Flames climbed the western barn.

Then another fire erupted near the hay shed.

Not accident.

Multiple fires.

Caleb came from his room pulling on boots.

“Get to the well!”

The ranch exploded into chaos.

Men shouted.

Horses screamed.

Cattle crashed against fences.

The dry summer grass caught instantly.

Wind carried sparks toward the main corral.

Abby joined the bucket line.

Smoke filled her lungs.

A ranch hand shouted, “Fence is burning!”

Caleb ran toward it.

“Caleb!”

He disappeared through the smoke.

Abby saw cattle bunching against the far side, terrified and beginning to trample one another.

Then the burning fence gave way.

A thick rail crashed downward.

Someone screamed.

Abby ran.

Through smoke.

Through sparks.

Through heat so fierce it blistered exposed skin.

She found Caleb beneath the fallen rail.

It had caught him across one leg and hip.

He was conscious.

Barely.

“Abby, get out!”

She grabbed the timber.

Fire crawled along one end.

“Move when I lift.”

“You can’t lift that.”

Abby planted both feet.

The stitches in her wounded arm tore open.

Blood soaked her sleeve.

Caleb shouted again.

She ignored him.

Abby pulled.

Nothing.

She screamed and pulled harder.

The rail shifted.

“Again!” Caleb shouted.

Abby changed her grip.

Every insult she had ever endured flashed through her mind.

Too large.

Too heavy.

Too much woman.

She roared.

And the body everyone had taught Abby to hate became the body that saved Caleb Boone’s life.

The burning timber rose.

Caleb dragged himself free.

Abby dropped it and collapsed beside him.

For one second, their eyes met.

Then a horse thundered behind them.

Through the smoke rode Elias Redford.

A leather satchel was strapped across his chest.

Abby recognized it.

The records.

The evidence.

“He took the papers!”

Marshal Hooper appeared near the corral.

“Redford!”

He tried mounting his horse.

The animal stumbled badly.

“Damn it! She’s lame!”

Elias was already disappearing toward the southern ridge.

Abby saw Caleb’s bay mare, Juniper, running loose nearby.

Caleb understood before she moved.

“No.”

Abby ran toward the horse.

“Abby!”

She caught the reins.

“Let Hooper handle it!”

“He can’t!”

Caleb tried to stand and nearly fell.

“Abby, he’s armed!”

She hauled herself into the saddle.

Elias Redford had humiliated her.

He had stolen from Caleb.

He had apparently paid Gideon Whittaker eight hundred dollars for the privilege of marrying his daughter.

Now he was carrying the proof.

Abby kicked the mare hard.

Juniper launched forward.

Wind tore Abby’s hair loose.

Her wounded arm throbbed.

Behind her, Boone Ranch burned orange against the night.

Ahead, Elias galloped across open grassland.

Abby lowered herself over the mare’s neck.

Twenty yards.

Fifteen.

Ten.

Elias looked backward.

His eyes widened.

“You?”

Abby drove faster.

Five yards.

Then she was beside him.

Elias reached toward the revolver at his hip.

Abby lunged.

Her fingers caught the leather satchel strap.

Elias cursed.