Chapter 11

Lauren's breath caught in her throat and goose bumps covered her flesh. The man lying on the ground wasn't moving. "Should I call 911?" she asked of the group of men surrounding the body.

"I'm afraid it's a little too late for that, Lauren." Chase put his hands in his pockets. "He's already dead."

"Who iser, who was he?"

"Hank Hardy. He worked for a neighboring ranch. It seems he was thrown from his horse on my property. We still haven't figured it all out, but Mitch and Doc Stevens here, our coroner, will take poor ol' Hank back to town to see if they can put two and two together." He took off his Stetson and slapped the dust off of it on his thigh.

"Lauren, I presume," the coroner said, nodding at her. "I'm Doc Stevens. Nice to meet you."

"Same here." She wrapped her arms around her waist, chilled by the circumstance of meeting him while standing over a dead man. She turned at the sound of the ambulance from Saddle Creek coming up the gravel drive.

Getting out of the way, sh