Page 100 of Promised to the Cowboy

“How long?”

“Twenty minutes ago. Maybe less.”

Everything inside me stops. “She went alone?”

Maggie frowns. “No, Falcon went with her. Gabe, what is it?”

I’m already moving. I grab my boots from beside the door and shove my feet into them without tying the laces.

“Call Daniel. Ethan too. Tell them to get to the old barn.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

That is a lie. I know enough.

I know Chance was in the corner stall when I checked on her before bed. I know the mare does not go into the lower paddock without Evie. I know Falcon was supposed to start on the partition after breakfast, not move a frightened horse before sunrise.

And I know the phone Evie promised never to leave behind is still sitting beside our bed.

I hit the yard at a run. Cold air tears into my lungs. Gravel bites through my untied boots. The old barn doors stand open ahead of me, dark against the pale morning.

“Evie!”

No answer.

I reach the aisle. Chance lifts her head from the stall. Completely unharmed. No sweat. No blood. No torn fence wire dragging behind her. She watches me with wide eyes, startled by the way I came through the door.

My body goes cold from the inside.

“Evie?”

I know she isn’t here. I call anyway.

I check the tack room. The adjoining stalls. The small turnout behind the barn.

Nothing.

Maggie reaches the barn first, breathing hard, Daniel behind her pulling on a shirt as he comes. Ethan follows with his glasses in one hand and his phone in the other.

“What happened?” Daniel asks.

“Falcon told Evie Chance was down near the lower paddock,” I say. “She came out with him.”

Daniel looks past me into the stall. Chance has moved to the door, looking past me toward the yard. Waiting. Her halter is still on the peg. The lead rope is coiled beneath it.

Daniel’s expression changes. “Where’s Evie?”

“Gone.”

“What exactly did Falcon say?” Ethan asks Maggie.

“That Chance was down near the lower paddock. Said he needed Evie because the mare wouldn’t let anybody else close.”

“Did she take a truck?”

“I didn’t hear one start.”