The name hung in the desert air.<\/p>\n
\u201cOwen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cowboy’s expression hardened.<\/p>\n
He knew that name.<\/p>\n
A ranch boss feared across three counties.<\/p>\n
He looked back at the young woman.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you stand?\u201d<\/p>\n
She tried.<\/p>\n
The ropes around her ankles held her back.<\/p>\n
Without another word, the cowboy pulled a hunting knife from his belt.<\/p>\n
One clean slice.<\/p>\n
The ropes fell into the sand.<\/p>\n
She stared at her freed feet as if she had forgotten what freedom felt like.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’ll never stop looking for me,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
The cowboy draped his jacket over her shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he won’t be looking for you alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just then\u2014<\/p>\n
hoofbeats echoed across the desert.<\/p>\n
Fast.<\/p>\n
Closing in.<\/p>\n
The woman turned pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe found me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cowboy calmly helped her behind a large boulder.<\/p>\n
Then stepped into the middle of the trail.<\/p>\n
One hand rested on his revolver.<\/p>\n
The other hung at his side.<\/p>\n
Three riders emerged through the dust.<\/p>\n
At their head rode a broad-shouldered man with a black hat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOwen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cowboy never looked away.<\/p>\n
His voice was quiet.<\/p>\n
Cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re done chasing her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The desert fell silent.<\/p>\n
Because everyone there understood\u2014<\/p>\n
the next words wouldn’t decide what happened.<\/p>\n
The next move would.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The name hung in the desert air. \u201cOwen.\u201d The cowboy’s expression hardened. He knew that name. A ranch boss feared across three counties. He looked back at the young woman. \u201cCan you stand?\u201d She tried. The ropes around her ankles held her back. Without another word, the cowboy pulled a hunting knife from his belt. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}