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trunks. As he edged closer, the moonlight lit up something. Jake recognized Cloud’s color. He’d found Rojo tied to a tree, could he get that lucky twice? Maybe someone had caught the appaloosa, too.
    A shadow fell across the moon.
    When it passed, the horse was gone.
    Damn.
    Rojo continued to act anxious about something. The other horse? Jake decided to trust the animal’s instincts again. Almost at a jog, the horse wound his way into the dark copse of cottonwoods. When Jake strained his ears, he could hear faint hoofbeats leading away. Jake felt confident he could catch up to Cloud.
    After an hour, he wasn’t as certain.
    The horse stayed just far enough ahead that Jake couldn’t get a clear look at him, but not so far he would completely disappear. Every so often, Jake would catch a glimpse of a light colored coat glowing through the trees. Every time he sped up, so did the other horse. When he slowed, it slowed. If he weren’t sure the horse was loose, Jake would think he was being guided. He wanted to yell at Cloud, but he guessed it’d only scare him and possibly make him break into a gallop.
    He didn’t know what to do. Trailing along wasn’t doing him any good, but if he quit now, who knew when he’d ever find the gelding again. Trying to circle around front wasn’t an option because it’d be his suicide if he tried to gallop.
    The moon began to fall.
    How long had he been following this meandering horse?
    His knees ached. His thighs hurt. And his ass was numb. He’d left his broken watch back with his camp supplies, but he estimated the time to be around three in the morning. He hoped a wild animal hadn’t disturbed the stranger’s body. He should turn back. They’d find Cloud when Castaña returned.
    He reined in, and was about to turn around when a loud noise sort of like a cross between a snort and a neigh carried on the night air. It sounded nearby. Jake’s skin crawled. He’d been close all night, but not close enough. Maybe Cloud had decided to stop. Hell, he’d come this far and giving up went against his grain. He nudged Rojo with his heels and once more traveled in the direction the appaloosa had taken.
    As if he, too, had tired of the game, Cloud stopped and stood outlined along the top of a ridge.
    He had a rider.
    Sure he was seeing things, Jake rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, the image vanished into the night. If it weren’t for the whinnies echoing around him, Jake would’ve gone back to the cabin. But he’d seen a horseman, and that person had been leading him on a merry chase for more hours than he cared to think about. Fury replaced his exhaustion. What kind of head games was this guy playing? Who was it? Martin? If he’d worried his sister sick for no reason, Jake would kick his ass.
    Rojo lunged ahead with little prompting. He seemed to be as determined as Jake to catch the other horse.
    At the top, Jake surveyed the surrounding area. Nothing but trees. Before he’d managed to keep Cloud in sight, but he was nowhere to be found now.
    Not a trace.
    Not a hair, not a hide.
    “Where the hell did they get to?”
    He slid off Rojo’s warm back, wincing when his cold, blistered feet hit the ground. Carefully watching the gelding, Jake waited for a clue which direction the other horse had gone, but Rojo only flicked his ears back and forth. Earlier, he had kept his ears pointed like beacons of light in the direction Cloud moved, but now he seemed completely uninterested.
    The way Jake saw it he had two choices — keep following the mystery rider, which was getting him nowhere, or go back to the cabin while he still had an idea where he was. Neither option appealed to him.
    As he stood debating, something moved in his peripheral vision.
    Before he could react, he felt a blow square in the middle of the back that sent him sprawling face first into the dirt. Rojo reared up and spun away, tearing the reins through Jake’s hands. Lifting his head, Jake spotted the horse