Ranch compound on the hillock below them, when the riders who had been sent out to find them did find them. They spoke briefly and breathlessly to Abegail, who, leaving all of them behind, spurred her horse on a hell-bent, fury-tumbling ride down the mountain slopes. But she was too late. Fernand Wolf was already gone when she reached the lodge. His horse had been spooked by a rattlesnake at the far reaches of their fenceline, and the horse had thrown him and then landed on top of him