Texas Brides Collection Read Free Page B

blood.
    Instantly, Chet stood by her side, clearly amazed. “You got him right square between the eyes.” His face had paled, and he looked a bit angry.
    Serena blinked. “I know. That’s where I aimed.”
    He poked the boar with his boot. “Who taught you to shoot like this?”
    “I did,” James boomed from the doorway of the cabin. “Good shot, Serena. You didn’t flinch once.”
    Serena beamed. “Thanks, Pa. I tried to remember everything you taught me, but it took me by surprise when it barged forward.”
    “Couldn’t have handled it better myself.”
    She adored her father’s praise. “You hungry? I just about have breakfast ready.”
    “Nigh starved,” her pa replied. A grin spread across his full face, as he wrapped his arms around Ma’s waist.
    Serena glanced at her ma, trembling beneath Pa’s firm hold. Her grim expression left no question as to the fear she’d felt.
    “She’s fine,” Pa said, obviously realizing Ma’s apprehension. “She can handle a rifle better than most men.”
    Ma nodded and sniffed, blinking back tears. “There’s a few things about our daughter, James Talbot, that I wish she hadn’t gotten from you.”
    Chet cleared his throat. “Ma’am, I can understand your fright, but I’m glad she has her pa’s eye and smooth pull on the trigger. Thank you, Miss Serena. I’ve been in a lot of dangerous places, but taking on a boar didn’t rank among them. Praise God for your shootin’.”
    His words broke the tension flaring around them, and Ma laughed and cried at the same time.
    “I’ll get this overgrown pig out of the way so we can eat,” Pa said. He released her ma and walked toward the dead animal, passing along a wink to Serena.
    She handed his rifle to him, and he squeezed her hand. Fighting the urge to take a quick glimpse at Chet, she moved toward her ma, still quivering in the doorway. They held each other without uttering a word. Ma had been right; certain things only a woman could know, and Serena had just earned a note of admiration from Chet.
    Once breakfast and chores were completed, Serena rode with Pa and Chet to Dugan Niall’s. She felt completely immersed in the hill country around them—the cedars dressed in blue-green leaves and gnarly post oaks with an occasional mesquite tree. She admired patches of orange trumpet-shaped wildflowers, purple wide-leafed petals, and a host of yellow beauties. She listened to the singing insects and calling mockingbirds as they offered their lulling songs, but Serena knew the dangers of the land—more powerful than any wild animal.
    Three races of proud people claimed Texas: the Mexicans, despite the war for independence; the Apache and Comanche Indians; and the proud Texans. She’d long ago decided whoever fought the hardest would have the vast land. Pa told her once if he’d been Mexican, he’d be fighting for them, and if he’d been born an Indian, he’d be warring alongside the red man. Lucky for Texas, James Talbot was a white man and believed in the Rangers.
    “God did a pretty good job out here,” Chet said, squinting as he stared up at a robin’s-egg-colored sky. “No wonder the land’s restless; everyone wants a piece of it.”
    “No matter the cost,” Pa said. “He made Texas for those willing to die for it—or defend it like we do.”
    “Some folks claim we rangers are of the devil,” Chet said, “but they sure call us angels when there’s trouble.”
    Pa chuckled. “ ’Cause we aren’t afraid of anything—leastways, nothing we show. The only thing I hate is leaving my family so much. Guess I’m lucky Rachel knew my commitment to the Texas Rangers when we met. Sometimes it’s right hard to push thoughts of her and Serena away when we’re in the thick of things.” He lowered his gaze at Chet. “You listen to me, now. God’s done me a fair amount of blessings, but this is a life for a single man. Your head can’t be clouded with anything but the job at hand.”
    Serena