Chapter 1 Chapter 1 SAMANTHA FORSTER STOOD IN THE shower, listening to the wild neighs and galloping hooves of mustangs. She shook water out of her ears, parted the shower curtains, and stuck her head out. Her kitten, Cougar, sat on the tile around the bathroom sink, cleaning a paw. His gold eyes met her blue ones. "Mew?" Sam knew they were alone in the white two-story house on River Bend Ranch. Gram and Brynna, her soon-to-be stepmother, were in town arranging altar flowers for the wedding and checking the decorations for the reception. Dad and Dallas, River Bend''s foreman and Dad''s reluctant best man, had driven into Darton to pick up tuxedos. Sam kept listening, but when she heard no more whinnies, she relaxed.
Her shoulders sagged as she sighed. "Nothing, Cougar," Sam told the brown-striped kitten. "Only my imagination." Sam closed the shower curtains and sang. Maybe she could drown her silly thoughts with music. "Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh." No snow was predicted, but it was Christmas Eve and the carol suited her excited mood. Six hours from now, bells would ring from the steeple of the white Methodist church in Darton.
As maid of honor, she''d move down the aisle toward her smiling father. She''d wear a pine-green gown and carry a bouquet of roses. Minutes later, Brynna Olson, director of the Willow Springs Wild Horse Center, would be married to Wyatt Forster, cattle rancher. Sam would have a stepmother, and strange as she would have thought it just last summer, she liked the idea just fine. "O''er the fields we go," Sam kept singing. She loved the way her voice echoed in the shower, but it was time to get out. It was after ten a.m.
Jake would be here to pick her up at two, and there was lots to do before then. Still, if she hurried, she''d have time to search out the source of the neighs. Since it was December, it shouldn''t have been wild horses. The mustangs should be tucked away in the Phantom''s secret valley. A quick ride would put her mind at rest. Sam cranked the water off. She''d promised to do a few last-minute chores before leaving the house. She squeezed the water from her auburn hair, then pushed open the shower curtains, still singing.
". laughing all the way--ha ha ha!" Cougar didn''t like that last part. He jumped for the towel rack, clung to a blue terry-cloth towel, and swayed there. Looking over his shoulder, he watched Sam for further signs of insanity. When her dripping hand reached in his direction, he leapt down and skittered across the floor. Sam opened the bathroom door so he could escape. There it was again. Through the opening, she heard a confusion of high-pitched neighs that didn''t belong anywhere near River Bend.
Dressed in a towel, Sam sprinted to her bedroom window and let her eyes search the terrain below. To her right lay the ten-acre pasture filled with five saddle horses and two mustangs-in-training for the Horse and Rider Protection program. Though their ears pricked forward, listening as if they''d heard the neighs too, the River Bend horses weren''t eager to investigate the disturbance. They clustered together, tails to the cold morning wind. The ranch yard was a pale sandy apron around the house. Except for their Border Collie, Blaze, sniffing around for breakfast, the yard was empty. She looked toward the bridge over the La Charla River. From there, the road led to Darton if you turned right, to Jake''s Three Ponies Ranch if you turned left.
There wasn''t a car or truck in sight. Far out over the range, nothing moved except a single crow, flapping across the blue-gray sky. No matter which direction she stared, nothing looked out of place. Sam knew what any outsider would say. Seven horses grazed in the big pasture. Two more were stabled in barn stalls. If she heard neighs, they had to come from these horses. But she knew that wasn''t so.
Sam recognized the voice of each horse on River Bend Ranch. She wasn''t hearing Ace''s high, soaring call, coaxing her to go for a ride, or Strawberry''s cranky snorting. The sounds resembled Dark Sunshine''s longing whinnies toward the Calico Mountains, but the buckskin mare couldn''t have made all the overlapping sounds Sam had heard. Just because she couldn''t see anything out of the ordinary didn''t mean everything was fine. Jake had accused her of trying to be a horse psychic. That was ridiculous, but Sam and the magnificent stallion called the Phantom did share a connection. Since summer, his herd had been in turmoil. First, the Phantom had been accused of stealing domestic mares, and a reward had been posted for his capture.
The wild bunch had been pursued by rustlers, then left leaderless when the Phantom had been used as a bucking bronc in a rodeo. Just a few weeks ago, an orphaned cougar had stalked the Phantom''s herd, hoping to make a meal of a spring foal. But the young cougar had been captured and transplanted to another mountain range. What could have the horses stirred up now? Just feet from Sam''s window, a second crow crossed the sky, cawing a warning. "That''s it," she muttered. She''d jet through her chores, saddle Ace, check things out, and still be back here in time to meet Jake. Sam dressed as fast as she could, then set to work. She watered the herbs in Gram''s window garden, made up the bed for Aunt Sue, who was coming from San Francisco for the wedding, and cleaned up her breakfast dishes.
She dashed from the house, collected the hens'' eggs, and made sure all the stock had been fed and watered. She turned Sweetheart into the new round pen next to the barn, but left Ace in his stall. "I''ll be back for you in a minute, good boy." She kissed his muzzle, and then ran to refill Blaze''s water dish. The Border Collie looked toward the front gate and whined. Sam listened for the horses. Nothing. Blaze rarely fretted over horses, anyway, unless there was a new animal to inspect.
Now he was probably concerned by all the unusual comings and goings for the wedding. "Don''t worry, Blaze," she said, as the dog licked her hand. "They''ll all be back." Eventually , she almost added, but Blaze wouldn''t understand. After their Christmas Eve wedding, Dad and Brynna would leave for their honeymoon in San Francisco, where they''d stay in Aunt Sue''s apartment. Gram would ride with them to the Reno airport, then fly out to spend Christmas with a friend in New Mexico. Aunt Sue would drive home with Sam and stay most of winter vacation. But that was too much to explain to a dog.
With her outdoor chores finished, Sam ran to the barn. Ace stretched his head over the rails of his corral and greeted her with a low rumbling sound. The bay gelding tossed his black forelock from his eyes, baring the white star on his forehead. "Hey, pretty boy," Sam crooned as she saddled him. "Want to go for a quick ride?" As if he understood, the gelding bobbed his head. Sam smoothed her hand over the freeze brand on his neck. Ace was her friend, but he was also a mustang. If she had trouble finding the wild horses, he''d do it for her.
Sam ground-tied Ace just outside the front door, retrieved the basket of eggs she''d left on the porch, and ran inside. "Eggs in the refrigerator," she muttered to herself. What would Aunt Sue think if there were no eggs for Christmas breakfast? Fidgeting, Sam found a pencil and made herself reread the list posted on the refrigerator door. She crossed off everything except for the reminder to return a phone call from their neighbor Linc Slocum. Call Linc about Home on the Range, Gram had written. After that, she''d drawn three question marks as if she had no more idea what it was than Sam did. Sam shook her head. "No way," she muttered.
Twice, Linc Slocum had conspired to capture the Phantom. Sam was polite to Linc in public, but if Home on the Range was another of his weird business schemes, she wanted no part of it. Sam tried not to say no to people she loved, but Gram wasn''t here, and Sam would be happy to let Slocum wait by the phone until next Christmas. Time to go. Sam started to grab her old brown Stetson from the peg by the door. She touched her damp hair and decided against it. This was one day she''d go without her hat. Brynna was a horsewoman herself, and pretty good-natured, but she probably wouldn''t understand if her maid of honor showed up with hat hair.
It took Sam only half an hour to find two mares from the Phantom''s herd. Ace''s body vibrated with a low nicker as he caught their scent. Sam drew rein, making Ace stay back as she searched the brush for more horses. A flash of red caught her eye, but it wasn''t the tiger-dun mare who always led the Phantom''s band. As her eyes separated the mustangs from the terrain, she recognized two blood bays who always ran and grazed together. The pair glanced up. Their eyes rolled, showing white around the dark irises. They were jumpy, but not panicked.
Because Sam approached without shouting or swinging a rope, the mustangs bumped shoulders and dismissed her as a threat. Then they went back to lipping the sparse winter grass. This didn''t make sense. There had to be better forage elsewhere. And where was the rest of the band? Wild horses depended on their herd for safety. "What are you guys doing out.