Paternity Lessons
Maris Soule
FAMILYMATTERSPATCHWORK FAMILYIn the blink of an eye, Tyler Corwin found himself father to the little girl he'd loved as a baby, then let go when his marriage fell apart. Back then, the decision–the right thing to do–had torn him apart, just as his daughter's rebelliousness did now. To reconnect with Lanie, he needed help. He needed Shaunna Lightfeather.The earthy beauty healed horses and, Tyler hoped, children, too. And as Shaunna worked her magic with Lanie and his daughter's wild Mustang, he realized she'd charmed this dad, as well. But would the woman who'd won his heart and restored his family consider a future by his side?
It was a Norman Rockwell picture, all warm and fuzzy. (#u39f63741-d689-5f85-926e-66ef354eb0d8)Letter to Reader (#uc4c70578-250f-5b94-80c0-a82c0a80d309)Title Page (#ud5982743-21b6-5ba1-bf57-d11d804510bb)Dedication (#u35983054-5964-500c-b624-e8a2fa0fcbc4)MARIS SOULE (#u0e1d66b8-0145-5e80-afbc-732092498544)Letter to Reader (#uf6fca9ed-4c3b-57da-8ef3-bc4db55af1ab)Chapter One (#uaf6f953d-c854-5217-ab0a-73bbac195132)Chapter Two (#uf474ad3c-d848-57cc-b656-e13ff5bcf040)Chapter Three (#u9d07a314-1047-5e99-b319-4d8b1f2fdf7c)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
It was a Norman Rockwell picture, all warm and fuzzy.
She saw father and daughter sitting just inside the barn, busily cleaning Lanie’s bridle and saddle.
Though Shaunna had sworn off men, she would admit there were times when she thought of being married, having children and watching them with their father. This was one of those times.
Not that Tyler would fit in that picture, she knew. She and Tyler were as opposite as they came.
Which was why she couldn’t understand why she found him so attractive. All night she’d thought about his kiss. Lying in her bed, she’d tossed and turned, playing it over and over in her head and wondering how far they would have gone if she hadn’t stopped him.
Wondering if she should have stopped him...
Dear Reader,
Silhouette Romance novels aren’t just for other women—the wonder of a Silhouette Romance is that it can touch your heart. And this month’s selections are guaranteed to leave you smiling!
In Suzanne McMimn’s engaging BUNDLES OF JOY title, The Billionaire and the Bassinet, a blue blood finds his hardened heart irrevocably tamed. This month’s FABULOUS FATHERS offering by Jodi O‘Donnell features an emotional, heartwarming twist you won’t soon forget; in Dr. Dad to the Rescue, a man discovers strength and the healing power of love from one very special lady. Marrying O’Malley. the renegade who’d been her childhood nemesis, seemed the perfect way for a bride-to-be to thwart an unwanted betrothal—until their unlikely alliance stirred an even more incredible passion; don’t miss this latest winner by Elizabeth August!
The Cowboy Proposes...Marriage? Get the charming lowdown as WRANGLERS & LACE continues with this sizzling story by Cathy Forsythe. Cara Colter will make you laugh and cry with A Bride Worth Waiting For, the story of the boy next door who didn’t get the girl, but who’ll stop at nothing to have her now. For readers who love powerful, dramatic stories, you won’t want to miss Paternity Lessons, Maris Soule’s uplifting FAMILY MATTERS tale.
Enjoy this month’s titles—and please drop me a line about why you keep coming back to Romance. I want to make sure we continue fulfilling your dreams!
Regards,
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor Silhouette Romance
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Paternity Lessons
Maris Soule
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
My thanks to my cousin, Donal Mettler, for his assistance. I’d forgotten what it was like to have horses in California. And my respect to all of those horse trainers who have learned to “listen” to horses, especially to Monty Roberts, Ray Hunt, Pat Parelli and John Lyons, who have spread the word through clinics and their writings.
MARIS SOULE
was born in California, but now lives in Michigan with her husband and family. The author of numerous category romances, she is now happy to be writing for the Silhouette Romance line. Maris believes that marriage takes a lot of commitment and energy, but it is the best thing that can happen to a person. When Maris and her husband married, they decided to take one year at a time, renewing their “unwritten” contract each May. So far they’ve renewed it twenty-four times—not bad in this day and age!
Dear Reader,
I’ve always loved horses, and my daughter, Mia, inherited that love. We bought Mia her first horse when she was eleven, a half-Arab who’s taught us a lot and still lives with us. We read the horse magazines, made mistakes, slowly learned and our “stable” increased to three horses. My husband and I were the grooms and financial supporters, our daughter the rider and trainer. It was a family affair.
Writing this book allowed me to remember those times—my panic when Mia was thrown off and got a concussion, and my pride when she and a half-Arab she’d trained placed Top Ten in the Arab Nationals. In Paternity Lessons, a traumatized Mustang brings a father and his daughter together with a horse trainer—a horse whisperer—and in the process, all three learn the meaning of family.
Enjoy!
Chapter One
Tyler Corwin knew that Robin Leach wouldn’t be showing this house on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The edges of the concrete steps were crumbling, the wooden porch had creaked when he stepped on it, and the screen door hung at an angle, an inch-wide gap at the top allowing easy access to the flies circling around his head. Through the screening, he watched a middle-aged Hispanic woman, almost as broad as she was tall, waddle toward him. She stopped on the other side of the screen door but made no effort to open it.
“I’m looking for a Shaunna Lightfeather,” he said. “I’m Tyler Corwin. I called earlier. She’s expecting me.”
He got a grunt and the woman turned away, speaking as she waddled back into the kitchen. “She’s changing. She said for you to wait in the kitchen.”
Assuming he was on his own to enter, Tyler pulled open the screen door. Its hinges creaked, and the moment he stepped inside, he caught the smell of horse manure and heard the strains of a country-and-western song. Scattered around on the floor to his left were several pairs of cowboy boots, all scuffed and showing years of wear. To his right, on a washing machine, were a pair of soiled jeans and a stained plaid cotton shirt.
He wrinkled his nose at the smell, then gave a chuckle as the screen door banged closed behind him. This was certainly different from the clean hallways and offices of the accounting firm of Smith and Fischer. The ten-mile drive from downtown Bakersfield had put him into another world, a world that up until six months ago he hadn’t been aware even existed.
As he made his way into the kitchen, the Hispanic woman motioned toward a Formica-topped table halfcovered with papers and horse magazines. Taking that as an invitation to sit there, he pulled out a chair. The plastic on the seat was taped over in two places, its golden color faded and discolored. “Coffee?” the woman asked.
Tyler could smell the brew as well as see the half-filled pot. He suspected it had been strong to begin with and had been sitting there for hours. He smiled politely and shook his head. “No thanks.”
Again the woman grunted. “She’ll be out soon.”
Saying no more, she left the room, her brightly patterned cotton skirt swinging with the sway of her ample hips. Tyler watched her disappear, then glanced around.
The wood-framed house was a sprawling ranch style that mimicked many built after World War II and was definitely showing its age. The wallpaper was dingy, the linoleum worn and cracked, the sink faucet dripping. From everything he’d seen so far, it didn’t look as if money was in abundance at this stable. He considered that to be in his favor. If the owner needed money, he should be able to convince her to take on another horse...even one like Magic.
“Mr. Corwin?”
The throaty sound of his name pulled his attention toward the back of the house. His gaze locked onto a woman in her late twenties, and he took in a breath.
Tall and slender, she stood in the doorway with her legs slightly apart, her hands on her hips and her chin high. Her blue jeans were snug but not tight, and the cream-colored corduroy shirt she was wearing was cut like a man’s, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. The top buttons were open, leaving a V that drew his gaze to her chest, and though he wouldn’t call her busty, he could see a definite cleavage. He found himself wondering if she was wearing a bra, the thought surprising him. He also felt an increase in his pulse, which was another surprise. He wasn’t a man easily excited by a woman.
He attributed his response to her striking looks. Her skin was a rich golden-brown that reflected both hours spent in the sun and a Native American heritage. And perhaps to show that heritage, in the mane of thick brown hair that cascaded down past her shoulders was one slender braid intertwined with yarn and finished with two feathers. More than anything, it was her eyes that caught his attention. Though he supposed they could be classified as brown, the color topaz better described them in his mind.
He stood to greet her. “Ms. Lightfeather?”
In rising, he knocked over his chair, the metal frame clattering against the linoleum, the sound jarring his composure. She merely smiled and stepped into the kitchen. “Call me Shaunna. Sorry to keep you waiting. A colt I’m working with pushed me into a pile of manure, and I decided it was in our best interest if I changed.”
He would call her anything she wanted—he needed her help—but he hadn’t expected her to be this young...or this beautiful. Quickly, he righted his chair. “Obviously, I’m Tyler Corwin, the one who called. Just call me Tyler. And I appreciate your taking time to see me.”
“You didn’t give me much of a choice.” She smiled and stopped a few feet away, close enough that he caught the clean scent of soap. She’d done more than simply changed clothes.
When she held out her right hand, he shook it. Her grip was firm, and that didn’t surprise him. She had the look of a woman who would be assertive and strong. But he did note how different her hand felt from the smooth palms of the women he did business with. Holding Shaunna Light-feather’s hand was nothing like holding Alicia Fischer’s, the woman he’d been dating for almost a year.
The calluses on Shaunna’s palm, he was sure, were from hard manual labor, something he doubted Alicia would ever know. Alicia had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and even now, in her position as an event coordinator, a telephone was about the heaviest item she picked up. Her strength was in her mind, she always said.
What did surprise Tyler was the urge that swept through him to hold on to Shaunna’s hand, to capture a bit of the strength he sensed in her. Quickly, he released his hold and rubbed his palms together.
“Sit down.” Shaunna gestured toward the chair he’d righted. “Coffee?” Again he refused, and she smiled. “Probably a wise decision. Maria makes a strong cup of coffee to begin with. By afternoon, it’s deadly.” She sat across from him. “So tell me about this horse you mentioned on the phone. It’s your daughter’s horse?”
“Yes. Actually, technically, I guess, it still belongs to the Bureau of Land Management. It’s a wild Mustang.”
“On the phone you said you’d had the horse a year. Shouldn’t you be getting title to him soon?”
“I...I guess so.”
She smiled at his hesitancy. “Have you contacted them? Asked for title to him?”
“I... that is...”
Shaunna watched Tyler Corwin shift position in his chair. When he called earlier, he’d said he would be coming from his office, so she wasn’t surprised that he was wearing a suit. The cut was good on him, the dark blue pinstripe accentuating a nice set of shoulders. His white shirt and red-and-blue tie were conservative. He’d explained that he was an accountant, a CPA. She wondered if he was honest. She needed someone to do her books, but she wasn’t going to make the same mistake she’d made before.
Again, he shifted his position. “There’s a small problem,” he finally said.
Anytime someone said there was a “small problem,” she knew it wasn’t going to be small. “What kind of problem?”
“The horse is...that is...” He hesitated. “Perhaps I should explain a few things.”
He looked directly into her eyes, and she could practically see her reflection in those pools of blue. Though she’d classify him as overall good-looking, his eyes, she decided, were his best feature. And maybe his hair. It was a sandy-blond, thick and obviously cut by a barber who knew how to tame it into a proper business style. That kind of hair tempted a touch. Invited a little messing up.
Not that she was tempted.
“Explain away,” she said, determined to keep her mind on the horse and not his hair.
“Well, as I said on the phone, Lanie was in an accident six months ago, and—”
“Lanie’s your daughter?” She thought that was the name he’d said in their earlier conversation.
Her interruption seemed to catch him off guard, and he hesitated before going on. “Ah...yes. She was in a car accident with her mother and stepfather. It was a drunk driver. The guy drove head-on into the car. Lanie’s mother—my ex-wife—and Lanie’s stepfather were killed instantly. Lanie was in the back seat. For a while, we didn’t think she’d live. She had to stay in the hospital for a month. Since then, she’s been recuperating both physically and mentally.”
Shaunna nodded. Losing a mother and stepfather would be a traumatic event for a child. “You said you’ve boarded the horse during this time.”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “It was the only thing I could do. I know nothing about horses, except what I’ve been learning recently. I didn’t even know Lanie had a horse, not until my ex’s next-door neighbors came to the hospital and told me. No one was feeding or watering the horse and they were concerned about his welfare. They were the ones who suggested I board him somewhere until I decided what to do with him. So that’s what I did.”
“Sounds reasonable. And the place you chose is where he’s at now?”
“Yes.” He grimaced. “It’s a stable on the other side of Bakersfield. He’s been there for five and a half months now. I thought he’d be fine, be taken care of, so I didn’t really do anything about him except pay his board bill when it arrived each month. I just didn’t have time to check on him, not between the time I was spending with Lanie and my job.”
“But now you have seen him.” At least, that was what he’d said on the phone.
“Yes. Last week. Lanie and I went to visit the stable. Her doctor felt it would be a good idea if she spent some time with her horse, that it would help her deal with all that happened. But it wasn’t a good idea. Lanie got very upset when she saw him, and I was shocked. The horse is in terrible shape.”
“By terrible shape you mean—”
“Dirty. Filthy dirty.” Tyler’s tone held disgust, and he shook his head. “They said he kept breaking out of his paddock, so they put him in a stall. A stall built like a tomb. I don’t think he’s been out of it in months, or that they’ve cleaned it in months. It was a mess. And the smell...” He wrinkled his nose. “I couldn’t believe the condition that horse was in when I saw him.”
If the horse was being kept where she thought it might be, Shaunna could believe what he was saying. He’d picked a name out of a phone book and naively assumed the stable owners would do as they promised. And they should have. Problem was, not all did. “You say they haven’t let this horse out of that stall for months?”
“I don’t think so. The way it looked and smelled, he’s just been locked in there.”
“Can the horse even walk?” She’d seen some abused horses that couldn’t.
“Oh, he can walk,” Tyler said firmly, then stood and left the table, going toward the window in the kitchen that looked out at her barns and arenas. There he stopped and stared through it, and she heard him give a deep sigh before he turned back to her. “The horse can do more than walk. The moment we opened the door to take him out, he lunged for Lanie. Actually, he tried to attack her.”
“Attack?” Shaunna shook her head. “I’d say you do have a problem.” And it wasn’t a “small” one. “How old did you say your daughter is? Ten?”
“Just.”
“A child that young shouldn’t have a horse like that. A child needs a quiet horse. Something safe.”
“I know. And I’m all for getting rid of this horse, but Lanie insists he wasn’t this way before the accident... before he was sent to this stable. She says her mother had someone come to their place and break the horse. Before the accident, Lanie was riding him all the time and he was safe and gentle.”
Shaunna grimaced at the word “break.” So often, that was what happened. The trainer did break the horse’s spirit. Instead of a companion and partner, the rider had a slave.
And sometimes the slave rebelled.
“As I said,” Tyler continued, “no matter what the horse was like before, considering how he is now, I think we should get rid of him. Sell him or send him back to where he came from. The problem is, Lanie’s doctor feels it’s important for her to have this horse right now. The doctor says because Lanie’s mother got the horse for her, getting rid of him would adversely affect Lanie’s recovery, that she needs the horse both emotionally and physically. So on one hand, for Lanie’s sake, we need to keep the horse. But on the other hand, he’s too crazy to keep. I’m not sure what to do. I know the horse can’t be left where he is, but for anyone to handle him, he has to be tamed.”
Shaunna smiled. “So you called me hoping that I’d take him in and tame him?”
Tyler studied her for a moment, then walked back to his chair. “I must admit you’re younger than I expected, but since that day we went to see the horse, I’ve been asking around, and everyone I’ve talked to says you’re the best horse trainer in the area...in the state of California. That you can work miracles with a horse.”
She started to protest, but he went on. “They say that you have the touch... that what you do is pure magic. Lanie calls this horse Magic. I’d say he needs a little.”
“From what you’ve told me, I’d say he needs a lot.”
“He’s not getting it where he’s at,” Tyler said. “And I’m afraid if we leave him there, he’s not going to. The day after Lanie and I saw him, I went back to the stable and talked to the owner. She feels the best way to handle the horse is to starve him until he’s too weak to fight us. And, from the looks of him, I’d say that’s exactly what she’s been doing.” He shook his head. “But no more. I will not starve or abuse an animal, no matter how vicious he might be. I told her she’d better make sure Magic got his full ration of food from now on and that he’d be out of there within a week.” Tyler sighed, then smiled ruefully. “So, will you take him?”
Shaunna was now sure, from what he’d said, that she knew exactly where the horse was being kept She’d heard dozens of horror stories about that stable. As far as she was concerned, the place should be condemned and the owners put into cells and starved. It would serve them right to be treated the same way as they treated the horses.
And she appreciated Tyler’s desire to get his horse out of a bad situation, liked the firmness of his voice and admired his dogged determination to talk her into seeing him this afternoon, even though she’d said she was busy. He might not know anything about horses, but he was obviously a caring person. Not that that lessened her problem. “As I said on the phone when you called, I don’t have any free stalls or paddocks, and I won’t for another two months.”
He kept his gaze locked with hers. “I can’t leave him where he is.”
“There are other stables around Bakersfield.”
“And do you think they could handle a horse like this? Could they make him safe for Lanie to handle?”
Without knowing the horse, she wasn’t sure how to answer, but from what Tyler had said, she knew few could.
“These past six months haven’t been easy for Lanie,” he said. “First losing her mother and stepfather, then being in a hospital for a month, and finally having to come live with me...a virtual stranger. Lanie...” He paused, then looked down at the linoleum.
Shaunna watched him run his fingers through his hair, mussing the neat cut. Finally, he looked up. “Lanie is very angry right now, and we aren’t getting along very well. Her doctor says she’s lashing out because she’s hurting, and since I’m close, I’m the target. I don’t want to have to tell her I had to send the horse back.”
“No, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea,” she agreed. “And if you do send him back, there’s a good chance he’ll become dog food.” Which Shaunna didn’t want to see happen to any horse.
And she felt she understood his daughter’s anger. With Tyler and his wife divorced, it wouldn’t be unusual for the mother to make the ex-husband into the bad guy. Shaunna’s mother had certainly bad-mouthed her father often enough, both when he was around and after he’d gone. The children of divorce usually were angry, Shauna knew.
In her case, she’d been angry with both of her parents. With her mother for being the person she was, and with her father for leaving her. Maybe he hadn’t died, but he might as well have. Not once did she hear from him after he took off. No birthday cards. No Christmas presents. Nothing.
“I’ll pay extra,” Tyler said.
Shaunna shook off the memories of her past. “If I help you, and I’m not saying I will, it isn’t going to be for the money.”
His gaze turned to a stack of unpaid bills on the table. “A little extra might help.”
Probably, though she had no idea exactly what her financial situation was. She did know she’d be making a lot more money if she wasn’t always rescuing animals others had given up on. Horses. Dogs. Cats. At least if she did take on this horse, it wouldn’t be for free.
“I have a feeling you’re Magic’s only hope,” Tyler said, the softening of his tone touching her as no offer of money ever would.
He was getting to her with those intense blue eyes of his and the fact that he cared. She was intrigued by the prospect of working with a wild Mustang gone bad, and she was intrigued by Tyler Corwin. “I’ll have to go see the horse,” she said. “There are some I can’t help.”
“All I’m asking is that you try,” Tyler said, his smile growing wider. “If you can just get him to the stage where Lanie can handle him.”
“You said her doctor feels the horse will help her physically as well as emotionally. How is her physical health?” Shaunna asked. “Is she fit enough to work with this horse?”
“Yes. She has a slight limp and hasn’t regained all of her strength, but her doctor feels riding will help strengthen her muscles.”
“From what you’ve told me, she won’t be riding the horse for a while. But I’d expect her to work with him on a daily basis, especially in the beginning.”
“If that’s what it takes, she’ll be here. All I ask is that you not put her in any danger. I do care about her.”
“I’ll want to see the horse and meet her before I make a decision.”
“You want to meet her? Lanie?” Shaunna noted a flash of panic in his look and had a feeling there was something he wasn’t telling her. At the lift of her eyebrows, he quickly acquiesced. “Okay,” he said. “You tell me when, and we’ll be here.”
“How about Saturday? Say ten o’clock?”
“Saturday, ten o’clock it is.”
Tyler left the house with mixed feelings. He was sure once Shaunna saw Lanie’s horse, she would move the Mustang to her stable. If what he’d heard about her was true, she wouldn’t allow that horse to spend two more minutes, much less two months or even two days, in his current condition. Even he didn’t want that, and he was no horse lover.
What worried him was taking Lanie to meet Shaunna. He knew how Lanie acted around Alicia, how she acted around him. Lanie’s doctor said Lanie’s behavior was her way of testing him.
Well, she certainly was.
The battle was constant, and he sometimes wondered if it was worth it. Lanie was so angry, and nothing he said seemed to help. Nothing he did made a difference.
Yet he couldn’t give up. He still remembered how she’d been as a baby, smiling when he went to take her out of her crib and reaching for him with those tiny, chubby hands of hers. She’d loved him then, just as he’d loved her. One way or another, he was going to find a means of breaking through the wall she had erected... that fate had erected.
He wondered if he should have told Shaunna the whole story about Lanie. It might have helped her understand things. Then again, he hadn’t told Alicia. He hadn’t told anyone but his parents and Lanie’s doctor. It seemed better that way.
Somehow he would find a way to get past Lanie’s anger. And perhaps her doctor was right. Perhaps the horse would help. Perhaps Shaunna Lightfeather would help.
He smiled when he thought of Shaunna. He’d been attracted to her, which he found surprising. Not that she didn’t have an appeal. With her high cheekbones, swarthy coloring and unusual eyes, she was a good-looking woman, in a natural sort of way. Striking. Sexy.
He shook his head as he drove back toward Bakersfield. He was thinking crazy. One thing he’d discovered in his thirty-four years was that physical attraction was not enough. And from what little he’d learned and observed about Shaunna, he knew she wasn’t a woman who would fit into his life-style. Not at all.
She definitely wasn’t a businesswoman. Stacking bills on a kitchen table wasn’t a good business practice, and when she’d shown him around her stable, after agreeing to “look” at Magic, Tyler had found himself both impressed and dismayed. On the positive side, although the stable showed its age, everything was neat, in good repair and clean. There were no smelly, dark, tomblike stalls in either of her two barns, and from the looks of her fencing, he didn’t think any horse—wild Mustang or not—would be getting out.
And she’d been right when she told him that every stall she had was filled. It was when she said that half of the horses belonged to her—were basically abandoned horses she’d rescued—that he began to understand why so many of those bills on her kitchen table were marked as overdue and why she’d asked if he knew a good accountant, one who was honest. Emotions rather than good business sense seemed to rule her decisions. Emotions he wasn’t above playing on.
Nope, from his initial impressions, he wouldn’t say Shaunna Lightfeather was a good businesswoman at all. But it didn’t hurt his ego to know that she’d found him attractive. At least, her actions made him think she did. It was the only explanation he could give for what happened when she accidentally backed into him, bumping her rear end into his hips.
She’d gotten all flustered and pulled away as if burned by a hot poker. She’d actually blushed, the color turning her skin a richer tan. He’d found her behavior appealing. It had been a while since he’d seen a woman blush.
Appealing, but inconsequential, he told himself. After all, what did they have in common? She loved animals, had them all over the place: dogs, cats, horses and cattle. There was even a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. He hadn’t owned a pet since the dog he’d left behind when he divorced Lanie’s mother.
He had an extensive library of classical CDs. Shaunna listened to country and western. It had been playing on both the radio in her house and the ones in her barns. And he could just see her at a business dinner. She’d probably shock his clients with her frankness. She’d certainly shocked him when she talked about castrating the colt she was working with. It was her hand gestures that had gotten to him. Nothing had been left to his imagination. He’d even had the urge to squeeze his knees together.
No, they had nothing in common.
Except, perhaps, a little chemistry.
He grinned and turned onto the highway. Maybe Shaunna had realized that. Maybe she’d told him about castrating that horse as a warning. Well, she didn’t have to worry. He wasn’t about to start something. Chemistry could be ignored. He’d been doing it for years.
“Just take on the horse,” he said to himself, then added, “and Lanie.”
Chapter Two
Tyler and his daughter arrived promptly at ten o’clock Saturday morning. Shaunna watched the two of them get out of the car. Tyler was less formally dressed than the first time she’d seen him, his suit replaced by khaki pants, a tan golf shirt and brown loafers. He looked like an ad from GQ, and she knew what an hour of working with horses would do to his clothes.
His daughter was more appropriately dressed. The girl had on jeans, a Western-style plaid shirt and cowboy boots. She was as leggy as a colt, thin and pale, and her reddishbrown hair lacked luster. In some ways, Lanie reminded Shaunna of the Mustang they were about to discuss. Both showed the effects of trauma, Lanie’s the result of an automobile accident, Magic’s caused by the actions of his caretakers.
Lanie limped slightly as she walked toward Shaunna, and Shaunna could see that the girl had a scar on her forehead. It disappeared into the uneven part between her two braids, and considering the stray hairs hanging down the girl’s neck, Shaunna guessed that Lanie had braided her own hair.
What she found intriguing was how little the girl resembled her father. Although Shaunna could see that both Lanie and Tyler had blue eyes, the shapes of their faces were entirely different, along with their hair coloring and body builds. Then again, Shaunna knew she resembled her mother far more than she did her father, especially in her eyes.
Besides the differences in their looks, there were other things Shaunna noticed about the pair walking toward her that piqued her curiosity. Father and daughter kept a distance between them, didn’t touch and didn’t look at each other. Both were staring at her, each with a different expression.
With Lanie, the look was defensive... almost defiant. Her back was rigid, her chin high and her eyes narrowed. Shaunna could tell that the child was measuring her, judging her merit. She looked ready for battle.
Shaunna had seen the look before: in green horses brought to her to be broke; in abused horses that she was asked to salvage; and in the renegades who couldn’t be reclaimed. In the first meeting with those horses, they would approach her as the enemy, the predator they should fear. With most, she was able to eliminate those fears and establish communication. With people, she’d learned, that wasn’t always possible. She’d never been able to communicate with her mother.
Tyler’s look was totally different from his daughter’s. His expression showed concern. Silently, he was pleading with her, though Shaunna knew he probably wasn’t aware of that. And if she’d been a less scrupulous person, his look would have given her an advantage. He was desperate for her help.
Having seen the Mustang, she understood why.
“Good morning,” she said as the two approached.
“Good morning,” Tyler responded.
His daughter said nothing, merely narrowed her eyes a shade more.
He stopped a few steps away from Shaunna and glanced down at the girl. “Lanie, this is Ms. Shaunna Lightfeather, the horse trainer I told you about.”
“Glad to meet you, Lanie,” Shaunna said, and held out her hand.
Lanie ignored the hand and looked at Tyler. “I don’t want Magic here,” she said. “I want him with me.”
“I explained all that to you,” Tyler said, giving Shaunna a quick, apologetic glance. “We can’t keep a horse where we live.”
“We kept a horse where my mother lived,” Lanie argued.
“That was different. Your mother lived outside of town. My house is in town, and city ordinances don’t allow horses.”
“Why can’t I live where I used to live?”
Lanie’s voice was tense, and Shaunna sensed the girl was close to tears. Tyler softened his tone. “Honey, we’ve been through this before. That house has been sold.”
“I am not your honey,” Lanie snapped. “You shouldn’t have sold that house. I could’ve lived there. I could’ve lived there by myself and taken care of Magic.” Her attention switched to Shaunna. “Magic never should have been taken to that stable.”
“No, he shouldn’t have,” Shaunna said in full agreement.
For a moment, Lanie stared at her as if surprised by her response, then the girl looked around, her gaze skimming over the round pen, the two riding arenas, the barns, the paddocks and the house. When she looked back at Shaunna, her attitude was clearly arrogant. “This place is a dump.”
“It could use some sprucing up,” Shaunna agreed. “You have a couple hundred thousand to give me?”
The girl’s eyes merely narrowed again, her chin lifting, and Shaunna knew she hadn’t taken the right approach. Working with horses was much easier, but with them, you also had to listen. Lanie was telling her she wasn’t happy with the way things were. Problem was, Lanie couldn’t go back to the way things had been.
Shaunna tried another tack. “I take it you had a nice place for Magic.”
“He was happy there.”
I was happy there, Shaunna read in Lanie’s body language.
Shaunna looked at Tyler. “If your daughter doesn’t want her horse here, it won’t work.”
“I can’t leave him where he is,” Tyler said.
“They made him mean,” Lanie interjected. “He was never like that before. He loved me.” She looked accusingly at her father. “You put him there.”
“I didn’t know,” Tyler said, then looked at Shaunna and repeated the excuse. “I never would have if I’d realized what they would do to him.”
She couldn’t fault him. He’d already admitted that he didn’t know anything about horses. He’d had no idea that the stable he picked had a reputation for abusing horses.
“Have you seen him?” Tyler asked.
She had, and she’d been appalled by what she’d seen. She looked down at Lanie. “What did you think when you saw him?”
“It made me sick.”
“Made me sick, too,” Shaunna said. “So I brought him here.”
“He’s here?” The girl’s eyes lit up for the first time. “Magic is here?” Then she looked around again and the light went out of her eyes as she screwed up her nose. “In this dump?”
Shaunna ignored the insult and nodded toward the big barn. “He’s in there. Last stall on your right.” As Lanie started toward the barn, Shaunna called after her, “He’s still very upset. Don’t go into the stall. Just talk to him from outside.”
“He’s my horse, and I’ll do what I want,” Lanie snapped back.
“Even if going in would cause you to lose him?”
Lanie stopped and faced her, and Shaunna knew she had to back up her statement.
“If you go in,” she said, “and Magic hurts you, your father will have to call the Bureau of Land Management to come take the horse away. And the way he is now, he’ll end up being destroyed. You don’t want that, do you?”
“Magic wouldn’t hurt me,” Lanie said, but Shaunna knew the girl wasn’t convinced that was true. She also knew, if Lanie loved her horse, she would do the right thing.
Without answering, Lanie turned around and started walking toward the barn. Shaunna looked at Tyler, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was afraid she’d be like this. She’s so angry about everything.”
“She’s a lot like her horse, then.” Shaunna nodded in Lanie’s direction. “I think we’d better follow her in.”
“Definitely.” Tyler wanted to see the horse again, and he wasn’t sure he trusted Lanie to stay out of the stall.
“I hope you don’t mind my bringing him here without letting you know,” Shaunna said as they walked toward the barn. “I just couldn’t leave him there.”
“It’s hard to believe you got him here.” Tyler had been worried about how they would accomplish that feat. “Last time I saw him, he was ready to eat every human alive.”
“It wasn’t easy, but we made it.”
“Two days ago, you said you didn’t have a place for him.”
She shrugged. “I moved one of my horses. He’ll be fine for a while.”
At the entrance to the barn, Shaunna stopped and so did he. From where Tyler stood, he could see Lanie. The girl had already reached the last stall, and to his relief, she was standing on a box outside the stall, looking in.
“This won’t work unless she cooperates, you know,” Shaunna said, her voice slightly lowered so it wouldn’t carry down to Lanie. “If he’s going to be her horse, he’s got to learn to trust her again. He doesn’t know what happened, doesn’t know about the accident or that Lanie was hurt. He only knows that he was moved from a place where there was kindness and good care to a hellhole. I’m sure it was traumatic for him to be taken from the wild. Now he’s bad two experiences where he’s been taken from someplace where he was happy. He’s learning to distrust all humans, and regaining his trust isn’t going to happen overnight. Lanie’s got to realize that.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Tyler said although he wasn’t sure that would help.
They proceeded down the wide concrete aisle. They were flanked by horse stalls and the smell of horses, along with the smell of fly spray, fresh horse droppings and leather. The only light in the barn came from what filtered in from the open doors at each end and the windows in each stall. He could see fans installed along the ceiling and fluorescent light fixtures, but none of them were on at the moment.
As they neared the last stall, they could hear Lanie talking. “Oh, Magic, what have they done to you?” she kept repeating, and Tyler felt her words stab at his heart.
She was right He was the one responsible. He’d put the horse in that stable.
He felt Shaunna’s hand on his arm, a light and reassuring touch. “You didn’t know,” she said softly, and he glanced her way.
She was nearly his height, her dark hair pulled back and braided in a single loose braid that hung down to her shoulder blades. Again there was a feather woven into the braid, this time only one, and in the dim light of the barn, her skin tones looked darker.
He’d thought of her often since leaving her. Not that he’d wanted to think about her. Somehow her image just kept popping into his head—memories of how she’d looked, the sound of her voice and the warmth of her smile. Images that had excited him, just as now the touch of her hand and husky sound of her voice had his pulse racing.
“Look at him! He’s not any better off here. This place is no better than the other one,” Lanie said accusingly, and Tyler’s attention returned to his daughter.
“Things may look the same,” Shaunna said, her voice calm and soothing as she walked over to stand beside Lanie. “But he’s better off here. It’s going to take time.”
Tyler also moved closer so he could look into the stall. What he saw made him ill.
The horse was standing against the back wall, eyeing them with a wild look. Tyler could see the horse’s ribs, their sharp delineation a reminder of the other stable owner’s solution for handling ill-tempered horses. What had probably once been a beautiful mahogany coat was now a rough, scruffy, dull red brown, hair missing in some places and in other places so matted with dung they formed hardened clumps. The freeze brand on his neck—his identification as a wild horse—was barely discernible beneath the filth, and his black mane and tail were a twisted, knotted mess. Dirt had turned the white star on his forehead and the white sock on his foreleg a dusty brown, and even at a distance, the smell of him was vile.
The only bit of white that Tyler could see was in the horse’s eyes. And it wasn’t a good sign.
“All we did yesterday was transport him here and get him settled in the stall,” Shaunna said, speaking more to Lanie than to him. “I want him to get used to the smells and sounds around here today, then tomorrow we’ll open the door so he can go out.” She pointed toward the left side of his stall where the outline of a solid door could be seen. “All of my stalls have direct access to an attached paddock. I felt this stall would be best for your horse since it was built for a stallion. It should hold him.”
“He’s a gelding,” Lanie snapped, looking at Shaunna as if she were stupid.
“I know he’s a gelding. He’s also a Mustang, and Mustangs, especially those that were born in the wild, are a lot more wily than horses bred in captivity. Until he decides we aren’t the enemy, we’re going to need something strong to hold him. Otherwise, you’re going to be looking all over Bakersfield for your horse.”
“He never tried to get out at our place,” Lanie said defiantly.
Shaunna didn’t lose her composure. “That was then, this is now. At that other stable, he discovered that he could get out. That’s why they were keeping him in a stall all the time. We’ve got to show him that he can’t get out.”
“I want to touch him, pet him,” Lanie said, and stuck her arm through the bars on the stall. “Come here, Magic,” she called.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Shaunna warned.
Lanie glared at her. “He’s my horse.” Using the flat of her hand, she slapped it against the inside of the stall wall to get the horse’s attention. “Magic, come.”
The Mustang came.
With a lunge, he sprang toward Lanie, his teeth bared and his ears laid back. The horse’s squeal of anger sent a chill down Tyler’s spine, and he automatically grabbed Lanie, pulling her off the box and out of danger. The two of them landed on the concrete floor of the aisle, Lanie on top of him. The breath was knocked out of Tyler, but not out of Lanie.
“You ruined him!” she yelled, scrambling to her feet. “Everything’s ruined!”
She looked down at Tyler, hatred in her eyes, then turned and ran back down the aisle and out of the barn toward the parking area. Shaunna watched Tyler push himself up from the floor and brush off his khaki slacks. She saw the dirt on the back of his slacks but said nothing. She wanted to know what his reaction was going to be and kept her eyes on his face.
He sighed, shaking his head as he watched his daughter leave the barn. Then he looked at Shaunna. “Well, so much for the horse helping the two of us establish a relationship. I think, if anything, he’s driving a bigger wedge between us.” Then he added bitterly, “If there could be a bigger wedge.”
“She’s very angry,” Shaunna said, knowing that was an understatement.
“Tell me about it. She acts as if it’s my fault that her mother and stepfather are dead. I don’t know what to do. Her doctor says she just needs time, but that’s what I’ve been hearing for almost six months, and things haven’t been getting any better.” Again, he sighed. “I’d better go after her.”
“What have you gotten yourself into?” Shaunna muttered to herself as she watched Tyler follow his daughter out of the barn. Then she looked back into the horse’s stall.
Magic had returned to the far wall and was watching her, a wary look in his eyes. Given time, she could probably help the horse. She wasn’t sure about Tyler and Lanie.
Before they left, Tyler set up an arrangement with Shaunna. Since it was summer vacation and they didn’t have to worry about school, every day for the next two weeks Lanie would spend some time at the stable working on reestablishing a relationship with Magic. Someone would bring her, and he would pick her up at night after he got off work. Not only would she spend time with her horse, she would do any chores Shaunna assigned her and take some riding lessons.
Shaunna felt it was the best way for her to see what Lanie could do and how she acted with other horses. The girl was angry, and Shaunna had seen too many people take out their anger on animals. She wasn’t about to ask Magic to trust them if Lanie was going to turn around and destroy that trust.
On Monday, Lanie arrived around one o’clock. Shaunna expected the girl to be excited. Instead, she was met with sullen resistance. Even seeing her horse out in the paddock didn’t help Lanie’s attitude. When the horse didn’t come when Lanie called him, it was Shaunna who got the blame. She tried to explain Magic’s thinking to the girl, but Lanie wasn’t ready to listen.
Shaunna found herself trying to puzzle out the girl as much as the horse, but by Friday, she was ready to give up. The horse was settling in nicely, though it was clear that Magic didn’t trust any of them and could still be quite dangerous. Lanie, however, wasn’t settling in nicely at all. No matter what Shaunna said or did, Lanie got angry. Shaunna knew she had a thick hide and could take it—after all, she’d grown up being called incompetent by her father and berated by her mother, but when Lanie started swearing, then decided to take out her anger on one of the other young riders at the stable, Shaunna decided matters had gone far enough. Putting her stable manager in charge, she drove Lanie to her father’s place of business.
Tyler was working at his desk, reading over the new tax laws and trying to decide how to summarize them for the benefit of his clients. When his telephone rang, he automatically picked it up.
“There’s a woman here who wants to see you,” Eve, the firm’s receptionist, said. “She has your daughter with her, and they—”
Before Eve finished, his door banged open and Lanie stormed into his office. “She says I can’t be around Magic,” Lanie shouted. “That I can’t even set foot on her property again. Well, I want you to know, I don’t care. She’s a slave driver, that’s what she is!”
Tyler stared at her as she marched up to his desk, then he looked back at Shaunna, who’d followed Lanie into his office. Behind Shaunna was Eve. He nodded toward the receptionist, indicating that he’d like his door closed. Eve discreetly complied while Lanie continued her tirade.
“Look at me!” she cried. “She treats me like dirt!”
Tyler did look at her. Lanie’s jeans and boots were filthy, dirt ground into the denim and crusted around her soles. She even had dirt on her face and in her hair, and he had a feeling it wasn’t just dirt. The smell in his office was definitely pungent.
“I’m her slave,” Lanie said dramatically. “Is this what you plan on doing with me? Are you going to turn me into a slave?”
Tyler wasn’t sure what to think. Lanie’s physical condition certainly indicated something was wrong. Though she’d come home dirty the past four days, she’d never been this dirty.
“As for her—” Lanie turned and pointed a finger at Shaunna “—she’s not helping Magic. She doesn’t do anything with him, just lets him run around in that paddock. She won’t even let him into his stall except when it’s time for him to eat. And then you know what she makes me do? She makes me clean out his paddock. I have to scoop up his crap.”
She emphasized the word, and Tyler cringed, wondering how far her voice was carrying. He looked at Shaunna, expecting an explanation, but when his gaze met hers, her topaz eyes clear and steady, she merely nodded.
And Lanie wasn’t finished. “All she does is order me around. Do this. Do that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. I’m supposed to be getting to know my horse, but when do I have time to get to know him? She’s got me so damn busy doing other things, I don’t have time to get to know him.”
“Don’t swear,” Tyler said, then spoke to Shaunna. “Is this true?”
“I expect her to follow the barn rules, and I expect her to do what I say when I say it,” she said calmly. “And I think she has more to tell you.”
He looked back at Lanie. Immediately, she glared at him. “What does it matter what I tell you? You’re going to take her side, aren’t you? I should’ve known it. I’m nothing to you. You don’t give a—”
She used the F word, and at exactly that moment, the door to his office swung open. In stormed his boss, Gordon Fischer, his face a crimson-red, and right behind him was Gordon’s niece, Alicia. Both looked shocked.
As soon as they were in the room, Gordon and Alicia scanned the office, their expressions almost identical as their gazes landed on Lanie, then on Shaunna. Both uncle and niece wrinkled their noses.
Gordon spoke first. “What is going on here?” he demanded, staring directly at Tyler. “Everyone up and down the hall can hear you two arguing. And the language...”
Tyler mentally cringed. He knew his boss didn’t like a scene. Gordon believed an accounting firm should represent calm efficiency and traditional values. You did not have family arguments in your office, and you didn’t swear.
Alicia said nothing, but he noticed how she was looking at Shaunna. The contrast between the two women was even more apparent than he’d imagined. Alicia was wearing her red power suit and high heels, her blond hair neatly confined in a twist and her makeup flawless. Shaunna, on the other hand, wore scuffed cowboy boots, soiled denims, a faded plaid cotton shirt that had a large stain across the front, and no makeup at all.
Although Lanie had met Gordon once, the day Tyler had given her a tour of the offices, and knew Alicia from the times Alicia had come to the hospital and then to the house, Tyler thought he’d better introduce Shaunna. “Gordon. Alicia. I’d like you to meet—”
Lanie didn’t let him finish. “Oh great,” she snapped. “Now you’re going to be all proper, just like you always get when Ah-lee-sha is around.”
She was looking at Alicia when she stretched out her name, and Tyler knew Lanie was a ticking time bomb. He didn’t want to imagine what she would come out with next. “Lanie,” he said in warning, hoping she’d get the message.
Lanie glared back at him and let out a series of words that would make a street kid blush. She then made her departure, bumping against the two standing in her way.
“I never,” Alicia said, turning to stare after the ten-year-old.
“Really,” Gordon said.
Then Shaunna spoke. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you here at work. I’ll get her and take her home for you.” She headed for the doorway, nodding at Alicia and Gordon as she passed.
Tyler watched her go, too dumbfounded to say anything.
Chapter Three
Alicia looked at Tyler. “Who was that woman?”
“That’s Shaunna,” he said, not sure if he should also go after Lanie or not. “Shaunna Lightfeather. She’s the one who’s going to rehabilitate Lanie’s horse.”
“And what were your daughter and she doing here in your office?” Gordon demanded coldly, his attitude clearly showing his disapproval.
“There was a problem at the stable.” Tyler glanced at Alicia and then at her uncle. “I didn’t get a full accounting.”
“The woman smelled like she’d been rolling in manure.” Alicia wrinkled her nose. “And so did your daughter.”
There wasn’t much he could say about that. “I’ve discovered that working with horses does leave a smell. Each night, I’ve been putting Lanie’s clothes in the wash as soon as she takes them off.”
“You’re going to have to do something about that child’s language,” Gordon said, shaking his head. “Can’t have that kind of talk around here.”
“I know.” Once again, Tyler wondered if he should go after Lanie.
“Well...” Gordon looked at his niece, then at Tyler. “I’ll leave you two alone. But see to it that something like this doesn’t happen again, Tyler. It disturbs everyone in the firm.”
“I’ll talk to Lanie,” Tyler said. He watched his boss leave, not sure he liked being reprimanded like a naughty boy.
As Gordon closed the door behind him, Alicia stepped closer to Tyler’s desk. “She’s very attractive...in a sort of earthy way.”
Tyler knew a dangerous situation when he heard one. There was no safe way to respond, so he half lied. “I suppose you could say she’s attractive. I really haven’t paid that much attention to her looks. I’ve been more concerned with whether she’ll work with Lanie’s horse.”
“She actually owns the stable where you’re boarding the horse?”
“Yes. That is, I think she does.” He still wasn’t sure what Alicia was getting at.
“Is it a big stable?”
“No, not very big. I’d say she has forty horses there. Maybe fewer. It’s nothing fancy.” Not a place where Alicia would board a horse...if Alicia had a horse.
She eyed him for a moment, then glanced toward the door as if the image of Shaunna was imbedded there. “You said her last name’s Lightfeather? What is that, Navajo or something?”
“I really don’t know. Someone said she was part Indian.”
“Is she married?”
“No.”
Alicia’s silence was poignant, and Tyler suddenly realized she was jealous. He found that interesting. Although they’d been dating for nearly a year, he always had the feeling she was keeping him at a distance. But he found that understandable. He was well aware that she was in a social class far above his. And even though he enjoyed her company, most of the events they attended were business oriented. He wasn’t looking for love and romance. He’d given up on that years ago. He and Alicia hadn’t even slept together.
The one thing he was concentrating on at this point in his life was his career, and Alicia had certainly helped him there. It was at her urging that he’d applied for a position at her uncle’s firm, which in turn had led him to the job he now held. And he had to admit she’d been very supportive when he learned about Lanie. Alicia had spend a lot of hours with him at the hospital as he sat by Lanie’s side, had talked her uncle into giving Tyler the time off he needed to be with Lanie and had even been offering suggestions on how to handle Lanie now.
Finally, Alicia spoke, her tone clearly cool. “You seem to know quite a bit about this Shaunna woman.”
He shook his head. “Only what I found out when I was looking for someone to work with Lanie’s horse. I didn’t want to move him from one bad situation to another. Shaunna, according to those I spoke with, is the best horse trainer around. Perhaps the best in the country.”
There was another moment of silence, Alicia’s gaze never leaving his face, then she looked down at her hands and began brushing a fingertip over one of her painted nails. “I think it’s commendable,” she said, “how much concern you’re showing for Lanie and this horse of hers, but you do remember that I don’t like horses, don’t you? I hope you’re not thinking of asking me to accompany you out to that stable or anything?”
“I wouldn’t think of it.” He could just imagine her reaction if she saw Shaunna’s house and the barns. Alicia’s condominium was in the best section of town. In fact, her father owned most of the real estate in that area, along with oil wells and other land. Her parents’ home, which he’d visited a couple of times, was absolutely palatial. No, she wouldn’t think much of Shaunna’s stable or house.
Alicia looked back at him and smiled. “I just wanted to be sure we understood each other. Dinner tonight? You could come by my place after work. I have something I’d like to discuss with you. A proposition of sorts.”
The bristling gone, Alicia was once again warm and friendly, but Tyler knew that dinner at her place tonight was out of the question. “I’m afraid I can’t. I need to find out what exactly happened today. In fact—” he stood “—I think I’d better go make sure Shaunna caught up with Lanie.”
Shaunna didn’t catch up with Lanie for more than a city block. Where the child thought she was going, Shaunna didn’t know, but Lanie was walking with determination, her limp barely discernible. As soon as she reached her side, Shaunna matched her steps to the ten-year-old’s. “You showed him, didn’t you?” she said as if they’d been carrying on a casual conversation for some time.
Lanie didn’t slow her steps and didn’t look at her. “Go away.”
“Can’t.”
Lanie did slow, then came to a complete stop. Only when she looked up, could Shaunna see the tears. She wanted to reach out and draw the girl close, but she knew Lanie would only resist. So she stood where she was and looked down at her, waiting for Lanie’s next response.
“I hate you,” she said.
“I don’t hate you.”
“I hate everyone.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
“I want to ride Magic.”
“You can’t. Not yet.”
Shaunna watched Lanie chew on her lower lip, struggling not to cry. “You’re never going to let me ride him,” she said, her voice trembling.
“It’s not up to me whether you ride him or not. It’s up to Magic. We have to give him time to decide that he wants to be ridden. We have to let him know that he can trust us.”
“Magic used to trust me. He was sweet and loving before the accident. It’s you people who’ve ruined him.”
“Don’t include me in that ‘you’ people. I didn’t harm him. You’re the one who hasn’t shown me that you won’t harm him. Look at what happened today. Right there by Magic’s paddock, you got into a fight with Bobby.”
“He said my horse was ugly.”
“So you had to push him into that pile of manure?”
“He pushed me into it, too.”
“And that makes it right?”
Lanie stood, glaring at her, her breathing shallow.
Shaunna met her gaze without wavering. “What happens,” she asked, “if Magic doesn’t do what you want? Do you shove him around? Beat him up?”
Shaunna could tell that the suggestion surprised Lanie. “I wouldn’t hurt Magic,” she said.
“How do I know that?”
“’Cause I love him.”
“Words are cheap.” Shauna remembered how many times her father had said he loved her. Then she’d do something he didn’t like, bring home a math paper she’d done poorly on, and he’d hit her.
“I really mean it,” Lanie insisted.
“If you love him, then you’ll take care of him. You’ll give him time to get used to his new surroundings, time to get used to seeing you around. Every time you go into his stall or paddock, you leave your scent. I want him to associate that scent with good things. A clean paddock. Food. Clean water. I want him to see you around the other horses. And I want you watching him, watching how he acts and reacts. I want to know you’ve got the patience he’s going to need. Otherwise, forget it. I am not going to help that horse just to have you turn around and ruin him.”
“I won’t ruin him,” Lanie said defiantly, the tears gone. “I love him.”
“And now we’ve gone full circle. You say you love him. I haven’t seen it. Come on.” She nodded in the direction her truck was parked. “I’ll take you home. You can think about this. If you’re willing to do as I ask, then show up tomorrow. If not, have your dad find someplace else for Magic.”
Lanie didn’t move. “You’re not being fair.”
“Then what do you think I should do?”
The question seemed to startle the little girl. Lanie stared at Shaunna, then finally answered, “You should let me spend more time talking to Magic.”
“Okay. I will.” Why not? She’d seen that Lanie knew the basics about horses. She didn’t need slave labor, no matter what Lanie thought. And Magic had calmed down enough that he might start responding to Lanie. “Are you ready to go home now?”
Shaunna started heading toward her truck and hoped Lanie would follow. For a moment, she feared she hadn’t succeeded, then she heard Lanie’s footsteps. The girl walked slightly behind her, but she did go with her toward the truck.
“And I think I should bring him carrots,” Lanie said. “He always liked carrots. I used to bring him one every time I went out to see him.”
“Okay.” Shaunna didn’t particularly like feeding horses treats by hand, but if Magic was used to getting them from Lanie, it might help. “Only don’t try feeding him by hand right away. Until we’re sure he remembers it’s you, I don’t want to chance his biting your hand off.”
“He won’t bite my hand off.”
Shaunna stopped and looked at the girl, simply lifting her eyebrows and saying nothing.
“Okay,” Lanie said, unable to return Shaunna’s gaze. “I won’t feed him by hand. Not right away. But someday I will.”
“Someday,” Shaunna agreed, and began walking to her truck again.
Tyler paused at the entrance to the building. Just down the street, he spotted Shaunna and Lanie. Shaunna pulled open the door of a battered blue truck, then glanced back at Lanie. For a moment, the girl stood where she was, then she walked stiff-legged around the front of the truck.
He decided not to call out to them. Shaunna seemed to have the situation under control. She’d said she would take Lanie home. He would call his neighbor and have her keep an eye on Lanie until he got there. By then, maybe he’d have come up with an idea of how to handle this situation.
Shaunna let out a quiet breath of relief when Lanie buckled herself in on the passenger side. “When you first got Magic,” she asked casually as she turned the key in the ignition. “What was he like? What did you do with him?”
As Shaunna drove toward the section of Bakersfield where she knew Tyler lived, Lanie talked, describing how she and her mother had first picked Magic out from all the other Mustangs being offered up for adoption, how they’d trailered him to the barn behind their house and how her mother had had someone come over and break him. Shaunna shook her head, cringing when Lanie went on to tell her how the man had tethered Magic to a post and sacked him out, then tied up one of the horse’s hind legs so he couldn’t buck when the saddle was put on.
“I don’t break horses that way,” she said when Lanie was finished. “And I don’t train horses that way. I want a horse’s cooperation, not his submission.”
“My mother said—” Lanie started.
Shaunna interrupted. “We’re not talking about your mother, we’re talking about me...me, you and Magic.” She pulled up in front of the address Tyler had given as his residence when he signed the papers to board Magic at the stable. “This where you live?”
Lanie stared at the house and for a moment said nothing, then she looked back at Shauna, her expression cold. “My mother broke Magic the right way.”
“Your mother probably broke Magic the way she knew. A lot of horses have been broken that way. But there are a lot of horse people who now don’t think that’s the best way, don’t believe in forcing a horse into submission. I’m one of those people. We don’t think of horses as being stupid and we don’t think of them as being the enemy. We believe a horse will be your partner if you let him...and if you understand what he’s trying to tell you.”
“My mother broke Magic the right way,” Lanie repeated defiantly.
Shauna shook her head, unsure of how to get her point across without upsetting Lanie even more. “I don’t know what your mother did, or taught you. I only know that I don’t believe in punishing a horse if he makes a mistake. If you train a horse that way, he may comply, but he won’t really be working with you, and you’ll never know when he might rebel. You will always have to be on guard. My way, they do what you want because it’s their choice.”
“My mother knew more about horses than you’ll ever know.”
The girl’s anger tore at Shaunna, and she wished she knew how to take it away. She remembered herself as a teenager, after she’d run away from home. She’d been that angry, even angrier. She’d been ready to take on the world. The chip on Lanie’s shoulder was sawdust compared to the one Shaunna had carried. It was Betsy Helman who had found the patience to blow it away.
“Your mother’s gone,” Shaunna said softly, knowing the words would hurt. “And Magic needs help. It’s your choice. You’re the one who has to decide what to do. Think about it tonight. If you don’t want to do it my way, have your dad find someone else to work with Magic.”
“Yeah, right.” Lanie snorted in disgust. “Like he cares what happens to me.”
“He cares,” Shaunna said, knowing Tyler did. She’d seen him just before they got into the truck, standing near the entrance to his office building, watching them. He cared enough to let Lanie work this out. Shaunna liked that.
Lanie swore, and Shaunna lifted her brows. “That’s another thing. I don’t allow any swearing around my barn. I don’t want to hear any more.” Again, Lanie swore, and Shaunna nodded toward the truck door. “It’s time for you to go inside. Think about what I’ve said. You’re a smart girl. Very smart. I think you’ll make the right decision.”
Lanie let loose with another string of swearwords, then pushed open the door and got out. She slammed it shut and headed up the driveway toward the house.
Shaunna saw a woman come out of the house next door and also make for Tyler’s place. Lanie looked her way and swore at her. Shaunna shook her head and started her truck again, a backfire reminding her that she needed to get the poor thing into the shop. But to do that, she had to figure out if she had any money in the bank account, and that was the problem.
The sun was setting when Tyler drove into the stable yard. It had taken longer for him to get away from Lanie than he’d expected. Three vehicles were in the parking area, a green van, a red compact, and the blue truck he’d seen Shaunna get into earlier that day. He pulled in next to the van.
His neighbor had agreed to come back and sit with Lanie while he came to the stable to talk to Shaunna. He’d listened to Lanie’s side of the story, sprinkled amply with swearwords. Now he wanted to hear Shaunna’s version.
He went to the house first. After knocking twice, Maria came to the door and directed him out to the barns. It seemed stable owners didn’t work eight hour days. More like daybreak to dark.
Two dogs joined him en route, begging for his attention but never barking. Before he reached the first barn, he noticed a horse and rider in one of the arenas and decided to check it out first. He knew Shaunna gave riding lessons in the evening.
There were three riding rings behind the barns: a small, round pen, a larger, rectangular-shaped arena, and a sizable, show-type arena. The horse and rider he’d seen were in the largest arena, and the moment the rider faced him, he realized it was Shaunna. Stopping where he was, he stood back where he could watch but not be noticed.
From the first time he met her, he’d been aware of a gracefulness in Shaunna’s movements. Seeing her on a horse, he was stunned. She wasn’t just a rider but a part of the horse. She sat straight in the saddle and moved in unison with every turn and stop the horse made.
The horse spun to the right, then to the left, his hind legs barely moving from one spot, and Tyler shook his head in disbelief as he realized the horse had no bridle or reins. The only sign of any control mechanism was a circle of rope hanging loosely around the horse’s neck, but Shaunna’s hands weren’t on the rope.
The horse dashed forward, then came to a sliding stop, the dust kicking up behind him. Again, there was a turn to the left. Then to the right.
Tyler wasn’t sure how, but Shaunna was communicating with the horse. Watching her, he remembered the stories he’d heard when asking around for someone to take on Magic. Each of the stable owners he’d contacted, once they heard of his situation, had told him the one he needed to see was Shaunna Lightfeather. They’d spoken of her with awe, said she could talk to horses and that horses understood her.
Tyler was beginning to believe they were right.
As far as he could tell, however, she wasn’t using words. Though she was concentrating on the horse’s head, her lips weren’t moving. No part of her body seemed to be moving.
“Stick ’em up,” a small voice piped up behind him.
Tyler looked away from Shaunna and her horse, then around and down. Behind him stood a little boy about six years old. In his hand was a plastic water gun.
“Jeffery Arnold Prescott!” a woman’s voice called sternly from the barn door.
The boy turned away from Tyler and looked toward the barn. So did Tyler. Coming toward them was a woman in her mid-thirties dressed in Western apparel. She held out her hand as she neared.
“What did I say about that gun, Jeffery? Give it to me.”
The boy immediately hid the gun behind his back. “I wasn’t going to shoot him.”
“Give it to me,” his mother repeated firmly. For a moment, Tyler didn’t think the boy was going to obey, then the hand behind the child’s back moved and he held the gun out to his mother. She shook her head at him, then looked at Tyler. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” After everything else that had happened that day, being held up by a six-year-old seemed appropriate. “I’m discovering kids don’t always do as you tell them.”
“Tell me about it.” Again, she shook her head, then extended her hand to him. “I’m sorry. I’m Chris Prescott. I think I’ve seen you a couple of times. You’ve got a daughter, haven’t you. Lana or something?”
“Her name is Lanie,” he said, and shook Chris’s hand. “I’m Tyler Corwin.”
“Glad to meet you, Tyler,” Chris said. “Shame about that Mustang of yours, but don’t you worry. Shaunna will bring him around. She can do anything with a horse.” She looked beyond Tyler. “Can’t you, Shaunna?”
“We’ll see,” Shaunna said from a spot nearby, and Tyler turned to find she’d left the arena and was now sitting on her horse only a few feet away.
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