Heartbreak Bronco (15 page)
Authors: Terri Farley
“Sam?” Dad's voice might have been miles away instead of right beside her in the truck.
Sam tried to answer, but she was hypnotized by the stallion. He seemed to skim above the dirt, shoulders glowing like pearls.
“Samantha!” Dad said.
Finally he'd stopped the truck, but he'd missed his chance.
The skidding tires startled the stallion. He shied and leaped down the bank of earth edging the highway.
Only when Dad's hand jostled her shoulder did Sam answer.
“Did you see him?” she whispered.
“See who?” Dad asked.
“The Phantom,” she said, and then she pushed open the truck door and stood listening.
Far away, the La Charla river rushed, but some
where closer, rocks rattled against one another, falling away from the Phantom's hooves.
“I hear something,” Dad said. “But you need to get back inside, honey.”
A summer breeze blew Sam's hair into her eyes. She held it back with both hands, scanning the range once more, and this time it was worth it.
For just an instant more, she saw the Phantom.
Like a faint frost outline of a horse, he was thereâand then he was gone.
Sighing, Sam got back into the truck. She closed the door, then settled back into the seat with a smile.
“I think you were about half dreamin',” Dad said, as he began driving once more.
Sam took a deep breath, held it, then released it with a smile.
“Maybe,” Sam said, because Dad was right. For her, the Phantom stallion was a dream come true.
Terri Farley
has always loved horses. She left Los Angeles for the cowgirl state of Nevada after earning degrees in English and Journalism. Now she rides the range researching books and magazine articles on the West's people and animalsâespecially Nevada's controversial wild horses. She lives in a one-hundred-year-old house with her husband, children, and way too many pets.
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Phantom Stallion
1
THE WILD ONE
2
MUSTANG MOON
3
DARK SUNSHINE
4
THE RENEGADE
5
FREE AGAIN
6
THE CHALLENGER
7
DESERT DANCER
8
GOLDEN GHOST
9
GIFT HORSE
10
RED FEATHER FILLY
11
UNTAMED
12
RAIN DANCE
13
HEARTBREAK BRONCO
14
MOONRISE
Cover art © 2004 by Greg Call
Cover © 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
PHANTOM STALLION
#13:
HEARTBREAK BRONCO
. Copyright © 2004 by Terri Sprenger-Farley. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition February 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-189060-4
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