Page 32 of The Rancher's Wedding

“Orion’s a tough horse, but he liked you. If he didn’t like you, he would’ve thrown you the second I sat you on top of him. He was having some fun with you. I told you last night that you need to show him who’s boss, and I didn’t really get the idea that you did that.”

Estelle nodded, but didn’t look like she understood.

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and a place for what you did last night, but a horse is also as much a tool around here as anything else. And if you don’t manage to handle that tool correctly, it’s not going to have much use.”

She didn’t look so eager anymore. Today was going to be another lesson. Not like last night.

“Look, Estelle,” Michael said, “you’ll still be able to ride him to your heart’s content. But…” He couldn’t stand disappointing her.

“Actually,” Michael said, “there’s no but there. You saw one thing you could do with him last night and now today, I’m going to show you what else you can do. How’s that sound?”

She still seemed less than enthused. “Fine,” she said, but she at least offered him a forced smile in response.

He patted her hand. “It’s important,” he said, “and it’ll let you ride him on your own.”

***

“I’ll go ahead and saddle him,” Michael told her, “but I’m not helping you get on him.”

He pulled the saddle from off the wall and put it on Orion’s back, connecting the fasteners together and making sure everything was nice and snug.

“I should be able to figure it out.”

“I think so, too,” Michael said, “but it’s not as easy as it looks. Here, what you do is—”

“Let me just try it on my own.”

Orion was a large horse and it was difficult for Estelle to keep her balance as she put a foot into one of the stirrups. She held onto the reins, resting her weight on it and pulling herself up, but it slipped, and so did she, falling flat on the floor.

Michael offered a hand to help her up.

“I’m quite fine on my own,” she said. “I’m going to get it.”

“Suit yourself.”

The pride was a bit confusing to Michael. It felt as if she was trying to prove something to him and getting frustrated when she couldn’t do it. Now that Michael was thinking about it, it was similar to how she was with the cooking or cleaning up the stables. It struck him as Estelle just being stubborn.

He kept his distance to fight his instinct to try to help and just watched. Perhaps to another set of eyes, it would appear comical, but it wasn’t to him. It took all the effort he had to hold his hands together and not reach out to show her what she needed to do. Part of it was just the fluidity that came with confidence. If Michael was thinking about his every move, he probably wouldn’t be able to mount the horse, either. It was only through not thinking that he managed to do it.

If nothing else, though, Estelle had determination. It could take her an hour and she would still keep trying. Giving up just wasn’t an option for her.

And that was how, eventually, she managed to find herself on top of the saddle, ready to take Orion out.

“There you go,” Michael said. “You got it.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Estelle said, out of breath. “Let’s go.”

Michael pulled another saddle from the wall and threw it on Buttercup, fastened it, then jumped on.

“You’re showing off,” Estelle said.

Michael was trying to make it look like he wasn’t, but the smile gave him away. “A little,” he confessed, then led Buttercup out of the stables and whistled, signaling Orion to stay by his side.

Rather than take the horses for sprints, Michael kept them both at an easy trot that allowed him to walk Estelle around the complete perimeter of the ranch. He watched her and saw that her mind was focused on something, but he dared not break her concentration. She looked so beautiful in the early morning sun that it was difficult for him to not take at least a little pride in her being his wife, even if it was in name only.

Between the night before and this moment, Michael wished they had met under different circumstances. He didn’t know what those may have been, but maybe in a different world, they could have met and gotten married for the right reasons. Maybe he could have opened his heart to her.

Maybe he still could.

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