Bareback(7)

    “I’ll think about it,” Skyler conceded. She rolled her eyes as a final act of rebellion.

    “I’ll count on it.” Kate had never in any way insinuated that Skyler owed the Parkers for anything they had done for her or her twin brother, Douglas, but her tone left no doubt she was calling in that marker now.

    Skyler rubbed the toe of her boot in the dirt. She could imagine what she was condemning herself to. Jessica was a distraction, the kind she didn’t need. Cute. Smart. Great with horses. I bet she gets her way a lot.

    “Looks like this group is coming along fine,” Kate said, changing the topic before Skyler could invent another reason to refuse her. “You’re great with the kids, even though I thought I’d have to hog-tie you to get you to do this.”

    “I wasn’t too sure about working with them in the beginning,” Skyler admitted. “But I guess too many of them remind me of myself at that age. Besides, you can never have enough little grunts around to muck stalls.”

    “Right, tough stuff. And that’s why all the kids love you,” Kate teased.

    “Hey, I don’t need you spreading rumors about how nice I am. It will ruin my reputation.”

    The easy banter between friends was their way of communicating “no hard feelings” from the earlier confrontation. But Kate wasn’t going to let Skyler completely off the hook. “Well, you did a pretty good job upholding your reputation as a hard-ass with Jessica.”

    “That must have been quite a novel experience for her,” Skyler said dryly.

    Kate gave her a long look.

    With a shrug of resignation, Skyler said, “Okay. I’ll do it. But if there’s trouble—”

    “There won’t be,” Kate said cheerfully. “Jess is a professional. And so are you.”

    Skyler stifled the reply she wanted to make, instead calling to a tow-headed girl, “You look like a piston bouncing up and down, Jamie. This is a ballet, a dance. Let the horse’s movement move you. Relax.”

    The girl’s shoulders visibly relaxed and she closed her eyes to shut out everything but the movement of the sorrel Thoroughbred mare she was riding. Skyler smiled. She loved working with the kids. It was the only time she could drop her guard. They didn’t judge her.



    Chapter Three

    Jessica put the last of her clothes away and shoved the suitcase into the closet. Her leg ached and she reached for the pain pills she had been trying to avoid all day. I’ll just take one, she thought. Better go see what was up with Rampage. By now, Ms. Reese might have moved him to another barn. She hesitated and then dropped a second pain pill into her pocket. She limped badly as she headed for the door where she stopped again. Letting out a deep sigh, she turned around and picked up the cane that was propped next to her bed. Her pride didn’t want Skyler to see her using it, but her more practical half told her that she should pamper the knee as much as possible when she wasn’t riding.

    She leaned heavily on the cane, hoping the pain pill would kick in quickly as she trudged down the long drive to the barn. When she entered the cool, cavernous building, her eyes took a moment to adjust from the bright sunlight to the dim interior. A neatly raked dirt hallway was lined on both sides with roomy, twelve-by-twelve stalls that had eight-foot-tall walls, four feet of rough-cut oak at the bottom and four feet of vertical iron bars at the top. The wide hallway was empty except for a young girl pushing a wheelbarrow that contained a muck rake and manure droppings she was cleaning from the stalls. With her back to Jessica, she began to slide back the door on Rampage’s stall.

    “No!” Jessica yelled as the horse squealed and charged toward the opening. She flung herself forward using her cane to push the door shut. The girl instantly dropped to a crouch and threw her hands up to shield her face. At the same time, Rampage whirled and drummed his hooves against the stall door.

    Heart pounding, Jessica stood frozen as a voice yelled, “What did you do?”

    A hand seized her wrist. Ripping the cane from her hand, Skyler Reese shoved her roughly against the stall. The fury in her face was startling. Pain seared up Jessica’s thigh. Her mouth worked, but no words emerged as she hunched against the rough boards.

    “Did you hit her?” Skyler demanded. She was shaking.