by Leslie North
That was partly why she felt so nervous as she drew close to the group of people assembled in the driveway. City folks out of their element and looking to her for advice on how to have a good time? She could handle them. But these people were locals: tanned, rangy, and unlikely to be fazed by a single thing she had to say to them. They probably knew more about the activities they were about to participate in than she did, so it was up to her to put a unique spin on the proceedings and make them as fresh and enjoyable as possible.
The heels of her boots crunched across the gravel as she approached them. They all turned to look at her, and she did a quick head count. Ten. Not bad at all, Trevor, she approved privately as she stopped short in front of them and held her arms out.
"Hello, glampers!" she greeted them all with a cheery smile.
A hand shot up in the crowd, slicing through her introduction like a knife. Sabrina blinked. She hadn't counted on fielding participant questions this early—that was, immediately—but she knew how to roll with the punches. She retired her clipboard to her hip, broadened her smile encouragingly, and pointed into the crowd. "Yes? You in the back, did you have a question?"
"What's a 'glamper'?" the woman asked.
"It ain't a real word," the older man beside her provided. "It's one of those newfangled words, like 'selfie'."
"Well, that's…I'm so glad you asked that question, actually!" Sabrina stated, hoping the boisterous volume of her voice would be enough to drown out any further answers from those who sought to be helpful. "'Glamping' combines two words: 'glamorous' and 'camping'. We've all gathered here this week to experience life on a ranch as—"
"Wait, we're going to be doing this for a whole week?" someone else piped up. "Trevor said you only needed us for the afternoon."
"Yes. I apologize." Sabrina's smile didn't budge an inch. "I appreciate that you folks were kind enough to volunteer your time as stand-ins for me this afternoon. Please excuse me if I lapse into my normal monologue; our future guests will be vacationing with us much longer."
A ripple of conversation went through the small crowd. She could have sworn she heard the word “vacation” echoed several times in varying tones of disbelief. Her cheeks heated a little, but she kept her posture straight. Of course, the locals wouldn't understand the more charmed aspects of the existences they led from day-to-day—but maybe, just maybe, she could give them a new, glamorous perspective on their normal lives.
"Howdy, Trevor," one of the men on the fringe of the crowd called. Sabrina's heart stumbled, and she turned to see Trevor strolling down the driveway from the main house. His strides were relaxed and easy, and maybe even the slightest bit bowlegged, but he carried himself with an undeniable sexiness that was enough to stop her in her tracks. Trevor halted beside her, and the next part of the monologue she had prepared all but flew from her mind.
Should have made a checklist, Sabrina thought ruefully. There's no way you'll get back on track now with Trevor Wild standing beside you.
"Mornin' folks. Mornin', Sabrina," the rancher greeted her. God, she loved the way he rolled her first name around every inch of his mouth.
Wait, did she really just think that? She didn't have the spare brain power to devote to this right now! She was already off to a rocky start, and she needed to make every subsequent word to these people count.
"Thank you for joining us, Mister…Trevor," she quickly corrected. She thumbed through the papers on her clipboard, even though there was nothing in the schedule she needed to check. She had everything memorized already. The fact that Trevor was standing so close, looking so good, made it difficult for her to function normally.
"So today, glampers, we're going to start you off small," Sabrina began again, adding an extra layer of cheer. "If you'd be so good as to follow me out to the west stable block—" She indicated the direction with a sweep of her hand, but found the group had already turned as one and started off. "Trevor has been so good as to set aside the smaller arena for our use. We're going to be watching one of our ranch hands, Pete, join up with one of our newer horses.
"Join up?" one of the women echoed. Sabrina nodded.
"Yes…yes!" She hustled to keep at the head of the group, turning to walk backwards as she explained. "Allow me to address what I mean by that! The process of joining up with a horse is an imperative part of establishing a working, loving relationship with your horse. Horses are herd animals naturally, and mutual trust between a horse and their handler is a key ingredient to their safety and comfort. A display of dominance lets them know that there is a strong, protective personality watching over them. That allows the horse to relax a little."
Sabrina shot a tentative look toward Trevor. She didn't know what she was expecting—an enthusiastic thumb's up, maybe, for her grasp of the premise—but the rancher's stoic expression only gave way to the faintest of smiles. She would take it.
"I know what joining up is," the woman explained to her. "But why is this something you want us to watch?"
"Yeah! Joining up's boring," a younger boy beside her volunteered.
Sabrina was starting to feel the strain of the smile she would be holding all afternoon. "Well, I can guarantee you that most of our guests coming in from the city have never seen or even heard of it before. Heck, we may even get some visitors who have never seen a real live horse."
"That's stupid!" The boy chuckled.
"Not stupid. Just…different," Sabrina said as she steered him toward the fence. "Not everyone was as lucky as I was when I was a kid. I got to see horses every time I visited my grandparents."
As she spoke, she could feel Trevor's eyes on her. It wasn't the first time she found herself wondering what he thought about her take on things. Did he think she was naïve for thinking herself lucky? Did he secretly think this whole operation was doomed, and that no one would ever see things the way she did? Would she have to prove him wrong, on top of proving to everyone else in the group that their lives were filled with excitement and value that others would be willing to pay for?
Better not to think about it and to focus on the present.
"Hey, Pete." Sabrina waved to the ranch hand slung across the far side of the fence. He returned her gesture with a cool top of his hat. "Who do you have for us today?"
"This is Tex," Pete announced. He jerked his thumb toward the young quarter horse beside him, a gelding with a shiny chestnut coat. "Me and him, we're about to join up. Care to watch?"
"Do we have to?" one of the kids whined.
Yes! You have to! Sabrina wanted to shout. Instead, she redirected her aggressive energy into clutching her clipboard and smiling so hard her teeth ground together. Trevor is counting on you, she reminded herself. Don't let him down.
"All right, everyone, if you'll please look to the arena, Pete is about to begin his demonstration," she said. Pete nodded and vaulted into the dirt ring. The ranch hand moved to the center; as if on cue, Tex began to trot around the perimeter. Pete demonstrated how, with a few clicks of his tongue and motions with the unattached lead rope, he could get Tex to turn on a dime and start back the other way. Sabrina, who had never seen this sort of training herself, was enrapt with the easy communication between man and horse.
But her stand-in glampers were less enthused. Several of the men had doffed their hats and turned slightly away from the arena as they chatted about the weather; some of the women had their chins in their hands and appeared lost in even deeper discussion with one another.
Her patience snapped. "Everyone!" Sabrina shouted. "If you wouldn't mind keeping some of the chatter down, I'm sure Pete and Tex would appreciate your cooperation!"
"It's all right."
A gentling hand rested on her white-knuckled fist, and Trevor extracted the clipboard from her grip before she could splinter it. "It was a good idea. I think you should keep it. You're going to get different folks in and out of here, and all of them are going to react differently to the activities.”
Sabrina blushed. It wa
sn't the first time she had the impression that Trevor was using his skills as a horseman to soothe her, but she appreciated the gesture more than she could say. As acutely aware as she was that much of Wildhorse's future relied on her and her program, she didn't feel so alone and solely responsible when Trevor stood this near to her.
She hung off the fence and sighed in momentary defeat. Trevor set her clipboard aside and joined her.
"I didn't know that," Trevor murmured quietly. "About your grandparents."
Maybe he was trying to take her mind off things. Sabrina watched Tex's gait speed to a loping canter, following Pete's wordless instruction, and waited until the horse had made another pass before replying. "I guess I didn't think it was important for you to know," she said. I didn't think you'd be interested, was her private thought.
"Where do they live now?" he asked her.
"Here."
He started a little, but Sabrina only shrugged. "It's part of why I took this job. They had to sell their ranch in Colorado when they retired. Now they live in a retirement community right outside of town. Which reminds me, I need to go visit them."
"Take whatever time you need," Trevor replied. "As long as you promise to actually take that time off and not spend it trying to come up with more of your ideas."
"Looks like I might have to," Sabrina said bitterly. She was looking at the faces arrayed around the arena fence. Their expressions ranged from politely interested, to bored, to mocking amusement at the display before them.
At least Pete was being a good sport about it. He continued to drive Tex around the ring, flicking his lead rope to redirect the horse's path. It was over all too quickly. Tex paused and angled himself toward the handler. Pete turned away, and the horse sauntered to join him in the center of the ring. One person clapped.
Sabrina would have hidden her face in her hands if she wasn't conscious that others might be watching. "Maybe we should skip the horse shoe decorating," she muttered.
Trevor winced. Sabrina would have liked to think it was because he would personally miss the horseshoe decorating, but she knew the man better. He took his hat off, settling it on her head. Sabrina blinked in surprise. The gesture was strangely affectionate, and she felt empowered despite her confusion.
"Whatever you decide, I'm here for you," he said as he turned back to the arena. Pete was now allowing the locals to take turns riding Tex bareback around the arena; most, including the young boy from earlier, were showing off various tricks they knew and laughing. "Just promise me you won't let this lot run you off screaming," Trevor continued.
You would know all about that, wouldn't you, Trevor? Sabrina thought rebelliously. Considering you and your orneriness did your best to run me off first.
Well, if she could get Trevor Wild to come around to her way of seeing things—no matter how rarely it happened—then maybe, just maybe, she stood a chance of actually getting through to these people.
After all, what else could possibly go wrong at this point?
After the “guests” had gone, Sabrina escaped to the easternmost stable block, where she and Trevor had bathed Peggy what felt like a lifetime ago. Who could have guessed that she, Sabrina Hearthstone, would prove a failure in every small lifetime Wildhorse had to offer her?
And whoever suspected that in her time of need, a box of sugar cubes would deliver itself as the ultimate comfort?
Even without a schedule of her secret comings and goings, Trevor found her. She sat dismally on a stool she had pulled up outside Peggy's stall, feeding the gentle horse sugar lump after sugar lump. The warm, snorting breaths and the tickle of lips as large as the palm of her hand had briefly provided the distraction she needed, but now that Trevor was strolling toward her in the gloom, even that wasn't enough.
"You girls eating your feelings?" he asked her. He stopped and leaned against the stall door; Peggy broke off from her candy feast briefly to acknowledge him, raising her snout to his shoulder and snorting in his scent. Sabrina dipped into the box in her lap and thrust a sugar-laden hand back through the door sullenly.
"Today was an unmitigated disaster," she reminded him, in case he was in danger of forgetting what a failure she was.
"No." A quiet, one-word protest.
"They were all laughing when they left," she said bitterly. "All of them. I also saw quite a few disbelieving headshakes. In case you didn't realize, that means our focus group was a complete bust."
"No, it doesn't," Trevor replied. "It just means that I stacked the odds against you. The folks you dealt with today have been doing ranch work since before they could walk. It's in their blood—a sort of genetic memory. They're set in their ways because it's more than chores or participation for them, it's tradition. Hell, I'm impressed you managed to stand your ground with the lot of them—and you can bet that you impressed them." Sabrina made a disbelieving noise in her throat, but Trevor crossed his arms and stood by his claim. "You might still be a puzzle to them, but they know tenacity when they see it. You earned their respect today, Sabrina."
"Fat lot of good that does me," Sabrina said, "and fat lot of good that does you. I appreciate you gathering up a group for me to work with, Trevor, but these aren't the people we'll be aiming to impress once the program's put in place. Maybe they're not easily won-over, but what about paying customers? What about the people who don't know you well enough to show up as a favor? They'll be expecting a fresh, out-of-this-world experience, and I…."
Sabrina trailed off. She wasn't so far gone in her own pity party not to understand that I might not be the right person for this job was trespassing into territory she didn't want either of them to consider. Even if she felt like she had let Trevor and the ranch down, she couldn't give up on them yet—no matter how much she might be considering their own best interests by doing so.
The rancher leaned down and caught her hand on its way back into Peggy's stall. "Enough," he said quietly. "You'll make her sick if you keep feeding her like that."
Sabrina felt her own face turn scarlet in shame. She allowed Trevor to pull her to her feet, and she handed him the box of sugar cubes. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking." Just one more failure to add to her ever-growing list, but at least giving Peggy a belly ache had been avoided, however narrowly.
"You've already spoiled her rotten," he continued his lecture as he set the box aside. "You should save that sort of attentiveness for the guests."
Amidst his instruction, Trevor kept hold of her hand. Sabrina leaned into him gratefully and rested her head against his shoulder. His silence had her suddenly second-guessing whether he had intended the gesture as one of comfort or had just forgotten where his hand was.
Sabrina made to pull away again, wondering if there was absolutely anything she could get right today, but the rancher surprised her by holding on.
"Come on." He wrapped his free arm around her waist and led her over to a hay bale where they could both sit—and out of reach of the horses, Sabrina noted. As if he didn't trust her to discontinue her sugar cube campaign. They sat down together, and he separated himself from her a little, but the muscled length of his jean-clad thigh still touched hers.
Trevor cleared his throat awkwardly after a moment. "So, things didn't go as planned," he summarized. "You stick with it, make a new plan. You try again."
"By 'plan,' don't you mean list?"
"If need be," he agreed. Sabrina rolled her eyes a little, but she couldn't help the grateful smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Trevor shifted beside her, the material of his jeans catching against hers.
"Look," he went on, "I'm not in love with the changes you're making around here—but like it or not, the success of my operation depends on you. The horses are counting on you." He gestured down the aisle at the long, curious faces that poked out of their stalls occasionally to watch them. "The income from your program is buying us all time. Time for me to figure out how to get the breeding program back off the ground. Without time, I have to start selling off horses, and
quarter horse breeding stock that doesn't do what it was bred to do could wind up anywhere, despite my best efforts to police their rehoming. I don’t want to consider it, but it's the reality all the same."
"I guess I never thought of it that way," Sabrina admitted. "Now I feel even more pressure to make this work."
"We'll make this work," Trevor amended. "I don't want you to feel like the future of Wildhorse is all on your tiny shoulders." He grinned crookedly. "Doubt you could hold it there, anyway, what with those earrings already weighing you down."
"Well, I don't want you to feel alone in this, either," Sabrina replied. After a thoughtful pause, she laid a hand on his knee and looked up. "Even though I know it's probably worthless to argue that point," she added, the smile catching at her lips once more. "This is your whole life, Trevor. It's your home. I'm lucky you invited me into even a small part of it, and I promise I won't let you down."
"I know you won't." To her surprise, he brought his hand up once more to encase hers. His filth-encrusted work gloves hung from his belt, and the hand that held hers was large and rough and surprisingly warm. She remembered how he had grabbed hold of her hand earlier, and how she had thought it was a fluke—a thoughtless maneuver to steer her as he would one of his horses. Now, Sabrina thought it might be something different.
So, she took the same risk as earlier and laid her head on his shoulder. Her hair formed a comfortable cushion as she gazed out the open barn door toward the sprawling pastures. As much as she had insisted aloud that Wildhorse was Trevor's home, it already had a special place in her heart. For a woman who made her living and carved her own happiness by jetting from location to location, she always found the ease she felt in the country surprising.
And the ease she felt being this close to Trevor Wild might have also had something to do with her love of Wildhorse. How had they gone so quickly from being adversaries to allies? Granted, collaboration was something they had been working toward since the beginning of their acquaintance…even if they had struggled with it. A lot. Sabrina doubted it would be long at all before they were butting heads again, but at least she could rest here on his shoulder between rounds.