Canyon War (Doc Beck Westerns Book 1): Doc Beck Westerns, #1

By Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer

"We're looking for Doc Beck."
"I'm Doctor Rebekah LaRoche."
"But you're a woman."

 

Traveling the West as a female physician, 34-year-old Doctor Rebekah LaRoche is no stranger to difficulties. But on her way to New Mexico Territory, an unexpected stay in Amarillo, Texas, leads to confrontation with the Baxter clan – four brothers bred for conflict – and finds Rebekah in deep trouble.

 

Cattle rancher Clem Baxter's private war over grazing rights in the Palo Duro Canyon turns disastrous, and when the dust settles, one of the Baxter brothers is hurt bad. Clem sends for a doctor, not a woman, but that's what he gets when Rebekah, known as "Doc Beck," arrives at the ranch. Now held at Clem's ranch against her will, Rebekah must plot to flee through the night with her young friend into the dangers and beauty of the Palo Duro Canyon.

 

Rebekah has always relied on her wits to get her out of any situation. But does that include facing down men willing to die—and kill—for a wild piece of land just as dangerous as any bullet?

 

***

 

About the Doc Beck Westerns series:
Of Omaha Indian and French descent, 34-year-old Doctor Rebekah LaRoche goes by Doc Beck, which gets her foot in doors before her patients and patrons realize she's a woman. A sophisticated spitfire with remarkable people skills, a foot in the door is all Rebekah needs to do her job. Traveling the West in the 1890s to lend aid and cure the sick, Doc Beck finds herself solving problems and setting straight more than just broken bones. But the work doesn't fill the longing in her heart for a place to truly call home—and someone beyond herself to believe in.

 

Books in the series:
Canyon War (Book 1)
Mission Bandits (Book 2)
Grave Robbers (Book 3)
Desert Captive (Book 4)
Ranch Feud (Book 5)
Bronc Buster (Book 6)
The Gunman (Book 7)
Ape Man (Book 8)
The Return (Book 9) (Coming May 2023)
Lost Legacy ((Book 10) (Coming July 2023)
Prairie Shadows (Book 11) (Coming September 2023)
The Judgment (Book 12) (Coming November 2023)
Doc Beck Westerns Boxset (Books 1 - 4)

• Language: English
• Publisher: RockHaven Publishing
• Release date: Apr 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393964797

Book preview

Canyon War

CANYON WAR

Doc Beck Westerns Book 1

SARAH ELISABETH SAWYER

RockHaven Publishing

CONTENTS

FREE BOOKS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Author’s Note

Also by Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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Happy reading!

—Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer

PROLOGUE

The night sounds in the Palo Duro Canyon were deafening. Thunderous katydid and cricket chirps echoed off the walls and up to the rim where Clem Baxter stood. He could hardly hear his own thoughts for all the racket. But he preferred the clatter of night critters to his brother’s low grumbling.

Woodrow Baxter stood slightly behind him, right where Clem wanted the second oldest son of the Baxter Ranch. Clem was the oldest and now head of the family of four brothers. Woodrow was next in line if anything happened to him, Kurt next, then Van. Of the three, Clem would pick Van. Woodrow and Kurt were too soft.

He could hear Woodrow shifting his feet despite the night sounds croaking up from the canyon.

Clem, I'm not going against you on this, even though I don't think it's altogether right. But there's no point in waiting for the Lowells to show up. Let's set off the charge now and get out of here.

Pa always said you were yellow, a bad influence on Kurt.

Clem didn't have to turn to know his brother stiffened. But Woodrow wouldn’t dare go up against him, no more than he would their father, barely cold in his grave.

Pa had left Clem, his oldest son, in charge of the Baxter Ranch when he passed of a rattlesnake bite he’d gotten in that very canyon. They were returning home after a confrontation with the Lowell family. The patriarch was in such a state he hadn't been aware of the danger until it struck.

Clem heard Woodrow pivot on his boot heel and clomp away toward their horses. Good. As long as he kept Woodrow off-balance, he kept him under his thumb. Clem was a little off-balance himself after the swig of whiskey he’d taken before they rode out to the canyon, but that didn’t affect his judgment or his rightful place.

His other two brothers, Van and Kurt, came up to him. Kurt was the spindly twenty-two-year-old who took after Woodrow too much. The Baxters were supposed to be a tough lot, feared and respected in the area for their fierce determination to build the largest spread around the canyon, no matter who got crushed in the process. Like the Lowells.

The Baxters were a long way from that goal, and Woodrow and Kurt added black marks to the family’s reputation.

Kurt whispered, Clem, can I wait with the horses when it's time?

Clem rounded on him, making Kurt take a step back. Pa had demonstrated that if he couldn't earn the respect of someone, he'd force it from them. In the light of the full moon, Kurt’s gaunt face was drawn and pale. He’d never grow up.

Clem said, You keep whining, and I'll have you set the charge off instead of helping Van do it.

Van, the youngest and quickest tempered of the four, took a step forward. He was short, brown-haired and eyed like their father, and with enough aggressiveness to do whatever he needed to, but with barely enough smarts to keep it in check. You said I could set off the charge, Clem. Pa wouldn't let you go back on your word.

Clem glared at him. Don't be telling me what Pa would or wouldn't do. He turned his authoritative gaze on Kurt. And you're going to do what I say, even if it kills you.

Kurt rubbed his palms up and down his trouser legs, looking bare without the six-gun Clem expected him to have. He didn't push it, not even on this night, not since Kurt had nearly blown off one of his own toes trying to follow Clem’s orders to quick draw and shoot tin cans a day after they buried their father.

Kurt couldn't handle himself worth a rock, but Clem was going to make a man out of him yet, same as their father had been trying for ten years. The Baxter boys were expected to become men at a young age to survive in the Texas Panhandle.

Woodrow joined them again. Someone does need to stay with the horses when the ruckus starts, Clem. Why don't you let Kurt instead of me—

Clem gripped the butt of his revolver, a threatening gesture their father had often used when the boys got too big for the belt. He had pistol-whipped Clem more than once.

He'll do just what I say, Clem growled. You all will.

Van's head jerked to the right, squinting in the moonlight to the canyon floor. Clem gritted his teeth. His brothers had distracted him from keeping a sharp ear to distinguish the canyon sounds from invaders. The Lowells and their stinking sheep were coming up the canyon eight hundred feet below where the Baxters stood. Them Lowells thought they could sneak by in the cover of darkness.

Clem hissed at his brothers, Don't just stand there like fools. Get in position, but Van, don't set off that charge until I give the signal.

Van slapped Kurt’s arm and darted off and over the rim on the narrow trail. Kurt followed, kicking up dust like Clem had warned them not to. Clem