A marker is called in.
Brandon comes home from a trail drive to find his wife on
her way to Mexico to help the mission folk that took her in. Putting herself in
danger. Crossing perilous terrain, where not only the weather kills, but Comancheros
and bandoleros as well. He climbs back into the saddle and heads out after her.
Both of them now embarked on separate journeys that involves killers, flooded
arroyos and narrow divides where one misstep means a plunge to certain death. And,
if that’s not enough to challenge them, at journey’s end they’ll face the most
dangerous situation of all.
“This book contains plenty of grit and gunfire, but no
graphic violence or explicit scenes.”
Excerpt:
July, 1874
The sun hit a blood-red horizon and shot upward in a
crown of tangerine brilliance, hurting the eyes, lighting the trail from the
top of the canyon to the ranch house like a beacon thrown across the sea.
The early July morning a warm one.
Dust rose as a horse trotted up. Jonas, a young cowhand, reined
in his sorrel gelding beside the woman who stood on the veranda. “Rider coming.”
“Is it Brandon?” Hand over her eyes, Alexandria O’Malley
Wade strained to make out the narrow trail at the top of the foothill that her
husband and their men would come galloping over when they returned from the
trail drive. Her tan split-skirt rustled as she leaned against the smooth
white-painted railing, trying to get a better view.
Jonas pushed up in his stirrups. Worn leather boots
peeping from canvas chaps. “Can’t tell.”
The speck at the top of the canyon grew as it came tumbling
down the trail. Her heart thumped and her breath lodged in her throat. Her
fingers tingled, her excitement rose.
The speck shifted into a rider.
Anticipation heightened.
Then shriveled. It wasn’t her husband.
The horse was a pinto not the big roan Brandon rode. And
even from this distance, she’d know her husband with every fiber of her being.
She heaved a deep breath and waited.
As the rider trotted closer, she slid her hand to the
worn wooden handle of her 4.75-inch barrel, single-action, six-cylinder
Peacemaker.
Jonas did the same.
She frowned. The pinto looked familiar, but it wasn’t one
of theirs. And instead of a cowboy hat
and chaps, the rider wore a sombrero along with a brightly-colored poncho.
Spying her, he yanked the sombrero off his head and waved
it.
She recognized the rider and the horse at the same time.
Her breath caught then whished out on a mile-wide smile.
“It’s okay, Jonas. I know him.”
Now sure there was no trouble brewing, he nodded, raised
his hand to the approaching rider, and putting heels to his horse’s ribs,
galloped off.
“Manuel.” She jumped off the porch and ran toward the boy
who’d went in search of Brandon when she’d holed up at the mission awaiting the
birth of the twins.
He leaped off his horse and grabbed her in a bearhug.
The term boy no longer applied. He was muscled and lean.
A man. A young man, but still a man.
“What are you doing here? Is your family well? Sisters
Sarah and Marie? Father Jon?” The questions tumbled over each other.
The smile on his face fell away.
Something was wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Stomach knotting,
she took a step back and waited, dread seeping through her pores.
What people are saying:
"Silverhills Rescue (2026) is another Sandra Cox
Classic Western filled with action, intrigue, great characters, and
excitement." Jacqui Murray, author
"This well-written western was hard to put down
and I highly recommend it." D.L. Finn, author
“Silverhills’ Rescue is Sandra Cox at her best.” D.K.
Deters, author
Book 3 in the Silverhills Saga available at Amazon
AND
I'm also visiting Prehistoric Fiction Author Jacqui Murray today, who has a marvelous new book coming out, BALANCE OF NATURE, that I was fortunate enough to get an early read and can heartily endorse. If you're a writer, reader or instructor and haven't been to Jacqui's blog, I highly recommend a pit stop.
Available at Amazon
