Page 44 of Whispers Of Horses

Riding up beside him, I put my hand on his thigh. “What’s going on in that mind of yours, Mathis?”

Glancing my way, his features relaxed instantly. “I was thinking about my uncle. Actually, I was wondering if he could have had a gift like yours.”

Frowning, I shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of anyone as crazy as me.”

Mathis gave me a reproachful look. “You’re not crazy, Calamity. Just special.” He winked at me, a wicked grin crossing his sexy lips before he pulled me toward him and kissed me.

I hung halfway off my little mare and onto his big gelding. Pizazz, ever possessive of me, swung her head around and pinned her ears at Mathis, and we both laughed as he put me back before my mare took a nip at his leg.

“So, why would you think your uncle had a gift like me?”

Mathis looked out into the trees again as our horses began walking once more. “Do you recall why I came into that little bookstore, Callie?”

Thinking back, I nodded my head. “You were looking for books about horse whispering.” I waited for his reply, recalling how I had felt when I had seen the books he had been looking through.

“Yeah, I was pretty upset when I found out my uncle had passed away. He was a great guy, and he was always inviting me out here, to this ranch. He taught me a lot about horses, taught me things about gentling colts my dad never would have thought of. He never had any kids of his own, and I think it was my love of horses that made him decide to leave this place to me. He worked so hard to get the money to buy this place back and build that house, in fact, I think it was why he never had the chance to marry or have a family. He spent so much time alone here, rescuing horses.”

“He felt a connection to them, didn’t he?” I asked the question, even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

Mathis nodded. “Whenever I was here, I watched him work with these wild horses he loved so much, and I was awed by him. The way he could take such a wild, unmanageable animal and have it eating out of the palm of his hand, it seemed like a miracle to me when I was a boy. Now, I wish I’d spent more time here.”

I nodded. “I know that feeling. I’ve spent so much time running away from this gift, from the way it might make people look at me, that I lost so much time here in the place I love, with the people I should have been with.”

Mathis pulled his horse to a halt, his face a hard mask of intensity that I couldn’t place and then he hopped down, reached up, and pulled me off Pizazz and crushed me into him.

“You never have to worry about that again, Callie. You don’t have to hide anything with me, and you’ll never need to run away again, I promise you.”

When he kissed me, it was so filled with love and promise, I lost my breath, reeling in the force of Mathis and his emotions. Instead of pulling away, I stilled my fear, and I kissed him back, letting him feel that I felt the same connection to him as he to me. Whatever the end result of this unbridled love, I would ride it until the end, holding on for dear life, no matter where it took me, because there was no longer any doubt that he’d come into that bookstore searching for the answers to a gift very like my own, because of fate.

24

The stallion tossed his head, moving away but quickly returning to me. With a nudge of his nose, and a warmth in my mind, he told me he wanted to try, wanted to trust me, but he was afraid. Smiling and sending him a blast of love, I ran my hand over his face, down his thick crested neck, along withers which protruded just slightly, covered by thick flesh and muscles. I continued, down his back, along his sides, running my hands over pretty much every surface of him. Down each leg until he conceded and lifted that hoof, then setting it back down and continuing my path upward.

Mathis stood inside the round corral fence, about ten feet from the stallion, and that was a huge step forward. Although the stallion didn’t trust him and kept an eye and an ear on him wearily, he was allowing him near and that was what mattered.

“You’re doing great Callie. I can’t believe the progress you’ve made in only a week. Next step though, you need to be able to get a halter on him. I know he’s been haltered before, I’m curious how he got so much worse once he got to your place.”

I paused. An uneasy feeling settling in the pit of my stomach. Straightening, I frowned as I turned around to face Mathis. “What are you saying?”

Mathis was frowning too. “You said Cody bought him at that big sale, well, they won’t let horses in there if they’re as bad as him. The horses that go through there need to be halter broke and handleable.”

I felt myself deflate. “I hadn’t ever thought about that. Dad said he’d been loco since Cody brought him home, but you’re right. They’ve bred him a few times too, which mean haltering him, so why did he get to this point?”

Mathis sighed. “You aren’t going to like this question, but, is there anyone at your place, Callie, who might have gotten angry with his wild ways and been rough with him? I think even if they weren’t abusive, but just hard handed, with a horse who has already been abused, it might set him off down this path.”

I left Dark Temptations side. Moving toward Mathis, I kept my attention on the stallion, fully aware that he still followed me, even all the way up to Mathis. He stood behind me as if my body was a shield from anything this man might do, but I felt triumphant that he trusted me enough to follow me to Mathis.

“I…I don’t think so. I mean, I know my Pa and Cody would never be rough with an animal, and many of the hands have been there my whole life, and for good reason.” Pausing to think, I continued, “There are a few newcomers that I don’t know very well, but I haven’t heard or seen anything suspicious.”

Rubbing my shoulder, Mathis shrugged. “It’s something we need to get to the bottom of, when we go back. I don’t want anyone mistreating this horse again.”

Two days later, Dark Temptation let me halter him. He stood quietly, ears flicking, attention focused on me. He accepted the halter with no problem, even nudged my hand as I pulled it over his nose. Each day here with this horse, in these woods and around this man brought a new sense of purpose to me. The bond between me and Dark Temptation, as well as the bond between Mathis and I continued to grow and strengthen, my gift too was getting stronger. Now, I could feel what the horses were feeling the moment I stepped onto the porch, and they all lifted their faces to me. It was a miraculous feeling, to be stormed by so many emotions and feeling all at once.

Day by day, I gained more ground with Dark Temptation and fell more in love with Mathis, but in addition to those great things, my anxiety began to pick up speed. Dark Temptation and Pizazz seemed so attuned to me now, that they became aware of it also. I watched one evening from the porch where I sipped coffee while Mathis gathered firewood as both horses paced their enclosures in apparent stress. It bothered me that I was causing their distress, even without meaning to. I needed to find a way to close off my feelings when I was upset or stressed, so it wouldn’t project itself to them.

Mathis startled me out of my thoughts when he called my name, and I spilled the coffee all over myself. He was at my side in an instant, wiping me up, fawning over me like a babe.

“Callie, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He looked up at my face, his showing deep concern. “You’ve been jumpy lately. Tell me what’s wrong.”

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