Page 68 of Deadly Evidence
He wasn’t hers. He’d carefully kept his distance. But it was already too late.
When he left the ranch she would never see him again, but a day wouldn’t go by without wondering if he was still safe and whole.
Because sometime during these past days she’d realized that she’d fallen in love with him. And whatever happened, she knew she would never be able to change that fact.
Her heart heavy, Anna took a last look around and headed back to her room, knowing she wouldn’t sleep at all.
“Mom says we have to stay right here—close to the house,” Lacey said. “I think it’sdumb.”
Mia clutched Frosty’s reins and tightened her grip on the saddle horn. “I...um...think it’s a good idea.”
Sitting on this hard saddle and a broad-backed horse felt like straddling a powder keg. Mia hadseenLacey kick her horse into a gallop and disappear over the horizon. The thought of thundering after her sent nervous shudders through her midsection.
“Let’s jog,” Lacey said. “Just press with both heels at the same time.”
“What happens if I don’t get it right?”
Pursing her lips, Lacey tipped the brim of her hat back with a forefinger. “Well, if you nudged with one heel, he’d ease right into a nice, easy lope.”
“Like a g-gallop?”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “No. Much slower and smoother. And if you kicked him hard withbothheels, he’d go into an extended trot. Now, that’s one thing you probably want to avoid. Frosty’s fast trot feels like a jackhammer.”
The reins were slippery from the dampness of Mia’s hands. Her thigh muscles were already aching after just twenty minutes of walking Frosty around and around the corral. The dust rising under Frosty’s hooves parched her throat and burned her eyes.
Trying to remember which saint she should pray to for safe dealings with a horse, Mia gave Frosty’s ribs a gentle nudge.
Oblivious, he continued trudging forward at a walk, his head swaying with every step. “Well,” she said with relief, “I guess he’d rather go slow, and that’s fine with me.”
Lacey came up alongside them and grinned, then leaned out of her saddle and whomped Frosty’s rear end.
Frosty immediately launched into a faster gait, snapping Mia’s head back. Bouncing hard in the saddle, she gripped the reins and the horn tighter and squeezed her eyes shut.
Lacey kept pace with her and nudged Mia’s arm with her elbow. “Make your lower spine flex like spaghetti,” she urged. “Let your hips just move with the horse and take up the movement with your back. See?”
Mia shot a nervous glance in her direction. Lacey’s butt seemed to be glued to her saddle. Her upper body appeared still and relaxed. And she wasgrinning.
“Easy for you to say,” Mia muttered. “Your horse looks smooth as glass.”
“He isn’t. But I take up his motion with my flexibility. I don’t fight it. Think soft spaghetti, Mia.”
Holding her breath, Mia tried to relax her muscles. Next to her, Lacey gave her a nod of encouragement. “Better—now more.”
The first time around the ring, Mia’s butt hit the saddle with every stride. The second time was a little better.
By the third, she realized just how smooth the old horse was. “Wow—this is really cool,” she breathed.
Lacey flashed a wicked grin. “Next, we’re gonna lope.”
“Oh...please no,” Mia begged with renewed alarm. “This is fine. Really, it is.”
“Frosty is the best loper on the ranch. He’s like a big ole furry rocking chair, I promise. And he’s so quiet and lazy that his lope isn’t much faster than his jog. Now touch his right side with your heel, and he should take off into a left lead around the corral.”
Mia tried to remember why she’d thought this was such a good idea. She hadn’t, come to think of it—it had been Anna who’d urged her to try. And that had been because of Dante.
Who would probably die laughing if he saw her right now.
Lifting her chin, she gave Frosty’s side a nudge...then a stronger one. Almost in slow motion, he lifted into a three-beat lope, rocking gently into it just as Lacey had promised.
