The following snippet is taken from
Clara
Prairie Roses Collection, Book 25
by Zina Abbott
Rattlesnake! Fear immediately seized Clara, holding her in its grip. Freezing in place, unable to move except for the trembling over which she had no control, she felt her breaths coming in short pants. She kept her gaze on the patchy grass while several thoughts tumbled over each other as they invaded her awareness.
Not a month had passed since her father was bitten by a mountain rattlesnake, which led to his death. There had been some debate over the real cause of death, since the compound fracture to his leg immediately followed the bite. Many felt the broken bone more than the bite might have been the main contributing factor to the infection that set in and killed him. Still, Clara could not drive from her mind the scene of the men cutting his pant leg—and then the skin next to the fang marks—before one of them, in an effort to remove the poison, sucked on the wounds and quickly spat the tainted blood out to the side. She had later helped the women care for her father, which meant she saw his leg as it swelled, turned red and hard, and eventually turned other colors as the infection took over his body. In an effort to drive the scene from her memory, she pressed her eyes shut. Lord, please help me. I don’t want to die—not like that.
After what felt like an eternity, Clara again heard the warning rattle. Recalling having been repeatedly warned not to move if confronted by a poisonous snake, she only allowed her eyeballs to shift toward the left in an effort to find the source of the rattle. Involuntarily, her eyes rounded when she spotted the snake three to four feet away, its head lifted from the ground while its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth. The body writhed as it positioned itself into a coil.
“Clara, is everything all right?”
Behind her, Clara heard Will’s calm voice. She realized she no longer heard the sound of moving freight wagons. She dared not shake her head or gesture. “Rattlesnake.” The word came out as a whispered croak. Can snakes hear? Her mouth open so she could inhale as much air as possible without moving any more than necessary, she again pressed her eyes shut.
“Don’t move. Don’t point, but can you tell me where it is?” The volume of Will’s voice revealed he had moved a few feet closer.
“My left.”
“I see it. Stay like you are. I’ll be right back.”
Clara is currently available for purchase as an ebook or at no additional cost with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. To find the book description and purchase options, please
My next book to be published on May 8th will be Sabrina, Book 19 in the Rescue Me (Mail-order Brides) series. To find the book description and pre-order link,please
Pearl was my first book published in the Prairie Roses Collection (2022). Many of the same characters are in both Pearl and Clara.
The book, available for sale as an ebook and paperback, is also available in Kindle Unlimited. To find the book descriptions for Pearl and the purchase options, please CLICK HERE
Although Clara and Will met each other before arriving at this classic landmark on the trail west, they were not traveling together as part of the same train. If you have not already done so, you might enjoy reading my blog post about Devil's Gate. CLICK HERE
Check out the following multi-author promotions, new for May:
Mother's Day Romance Gift Ideas
Includes my own HANNAH’S HANDKERCHIEF and NISSA
Mothers through Time
Includes my own HANNAH’S HANDKERCHIEF and MAIL ORDER PENELOPE
Some Like It Clean!
Includes my own PEARL from the Prairie Roses Collection
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