Lonestar Sanctuary Read Online Free Page A

back and I'll walk."
    "How about you ride in the back and let me drive?" Allic didn't
think he'd agree, but she didn't feel right about making him walk.
    If only Jon were here.
    "Okay." He tossed her the keys and strode to the pickup's rear,
where he put one boot onto the wheel well and vaulted into the back.
    The guy was a mountain. Allie didn't like big men. They made her
feel even smaller than she already was and more inept.
    She stared at the keys in her hand and forced a smile. "Let's go get
our truck, Bets." She opened the driver's-side door, and Betsy climbed in, then scooted across the seat. Allie slid inside after her daughter.
Nice wheels. The vehicle wasn't new, but he'd taken good care of it.
Its gray interior didn't hold a speck of dirt.

    She started the truck, turned around, and drove back toward her
pickup. The headlights picked out the silhouette. When she reached it,
she angled the man's vehicle so the headlights shone on her hood.
    The man jumped out and opened the hood of his truck, then
fiddled with something inside. She watched him walk around to her
truck and open the driver's door. She thought she'd locked it. No,
only Betsy's door, she remembered.
    She got out to help. Only one boot showed under her open driver's door. The battery clicked, then he exited the vehicle.
    "Lady, you're out of gas," he said with a disgusted thrust to his lip.
"Don't you have any sense at all? Dragging a kid out into the middle
of nowhere without gas, putting her in a nest of bumblebees, and not
even taking any water with you."
    He had no idea what she'd been through. Stiffening her back, she
stared at the man until he looked down.
    "Sorry, it's none of my business," he said.
    "No, it's not. We're on our way to Bluebird Youth Ranch. Is it close?"
    His head came up at the mention of the ranch. "I work at the ranch.
It's just a mile down the road. We weren't expecting any visitors."
    "I know. I've come a long way to talk to someone there." Two men
actually, but he didn't need to know the details. If she had the nerve,
she'd ask him if he knew Rick Bailey, the foreman.
    The surly man stalked to his pickup and flipped down the tailgate.
Tight-lipped, he stalked back with a gas can in his hand. He drained it
into the gas tank, then went back to his truck. Revving his engine, he
called out the window, "Try it now."

    Allie ran to the truck and slid under the wheel. "Please, please
start," she muttered under her breath. She cranked the engine. It
ground slowly, then picked up speed and turned over. It was running
so rough that the truck shook, but at least it would go.
    "Come on, Bets," she called. Betsy ran to get into the passenger
seat.
    The man's pickup pulled away, the tires spitting sand and dust.
Allie dropped the transmission into drive and followed him. The
blackness of night cloaked the land as she followed him into a wide
dirt lane, hard and packed from the weight of vehicles. At a distance,
the lights of the house and four outbuildings shone a welcome, and
Allie felt the weight of fatigue press heavier.
    So this was the Bluebird Ranch. Even the name had intrigued her
when her mother talked about it. A longing for home and family rose,
and she squelched it. She had to stay focused.
    Surely they wouldn't turn her away tonight.
    The man switched off his engine and walked back to her truck.
"I'll take you to Elijah. He's probably in the barn. Cupcake is about to
foal. Come with me."
    Grabbing Betsy's hand, Allie leaped from the truck and followed
the man's long steps toward a big white barn. It had a hipped roof, and
white paddocks stretched as far as she could see in the moonlight. The
last building was a hangar that held a small plane.
    "Who's the pilot?" she asked, pointing to the plane.
    "I am. The distances are so great out here, it makes sense to fly
when we can."
    A border collie, tail wagging, came to meet them. The animal rose
on its hind legs without touching either of them.