she bristled like an angry cat.
âLet me ride her first and then sheâs all yours.â
Chapter Eight
L acey felt like a rodeo queen on the back of the black mare. The horse was gaited, so her trot was smooth and easy. Jay stood on the outside of the arena. She kept her eyes focused on the point between the mareâs ears and tried not to look at him.
But she did look at him. He smiled and pushed his hat back, crossing his arms over the top rail of the vinyl fence of the arena.
âBring her over here.â He opened the gate and walked through, a rope in his hand. âHere you go.â
âYou really think I can do this?â
âWhy couldnât you?â
âIâm clumsy and uncoordinated.â
He laughed again and she wanted him to laugh like that all the time. When he laughed she forgot that her sister was in the biggest trouble of her life, her niece was in dangerâ¦no, maybe she didnât forget. It distracted her for a few minutes and the knots in her stomach relaxed a little, but she couldnât forget.
He put the rope in her hand, his hand closing over hers. His hands were strong and warm. He looked up, like that touch meant something, and she couldnât look away, not this time.
She realized she had one more problem she was going tohave to deal with: Jay. Because his smile did something to her heart, shifting what had been numb and cold and for a moment making her believe in something special.
âHere you go.â His voice was a little quiet and rough and she wondered if he felt it, too. âTake it like this and make easy loops. Donât work it too hard. You have to look at your target. Thatâs what works for me.â He nodded to the horns on a post. âGive it a try and remember, sheâs going to do some of the work. She knows what to do. Donât panic.â
âI wonât.â If only she could breathe. Breathing would be helpful.
âRelax.â
âOkay.â She wished. But relaxing was probably going to happen when she managed to rope those horns. Never.
She rode twenty feet out from the target and stopped. The mare responded to her leg pressure; just a squeeze and she came to a halt. Amazing.
âYou can get a little farther away,â Jay encouraged.
âUmm, no.â Lacey smiled and lifted her arm. âI thought it would be easier, and lighter.â
âCome on, Lacey, cowgirl up.â He winked.
âOkay, here we go.â She did it the way sheâd seen it in the movies and at rodeos, raising her arm and swinging the rope. It seemed to fly, to soar, and then it dropped.
She never expected it to drop on the mareâs head.
But it did. And the mare didnât appreciate it. She sidestepped and jumped back. Lacey fell to the side a little and she felt the horse hunch beneath her, like something about to explode. Lacey had no intention of getting thrown, so she jumped. As she flew through the air, she knew she was hitting the ground face first.
She hit the ground with a brain-jarring thud that rattled her teeth. The hard impact of the ground socked her in the gutand knocked the wind out of her. She tried to draw in a breath and couldnât.
âLacey, are you okay?â Jay was at her side, kneeling and not hiding his smile the way she would have liked.
âCanât breathe,â she whispered.
His smile dissolved. âDoes anything feel broken?â
She glared. âEverything.â
âLet me help you sit up and you need to take slow, easy breaths. It knocked the wind out of you, but I think youâre okay.â
âEasy for you to say.â
Lacey rolled over and looked up at the sky, and then at Jay. He sat back on his heels and his lips quivered. Lacey laughed a little, but her head hurt and so did her back. Her whole body hurt.
âI donât think I did it.â She leaned back again, thinking maybe sheâd stay on the ground.
âI think
Agatha Christie
JT Schultz
Pierre Lemaitre
Ker Dukey, D.H. Sidebottom
K.K. Allen
Gia DeLuca
Catherine L Vickers
Robert B. Parker
M. L. Forman
Brandy Walker