Wild About the Wrangler by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page A

Most horses are.”
    â€œOkay, but I’m only doing it if he takes that bit.” She rounded the horse’s hindquarters and came up beside him. “I’m not sticking my—”
    He glanced over at her. “I never realized how stubborn you are.”
    â€œOnly about certain things, my thumbs being two of them.”
    â€œThen let’s hope Jasper cooperates. Hold the bridle like this.”
    She was awkward at it and he had to move in and help her. Damn, she smelled good. He forced himself to ignore that. Jasper took the bit easily this time. Mac had been prepared to coax her to use her thumb if necessary, but it wasn’t. Crisis averted. Maybe by the time she needed to do that, she’d be so mellow about Jasper’s teeth she wouldn’t think anything about it.
    â€œThat’s it. He’s bridled.” The lesson was taking longer than he’d figured on, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she was paying him by the hour.
    â€œI need a picture of this!” She pulled out her phone and took several shots of Jasper all tacked up.
    â€œReady to climb aboard?”
    She whipped around so fast she almost dropped her phone. “C-climb aboard? I thought you said—”
    â€œI know, but you’ve been making such great progress. You don’t have to go anywhere, just sit there for a little while and get used to the view.” He paused. “I’ll take your picture so you can show Georgie.”
    She studied Jasper for quite a while. Finally she took a deep breath and let it out before handing him her phone. “Okay.”
    It wasn’t an enthusiastic statement, but he’d take it. Shoving her phone in his pocket, he walked over to Jasper. “Let me adjust the stirrups for you.” He’d been the last person to use the saddle and the stirrups were way too long for her.
    â€œShouldn’t I do that?”
    â€œNext time.” He didn’t want a delay to make her nervous and potentially cause her to change her mind. After years of adjusting stirrups for greenhorns, he had a pretty good idea where they should be for someone of Anastasia’s height and build. They’d be good enough for now.
    She came closer. “Now they’re so high I don’t know if I can get my foot up there.”
    â€œI could go search out a mounting block, but we can do it the old-fashioned way.” He linked his hands together and held them below the stirrup. “Grab the saddle horn and put your left foot here. I’ll boost you up.”
    â€œMac, I’m scared.”
    He looked into her eyes and her pupils were dilated. She was also breathing faster than normal. “You’ll be fine. I’ll be right here.”
    She glanced up at the saddle. “I’ll be clumsy. What if he doesn’t like that and starts moving around and stuff?”
    â€œThis is your friend Jasper. You’ve spent time grooming him and petting him. He’s not going to be annoyed because you’re new at this.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œI’ve spent six months getting acquainted with him. It’s not his personality to be nervous and jumpy with greenhorns. He’s patient.”
    She gazed at the horse. “Is that right, Jasper? Are you going to stand there like a good boy when I climb on you?”
    He bobbed his head like a trick pony.
    â€œMac, did you make him do that? Have you trained him to respond to some subtle hand signal?”
    â€œNo, I have not. Somebody might have taught him to bob his head when he hears a rising note in a person’s voice. I haven’t paid attention to whether he does it on cue or not.”
    â€œMaybe later on we can test it. For now I’m going to take it as a sign that I should get on this horse.” She took hold of the saddle horn and placed her booted foot in his supporting hands. “Here goes nothing.”
    â€œCorrection. Here goes