Page 30 of The Rancher's Wedding

She kicked her feet against his side and he took off, releasing a neigh of pure pleasure, as if he felt just as free as she did at the moment. The wind flowed through her hair, allowing it to wave behind her, and she wished there was some way that this moment could be captured. Perhaps with a photograph, but cameras were too slow. It would need to be a painter, but could any painter truly capture this experience? She’d seen paintings of people riding horses before and none of them could have prepared her for the feeling of actually riding a horse.

Orion tore past Michael, who was cheering both of them on. He seemed almost as excited as she felt.

She looked up at the sky and it felt as though she was floating in pure silence. She was alone in this world, which existed only for her. And instead of feeling lonely, she was filled with awe. Estelle had never had an experience like this before. She’d never felt an emotion as strong as this one, except for once and it had only been for an instant. It was so fast, in fact, that she thought she’d imagined it or overreacted, but now she knew that she hadn’t.

No, the only time she had felt like this was at her wedding. It was the moment she became Mrs. Estelle Williams.

It was the moment when Michael kissed her.

Chapter Eleven

Michael watched as Estelle rode the horse around the ranch, disappearing in the darkness only to reappear again moments later. There was such a pure and child-like excitement on her face as she did it, too. When people were children, everything was new and exciting, but as they grew up, they fell into repeating things day in and day out. The moments of a true fresh experience were so rare as to become almost nonexistent.

She would never ride a horse for the first time ever again. This was it. And Michael had not only gotten to witness it, he was also the one who had made it happen. If he hadn’t written that advertisement, then she never would have come out here to get married to him. It was possible she would have gone her whole life and never ridden a horse. The very thought was tragic to Michael.

After several laps around the ranch, Orion eventually came back to Michael and Estelle sat there, exhausted, with the biggest smile Michael had ever seen.

“It looked like you enjoyed that,” Michael pointed out.

“I never want to stop.”

“I’ll warn you right now that if you don’t, you’re going to be real sore tomorrow morning.”

She considered that. “That’s okay. It’s worth it.”

“And I promise, you’ll be riding a lot of horses out here.” He knew he wasn’t going to convince her. If anything, he was playing a little game with her just to see how much she really enjoyed it. No matter what he said, he knew there was nothing that could keep her off of that horse right now. “Why don’t you take it easy tonight?”

As he suspected, she wasn’t listening. “But I want to ride the horse tonight,” she said.

And she took off into the darkness.

Michael laughed. He couldn’t help himself. Her exhilaration was infectious. He wasn’t on the horse. In fact, he couldn’t even see her on the horse. All he could do was hear her distant cheers of excitement echoing through the canyons and he still felt he was right on that horse with her, riding it for the first time.

It was something he didn’t ever want to forget.

Eventually, she did grow tired, and she and Michael led Orion back to his stable.

“I can’t imagine how lonely it must have been for you here,” Estelle said.

“I don’t even have the words.” It wasn’t that long ago that it was just Michael at the ranch with the animals, his brother completely isolating himself in the cabin. Still, it felt like an eternity in the past, as if it was part of a different life. He couldn’t imagine being that lonely anymore, either.

“I had the animals,” Michael said, “and that helped. They didn’t talk back and I don’t think they ever understood what I said, but they’re good listeners and that’s more than I can say for most people.”

As they were walking, Estelle scratched the bridge of Orion’s nose. Michael watched as Orion leaned his head into the scratch, blowing air out of his mouth in a playful way.

“They do communicate, though,” Estelle said, “don’t they?”

“They sure do. Maybe they don’t talk because they don’t need to. Sometimes the most important things to say we never actually find the words for.”

“Your brother and you don’t talk at all and that speaks volumes, doesn’t it?”

She was entering uncomfortable territory, and Michael wasn’t sure he wanted to be led down that road. “I suppose it does. I don’t know exactly what’s going on in his head, but when he comes in the room, it feels like all the air leaves. It gets tough to breathe—do you notice it, too?”

“It’d be hard not to.”

They reached the stables and Michael brought Orion into his pen.

“Do you want to work on having a better relationship with him?”

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