Promise Canyon (Virgin River #13)(34)

"I've ridden with Lilly a few times," Annie said. "We shouldn't be surprised. She's very good on a horse. What surprises me is Streak. He must be coming along very well if he took a rider."

"That's just it, Annie--Streak shouldn't have been so willing. No one has worked him but me. Lilly has watched him almost every day. She's flirted with him, but no one has worked him but me. And there's no question in my mind, if it were anyone else, he wouldn't have let them mount him," Clay insisted. "He's come to respect me, but he loves her."

"Come on." Annie laughed.

"When Lilly comes by with the feed later on, take a break and watch her with the colt."

After Annie and Nathaniel agreed, he put his cup down on the bench outside the tack room and swept out the barn. He spent the rest of the day hoping that Lilly wouldn't make good on her promise and have someone else deliver for her. The truth was, Clay had been hoping to impress Lilly with his skill, but she'd turned the tables on him. Whatever mystical thing he had going on with animals, she had it twofold. There was no doubt in his mind--Lilly would never have mounted that colt had she gotten the message he didn't welcome her. Somehow she knew.

It was a little after three before she came. He helped her unload the hay and feed, then she brushed her hands on her jeans and asked, "Have you ridden Streak today?"

"No," he said. "I'm going to pass. Let's see if he feels like letting you on. I'll halter him, attach the lead and--"

"He did fine with the bit," she said. "I think it's all a question of how easy I go. He's so responsive."

"I'll find you a helmet...."

She shrugged. "Whatever," she said. "Will you let me get him ready?"

He loomed over her. "He's still edgy and unpredictable. I know you're somehow reading him, but the second you pick up any signals that he's not feeling docile toward you, I want you out of his way."

"Oh, don't worry," she said with a laugh, "if he's in a mood, he's all yours. But this horse isn't typical--he just wants a mommy. Well, apparently he's not opposed to a mommy and a trainer since he's willing to take you on. Let's see how difficult he makes taking the bit. Hmm?"

Clay just shook his head. "If you say so. Approach slowly, please."

She tilted her head. "Clay, I didn't just drop from the sky. I grew up around wild mares and stud colts. I learned how to finish a colt from some of the best, though when I was little I never got the job. But I wanted it. I wanted to beguile the horse, bond with it, bring it around, be its first..."

"Did you compete?"

"You grew up on a reservation so you know--competition is expensive. Besides, we moved when I was thirteen. My experience, such as it is, came when I was just a little kid. Now, are we almost ready?"

Clay handed her the bridle and went back to the tack room for a helmet, trying to judge the size of her head when really it was the contours of her small, muscular body that were burned into his mind.

She was the one to bring Streak into the round pen. Clay gave her a leg up and there she sat, composed. Streak was easy; he danced with his fores a couple of steps, but his ears were propped and his tail down. He was in a good mood and he liked having Lilly close. Maybe she was right about him--he just wanted someone to mother him a little bit.

The horse connected eyes with Clay, let Clay stroke his powerful jaw, and then let Lilly move him away from his trainer and urge him around the pen in a wide circle. This had never, in Clay's long experience, happened before. The colt was bonded with two masters. He would take his instruction from Clay; he trusted Clay. But he was also bonded with Lilly and believed in her somehow. Young, unbroke colts didn't bond with two people!

Clay noticed that first Annie and then Nathaniel were watching from the far side of the pen. They would be seeing something neither of them had ever seen before despite the fact that Annie had ridden with Lilly. Taking a saddled horse out on the trail for a pleasure ride just wouldn't reveal the depth of skill Lilly possessed, evident now as she maneuvered the horse with only her knees, legs, body position and a very, very light control on the reins. And Lilly was oblivious to her audience; all she seemed to be aware of was her connection to the horse. Although she wasn't attempting anything too complicated with Streak, it was obvious how well she managed him, and with very little strain. Her lips moved, but no sound could be heard; Streak threw his head and stepped back a few times, but she brought him under control with a whisper and a firm but kind movement of the reins and her legs.

No question, she was a natural.

Clay was well trained, but he was not a natural. To do something like this when you'd had minimal contact with horses for years was astonishing.

Clay leaned back against the wall and just watched her with the colt. She had him trotting, walking, cantering.... That horse was ready for a saddle and by God he was going to wear one and behave himself. Then Clay felt a chuckle rise to his throat; he was feeling competitive. He was fine with Streak feeling affection for Lilly, but he was going to be the one to train the horse or break his legs trying.

At length, Lilly brought the horse around to him. "Thank you," he said softly to her. "Well done. Enough for today."

"You aren't going to ride him?"

"Not today," he said. He lifted his hands to her and she fell into them to be helped down.