Country Roads(82)

“You got Darkside bridled,” Sharon said. “Maybe that’s enough for today.”

Julia shook her head, sucking in another breath before she croaked, “My uncle comes tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I’m more afraid of Paul suing my ass if you faint dead away and fall off.”

The very real possibility of that occurring almost persuaded Julia to follow Sharon’s suggestion.

But she wasn’t riding just any horse. She’d been seeing Darkside in her mind and spilling him onto her canvases for months. She watched his elegantly curved ears doing a ballet as he listened to first Sharon’s voice and then hers. He stood patiently, waiting for her to stop allowing her past to cast its long shadows of fear.

He’d overcome his past enough to accept her inept fumblings with his bridle. She needed to follow his lead.

She cleared her throat. “I want to ride.”

“You got it, hon.” Sharon pivoted forward and clipped the lead line on Darkside’s bridle. “Okay, big guy, let’s take it slow.”

Julia felt the horse shift his weight and suddenly surge forward. Something between a sob and a gasp came out of her throat, and she hoped Sharon couldn’t hear the cowardly sound. She managed not to drop the reins as she grabbed for Darkside’s mane and twisted her fingers into it.

Her mind spun in a disjointed kaleidoscope: the creak of leather, the thud of hooves, the flex and push of huge muscles, the boards of the fence sliding past with the occasional vertical punctuation of a post, the metronomic bob of Darkside’s head, Sharon’s crown of red hair floating along beside his shoulder.

And then it all settled into place as she relaxed and let her body move with the horse, feeling the connection strengthen with each long stride he took. She watched his ears turning forward to see what was coming and backward to see what she wanted to do about it. She let go of his mane and felt the messages traveling back and forth through the reins.

“I’m riding a horse,” she said, the realization hitting her. She felt a knot deep inside her begin to loosen. “I’m riding a horse.”

“In fact, you’re riding the devil horse.”

“I’m riding Darkside,” Julia said, blinking as tears streaked down her cheeks. She leaned forward to bury her face in his mane. “Thank you so much, buddy,” she murmured to him.

“You’ve got an audience,” Sharon said.

Julia sat up and glanced around. Sure enough, every hand in the place had found some task that needed doing right outside the paddock. A few didn’t even bother to pretend to be busy, resting their elbows on the fence and watching.

The instructions her father used to shout at her stepbrothers sounded in her mind. Heels down. Elbows in. Back straight. She tried to follow them all. Somehow she transmitted something to Darkside in the process, because his head came up and his pace seemed to increase.

“Easy there,” Sharon said, pulling the big horse back. “Let’s keep it to a walk.”

They came around to the gate. Sharon unhooked the lead line and stepped away from Darkside’s head. “He’s all yours, hon.”

Darkside hesitated, and Julia clucked at him the way she’d heard her father do. The horse started walking again, following the fence line as though he was in a show ring.

Everything was fine until a rabbit bolted across the paddock ten feet in front of them. The horse stopped abruptly and threw his head up, slamming Julia against his neck. She grabbed at his mane to steady herself and dropped one side of the reins.

“Hey, buddy, easy. It’s just a little bitty bunny,” she said, as she felt his muscles bunch underneath her. She knew she couldn’t control him with the reins or her legs, so she used her voice. “You could squish him like a bug with just one hoof.”

She stroked his shoulder and murmured teasing words as he snorted and danced. She wished she could retrieve the flapping rein so he didn’t catch one of his hooves in it.

Finally, she could sense him relaxing. His breath no longer came out in loud, audible puffs. She gingerly leaned down over his shoulder and snagged the loose rein, gathering it into her hand and turning him back toward Sharon.

His walk was noticeably faster than before, but she let him set the pace, heaving a sigh of relief as Sharon stepped forward to halt their progress.

“You did good,” she said. “I was figuring out what I was going to say to Paul when you got tossed, but you got Darkside back under control.”

“Under control?” Julia gave a shaky laugh. “All I did was embarrass him into not running from a tiny little rabbit.”

“If you can embarrass this pain-in-the-ass stud, you’re a better horsewoman than I am,” Sharon said.