by Jenna Kernan
Two weeks later, when we drove seventeen new mustangs through the Rocking K corral gate, I’d pretty well sorted things out. Lilah wasn’t the kind of woman a man played fast and loose with. More than that, I wasn’t a man who could risk getting beat all to hell again. I figured I could learn to live with the situation.
I figured that until the first night back at the ranch when Alice Kingman blindsided me at supper.
“Lilah Cornwell is coming to dinner again on Sunday. I think she’s ready to learn to ride.”
I managed to finish my beef stew and corn bread, but as soon as I could escape I headed across the meadow to my cabin and some 90-percent-proof comfort and some more clear-headed thinking.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lilah
The prospect of Sunday dinner at the Kingman ranch had me so nervous I couldn’t eat or sleep for three days. My blue denim split riding skirt had been ready for weeks; my nerves were not.
It wasn’t the prospect of mounting the horse Alice said she had picked out for me or having to make conversation at the dinner table. Plain and simple, I was nervous about seeing Gale again.
Alice had mentioned that he’d been gone these past few weeks on ranch business. I was surprised how unsettled I was by his absence, but I knew I would be even more unsettled at his presence. By the time Sunday afternoon came and Ernesto rolled the buggy to a stop at my front gate, I felt as giddy as a schoolgirl.
“Señorita Cornwell.” The old Mexican man tipped his hat.
“Hello, Ernesto. I hoped it would be you.”
A flush darkened his wrinkled cheeks, and he helped me onto the hard leather seat beside him without a word. The horse trotted along the road past fields of wildflowers and tall gray-green grass and maple trees shimmering in the sunlight. The countryside always took my breath away, but it was almost fall, and today everything seemed especially lovely with the soft glow of the afternoon sun.
“Oh, Ernesto, just look! What are those brilliant yellow flowers?”
“Gold weed.” He halted the buggy, climbed down and waded into the sea of blooms. He returned with a single flower held gently in his fingers, and as soon as he settled himself beside me he took my hand and shook the bloom over my cupped palm. Tiny black seeds sifted down.
“Grow in hot sun,” he said. He closed my fingers over the seeds. “You plant in garden.”
Too soon we left the road through the wildflower fields and turned in at the Rocking K gate. More nervous than I ever remembered being at one of Mama’s soirees, I smoothed the skirt of my rose-pink lawn dress and tucked the loose tendrils of hair back into my bun. Mama always said a redhead should never wear pink, but I didn’t care. Pink was my favorite color.
Ernesto drove the buggy off to the barn just as Consuelo came sailing out onto the porch to bang her metal spoon against the triangle of steel that served as the dinner gong. Alice came out to welcome me, and the ranch hands gathered in silence as I climbed up the porch steps.
“Haven’t heard them this quiet since they all had the grippe last spring,” Alice whispered. “They don’t know what to say to you.”
“As little as possible, I hope. I find conversing with strangers difficult.”
She sent me a twinkly look. “Then you must come out to the ranch more often.”
I tried not to look for Gale.
In the dining room, Charlie Kingman rose and took my hand in both of his and the cowhands tumbled in and jostled each other for the empty chairs. A few minutes later Ernesto entered with a quiet smile.
“How come he gets to drive the buggy?” sandy-haired Skip blurted out.
“Because he’s an old man,” the young blond one, Jason, offered.
“Because I am muy amable,” Ernesto said, his grin widening. “Polite.”
That brought silence until a familiar voice spoke from the hallway. “Because he’s trustworthy with horses and other living things.”
Gale stepped into the room and my pulse skipped. He nodded at Alice. “Mrs. Kingman.” Then at Charlie, who grunted something unintelligible in return but lifted a hand in greeting.
Finally he looked at me. “Miss Cornwell.”
Miss Cornwell? This from the man who had kissed me until I was dizzy?
“Gale,” I responded. I watched his eyes grow even greener.
“Lilah,” he said at last.
Mr. Kingman cleared his throat. “Gale’s been rounding up some more wild horses for me.”
“I see.”
“You might like to watch him work with them tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, thank you, I—”
“No, she wouldn’t,” Gale interrupted.
Every head swiveled toward him as he seated himself across from me. Even Consuelo, who had just entered with a platter piled high with fried chicken, stopped short and stared at him.
An imp took over my good sense. “I wouldn’t?”
He caught my gaze and held it. “It’s too early in the morning,” he said.
I lifted an eyebrow in his direction. “How early is too early?”
“Yeah, Gale, what d’you know?”
“Shut up, Jase.”
At that, Consuelo plunked the chicken platter down on the table and stalked toward the kitchen. “Ay de mi,” I heard her mutter.
Ernesto calmly picked up his knife and rapped it across Gale’s knuckles. “No más, mi amigo.”
“Gentlemen,” Alice Kingman announced, “let us say grace.”
All heads bowed but mine. I had not said grace since I was a girl and Aunt Carrie went off to the War. Across from me, Gale met my eyes with steady purpose, and while Alice spoke the words of grace, he gave me an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
I knew what he meant. For some reason he didn’t want me to watch him work the horses in the corral.
* * *
The next morning I was up and dressed long before the breakfast gong sounded. Gale and the other hands stood up when I entered the dining room, but he glared at me until I was seated and Consuelo began pouring the coffee. I was not going to allow myself to be intimidated by his disapproval. My imp was even more obstreperous this morning, so I sent him a smile I hoped would melt his disdain into a puddle of chagrin.
After breakfast was over, the ranch hands excused themselves and disappeared. Mr. Kingman escorted me out the front door, down the porch steps and over to the fenced-in corral where a handful of restless horses were penned. I leaned against the split-pole barrier and adjusted my felt hat to keep the sun out of my eyes. I didn’t want to miss one minute of whatever activity it was Gale did not want me to watch.
Alice joined me at the fence. “Watching Gale break a horse always brings tears to my eyes,” she confessed.
“It must be terrible for the horse,” I answered.
She looked over at me as if I had just recited the multiplication tables in Greek. “I don’t mean tears over the horse, Lilah. Over Gale.”
“What? What about Gale makes you cry?”
“Just watch,” she replied with a slow smile. “You’ll see.” So I propped my elbows on the top rail and settled in to watch.
Ernesto and his nephew, Juan, shooed all the animals but one into a holding pen, and then Ernesto dropped a rope around the neck of a shiny chocolate-brown horse with a black mane and tail. While he held the rope taut, Juan slapped a saddle onto the fence, then laid a plaid blanket and something that looked like a leather cat’s cradle on top. A noose of some sort, I gathered. I decided I would cry over the horse, not Gale.
Then Gale climbed through the fence and lifted the rope out of Ernesto’s gloved hand. He wore boots and tight jeans like the other cowhands, but his head was bare and he wore no gloves.
One by one, Jase and Skip and Juan joined the Kingmans and m
e at the fence. Apparently watching Gale was a source of entertainment for the entire ranch.
Ernesto came to stand next to me, saying nothing in his usual fashion, but giving my split skirt a nod of approval.
The horse stood snorting and pawing the ground, watching Gale with one rolling black eye as he wound the rope around one bent arm and moved steadily closer. The animal whinnied and tossed its head, but Gale kept on walking.
Suddenly the horse reared. Gale waited, keeping the rope snugged about his elbow and when the animal stood still, Gale stepped forward and leaned in.
“Bueno,” Ernesto muttered.
Then Gale moved in close and dropped the rope. I stiffened, expecting the horse to rear or kick him, but I heard Gale’s voice speaking soft and low, words I couldn’t hear. But the horse seemed to. It sent shivers up my spine.
He began touching the animal, running his hands over its muzzle, down its legs, all the time crooning whatever he was saying over and over in gentle tones. He kept touching and talking for a good quarter of an hour, never in a hurry and never letting his hands break contact with the horse’s twitching hide.
“You see?” Alice whispered.
I did see. Watching Gale, I understood things about him I might never have known. He was gentle. Patient. And completely in command. My throat tightened into an ache.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lilah
Gale stepped to one side of the horse. The animal followed him and then curved its neck toward him. He returned to stand directly in front of the animal, smoothed his palms over its muzzle, talking softly, then stepped away again. The horse shifted to follow him.
Gale walked farther away and the horse followed at his shoulder. He reversed direction and the animal followed; he even walked the perimeter of the corral and the horse stayed with him. It was almost as if he had hypnotized the beast.
They began a sort of game where Gale would run to one side and then quickly reverse direction. The horse stayed with him. Finally, he stopped, smoothed the animal’s withers and spoke in its twitching ear.
“Now it comes,” Ernesto murmured.
Gale moved to the corral fence and lifted the saddle blanket and the leather halter off the top rail. With slow, deliberate motions he spread the blanket on the animal’s back, talking all the time, then slipped the harness over its head. The horse stood perfectly still.
Beside me, Alice clasped her hands together. “Now watch.”
Gale moved to the fence. The horse followed. He hoisted the saddle off the rail and settled it atop the blanket and rocked it into place. Then he leaned against the animal and kept leaning. Finally he reached underneath and buckled the strap, the cinch, Ernesto called it, and pulled it tight.
Again he pressed his body flat against the animal’s shoulder, still talking, rubbing himself against the withers, and finally he placed one boot in the stirrup and grabbed the dangling reins.
Ernesto pursed his lips and nodded. “Sí, sí,” he said, and Gale swung himself up into the saddle. The horse stood motionless for a long moment, then suddenly arched its back and twisted, kicking out its hind legs. Gale’s arm went up for balance, but he kept his seat and held on to the reins.
The animal kicked and bucked for another few minutes while Gale stuck on its back as if he were glued there. Suddenly the horse stopped and stood still, snorting loudly. Gale leaned forward and patted its neck, spoke to it, patted it some more and finally touched his boot heels gently against its ribs, and the animal stepped forward. He reined it to one side and it turned. He walked it twice around the corral.
Alice swiped tears off her cheeks. Ernesto again murmured, “Bueno,” and I felt my own eyes sting. Alice was right; what I had witnessed was beautiful.
“Well,” she said, her voice watery, “are you ready to learn to ride?”
I must have looked horror-struck because she burst out laughing. “Oh, no, not that horse!” She tipped her head at the animal Gale was now unsaddling. “Ernesto, get Lady saddled for Miss Cornwell, would you?”
Without a word the Mexican swung away from the fence and strode off toward the barn.
All at once I was so terrified my entire body began to shake.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gale
I turned over the stallion I’d just broke to Juan and stowed the saddle and bridle in the barn just as Ernesto was rustling up some tack and one of Alice’s old saddles. “For Señorita Cornwell,” he explained. “She is muy nerviosa.”
I bet she was, having just seen me get bucked all to hell and gone. That was why I didn’t want her watching me work with the mustang. Lilah sure could be stubborn, though.
So I wiped the sweat off my face, grabbed my hat and went to teach the lady how to ride.
Jase swaggered over. “Whyn’t you let me teach her, huh, Gale? You already had a workout.”
“I’m not tired,” I retorted.
Skip sauntered up, too. “Prob’ly smell pretty sweaty, too. Me, I’m fresh as a—”
“Shut up. Go find a fence to mend.”
I led Lady out to the corral, took one look at Lilah and decided this was a very bad idea. Her eyes were as big as one of Consuelo’s cupcakes.
“You ready?” I said. Half of me hoped she’d back out. The other half couldn’t wait to get close to her.
She nodded, and I turned to clear everyone away from the fence. As scared as she was, she sure didn’t need an audience. I caught Alice’s eye.
“Jason,” she called. “I need some help with a barrel of apples on the back porch. You, too, Skip.”
Both the boys groaned, but orders from the boss’s wife took precedence over watching a pretty girl. When they’d shuffled off, I signaled for Lilah to crawl through the fence and stand next to the sweet old gray mare Alice’s kids had learned to ride on.
She did crawl through, but she was moving real, real slow.
“You can back out of this venture,” I said.
She straightened her spine. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
I just looked at her. “You sure?”
“I—I’m s-sure.”
That got a claw into my heart. I laid my hand on the horse’s nose. “This here’s a real gentle mare. Name’s Lady.” I picked up Lilah’s hand and laid it next to mine.
“Let her smell you,” I said. “And talk to her some.”
Lady blew out a gusty breath and Lilah backed away.
“That’s her way of sayin’ hello,” I said. “Just stand quiet. Keep your hand where it was.”
I could feel her tremble, and I wasn’t even touching her. The ruffle down the front of her striped shirtwaist was shuddering.
“What should I say to it?”
“Anything that comes to mind. Doesn’t have to make sense.”
She gave a little pat on the horse’s nose. “H-hello, Lady. I hope you won’t mind if I t-try to ride you today.”
“Keep talkin’,” I said. “She knows you want to be friends. Horses are real smart.”
Lilah bent toward Lady’s ear. “I bet you can tell I’m a little frightened, can’t you?”
“Okay, now come on over here.” I guided Lilah over to the mounting block Juan had dragged over. “I want you to step up on this thing. When you’re ready, lift your left foot into the stirrup, and I’ll boost you up into the saddle.”
She nodded, but she didn’t move.
“Ready?”
She bit her lip and nodded again.
“I’m gonna have to touch your backside, so don’t scream. Thought I’d warn you.”
She got her toe into the stirrup just fine, and I laid my hand on her bottom. Goddamn, she was soft. And so warm my palm felt as if I’d picked up a hot coal.
“Stand up in the stirrup.” I
gave her behind a shove upward and gritted my teeth. “Swing your right leg over the saddle and settle onto the seat. Now reach your other toe into the stirrup on the other side.”
When she was seated, I grabbed the reins and swung up behind her.
“Oh! I didn’t expect you—”
I had to chuckle. “To climb up behind you,” I finished.
“Well, no, I thought...”
“I can get off if you’d prefer.”
She kind of leaned back against my chest. “No. Don’t get off. Stay here with me.”
For a minute I couldn’t remember what the hell I was doin’ up on a horse with my arms around her. So I gigged the mare and started walking her slowly around the corral.
Before we’d gone three steps, Lilah peered down. “It—it’s quite far to the ground,” she said in a small voice.
“If you’re scared, hold on to the saddle horn.” I grabbed her hand and positioned it, then walked the mare around twice more. Most of the time I had my eyes closed, just breathing in the scent of her hair. Roses, maybe.
She kept a stranglehold on the saddle horn, but after a while I felt her body relax.
“You doin’ okay?”
“Yes.”
The next time we came around I spoke to Juan. “Open the gate, por favor.”
We moved out into the meadow. I didn’t want to stop riding behind her, but this wasn’t teaching her how to manage the horse on her own. I reined up after a few yards and dismounted.
“Gale? Where are you going?”
“Gonna get my horse.” I laid the reins in her hand. “Just sit there and stay still. Horse won’t move unless you do.”
I walked off toward the barn to saddle Randy. When I got back she was still there, her back stiff, her hands white-knuckled around the reins.
“Now,” I said. “Touch your heels to her sides, real light. When she steps forward, follow me.”