King's Country (Oil Kings #4) - Marie Johnston Page 0,3

it not been for Marshall and that damn phone, I would’ve been ready. But I went airborne and tried to right myself before landing in a mess of barbed wire. Agony exploded through my right leg and the rest of my body slammed into the unforgiving ground.

Crying out, I rolled and pinpricks of pain stabbed through my legs. I gasped in breaths and forced myself to focus through the blaze of pain.

What the fuck had happened?

My brain registered it before I recognized it.

I’d broken my leg.

Son of a bitch. I blinked and carefully raised my upper body, my breath coming in panicked pants as fire engulfed my lower body. I’d landed on the line of barbed wire that was supposed to be attached to the top of the fence posts. My jeans had taken the brunt of their angry stabs, but each move drove the barbs deeper.

Shaking, I looked at my leg. My vision was blurry. I didn’t know if the tears were from the pain or the cold, but I sniffled and forced myself to concentrate.

How did I get out of this?

“Bucket?”

A soft nicker met my ears. He hadn’t run off. But he was on the other side of the fence. Maybe I could crawl to him and drag myself onto his back.

The wind howled and more flakes danced in the air, zipping by me like they had better things to do. Daisy ran around me, whining and sniffing my face.

“I’m all right, girl.” The wind stole my words. I wasn’t all right. I was in the middle of nowhere, tangled in barbed wire, with a broken leg and a storm on the way.

The cow wasn’t the only one in trouble.

Dawson

I stomped into the house and let the warmth of my favorite place in the world swallow me up.

“Shit weather’s on its way,” I said to no one. The house was empty. Should I bring one of the barn cats inside?

I shook my head, answering my own question. There was no reason not to—other than my brothers giving me eternal crap for spoiling cats.

I couldn’t help it if they liked me so much.

I tossed my jacket on a hook. The mudroom off the garage wasn’t nearly as full of winter weather gear now that Xander and Savvy had left. Once the weather wasn’t so far below zero, they’d taken off to find their own piece of paradise and do a little traveling.

The house was quiet once again.

I set my gloves and hat on the bench and toed out of my boots. I was prepared to get snowed in. The guys who worked for me had wrapped everything up. Our calves had all dropped. I could relax through this storm for once. Tucker had put the cow we’d found wandering through the back forty in the barn. It was going to drop any day, but I could keep an eye on it so Tucker and Kiernan could hunker down at their homes.

I shook my head again. I’d have to let the fucking Cartwrights know I had the cow in our pen and he’d—

I let out a sigh. Danny was gone. I’d rarely dealt with him, and Bristol and I were more than happy to communicate through curt text messages. But I’d call her for this one.

The haunting image of her from her dad’s memorial service snaked through my mind. Shoving away the guilt, I dialed her number, primed to give her a piece of my mind. The cow had dug into one of my bales and chomped away.

After the fifth ring, I hung up and tried again. For all of Bristol’s prickly ways, not answering my calls wasn’t one of them. Her land bordered mine, and we had to deal with each other. We sucked it up, and I stayed as professional as my get your shit together tone would allow.

No answer.

I punched out a message. Found one of your heifers. I hit send.

Dammit. It was about to storm. I tapped out another one. She’s safe in my barn.

That was all I could do. It wasn’t like a Cartwright to let us do much for them. They’d accuse us of screwing them over anyway.

I went to the kitchen and opened the fridge door. I had hamburger, roasts, steaks, vegetables, pasta in the cupboard, and potatoes on the counter, but cooking for one got old fast. While my brother and his wife had been here, I’d indulged way too often in my favorite hobby. There’d been three of us and I’d