by Lower, Becky
She skirted around his horses to the opposite side of the fray. Very clever, Joseph noted, using my horses as a shield from the authorities. He began walking his charges, which now included the woman, slowly forward through the chaos.
Joseph nodded to her, acknowledging her presence. “Is this street always so crowded?” he asked the woman.
“It’s always busy with the open-air vendors on the sidewalks and all the street traffic, but not usually like this. My friend and I just staged a rally, which is why the police are here.”
“You are safe now, with me. Just follow my lead.”
The woman nodded her head in agreement, shielding her eyes from the sun as she walked beside the horses and stared up at him. Her other hand reached out to touch the withers of the horse nearest her.
“How handsome,” she said, not moving her eyes from Joseph’s face.
“The black?”
The woman seemed a bit startled, but continued to look at him. Joseph pointed with his chin to the dark horse nearest to her. “The black horse beside you. He is my favorite, too. I may have to keep that one. Take care, though. These horses are barely broken, and they are skittish in all this noise.”
At that very moment, a dog ran into the street, startling the black horse, and he lunged. Joseph held the reins tightly in his hands, but the horse reared. Joseph concentrated on controlling his horse and lost sight of the attractive woman. When the horse finally quieted, Joseph scanned the street for her again. She had backed off from the horse’s side, and was rubbing her forearm.
“Did he hurt you?”
“He only bumped me slightly. It was my fault for getting too close. I’ll be fine.”
Together, they made their way up the street. When they reached the livery, Joseph dropped from the horse’s bare back in a fluid motion and stood in front of the woman he had shielded from the police. He noticed she had a light dusting of freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose. And even though she was not as small as she appeared to be when he was astride the horse, his large frame still towered over her.
“This is as far as I am going, miss. We have come a fair distance. You should be safe now.”
“Thank you for helping me evade the police.” The woman did not move from the livery doors as she craned her neck to look him squarely in the eyes.
“I think you would have managed quite well on your own, but I am glad I was able to help.” They stood in the door of the livery, their eyes locked for another long moment until one of the horses nickered.
Joseph gathered the horses’ reins again tightly in his hands. “I must take care of my horses. They will settle down once they are comfortable.”
Joseph spent the next few minutes getting the two horses safely into their stalls. When he finished, he was mildly disappointed to see that the bewitching woman had vanished. In a town the size of this New York City, he doubted if their paths would ever cross again.
But a man could hope.
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