Tumbleweed Fever - Softcover

Maas, L. J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 193092805X ISBN 13: 9781930928053

Publisher: Renaissance Alliance Pub Inc, 2000

Synopsis

In the Oklahoma Territory of the old west, Devlin Brown is trying to redeem herself for a past as an outlaw. Working as a rider on a cattle ranch, she meets Sarah Tolliver, a widow with two children and a successful ranch, but no way to protect it from the ruthless men who would rather see her fail. Sparks fly when the former outlaw teams up with the beautiful, yet headstrong, young Tolliver.

About this title

About the Author

LJ Maas is the author of Tumbleweed Fever, None So Blind, Meridio's Daughter, Prairie Fire, and coming in 2003, Rebecca's Cove. Her novels are published by Renaissance Alliance Publishing, Inc.Originally from Chicago, LJ now resides in Oklahoma with her partner of almost 6 years. They have an eight-year-old daughter (a blonde, lab/retriever mix who simply doesn't believe she's a dog). Along with writing full time, LJ teaches computer graphics and a variety of writing classes at a local college.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

...For a few seconds, they stared at one another that way, but Dev knew they wouldn t be able to let it go. Men! They always thought if there was more than one of them, they d be able to take you. It only meant one thing to Devlin more dead bodies.

It was a small twitch, but Devlin saw it. The older man s eye twitched to look at something just over Dev s left shoulder. The rider heard it then. Soft like a whisper; it was a horse hoof in the dirt. This time the rider didn t have the luxury of waiting for the men in front of her to make the first move. Carefully, and without drawing attention, the rider slipped her left foot out of the stirrup and pushed the stirrup forward that held the right one, until only the ball of her foot rested there.

Even over the sound of the cattle, she heard the faint click of metal from behind her.

With one swift movement, Devlin launched her body over the side of her horse. In mid-air, she pulled both guns from their holster and loosed a blaze of gunfire on the two men in front of her. Tucking into a tight ball as soon as she hit the ground, she rolled twice, pulling herself up to crouch behind a cow. She looked up and saw the two men who confronted her, dead on the ground. The third man s saddle was empty, but no body to account for his whereabouts.

Hellfire, she cursed again, reloading her gun. It was getting plenty dark and she could barely see a thing, let alone a man coming at her. An explosion rang out and she could feel the air blow by her, a bullet narrowly missing her head. Devlin saw the white puff of an explosion in the darkness and tried to ease around toward it the long way. Cows and horses moved against her in the darkness, she saw the shadow too late. A loud exchange rang in her ears as the man fired his gun, and Dev felt a white hot bolt of pain sear through her abdomen. She was unable to keep her knees locked against the pain as they crumpled underneath her.

Devlin s brain kept telling her to get up, but her body wasn t able to cooperate. She lay face down in the dirt, trying to still her rapidly pounding heartbeat. She heard the man come up behind her, bending down to pull her fallen body over. She brought her knee up hard into the man s face as he rolled her over, screaming at the pain in her gut this action caused. Dragging her body up, she twisted around and pulled the trigger into the man s stomach.

The rider struggled to her feet, whistling for Alto. The horse came up next to the woman and stopped. Dev put her hand to her side, pulling it away to see it covered in her own blood.

"Shit!" she said aloud, trying to take a step forward and dropping to one knee.

Pulling herself up by pulling on a stirrup, she found herself able to stand again. The man behind her came to just as she was making a supreme effort to mount the huge mare.

"I thought I killed you," he groaned.

"That was your second mistake." She winced in pain as she fell into the saddle.

"Mind tellin me what the first mistake was?" he gasped.

"Fucking with me in the first place," she moaned, her head bent over the pale mare s neck.

Her sarcasm was lost on the fallen man. He was already dead.

Edition details

• Publisher: Renaissance Alliance Pub Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 193092805X
• ISBN 13: 9781930928053
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 256