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Brand rode the horse he was on to a standstill, then spent several minutes riding the animal around the pen, teaching it to obey the reins and the instructions signaled by the rider’s legs.
“That does it.” He swung from the saddle and hung a rope over the nearest post. His eyes touched her, making her forget momentarily that they were surrounded by a horde of cowboys.
He shifted his gaze around the circle.
“Where can I find Eddie?” he asked.
Sybil glanced at the assembled crew. Odd that Eddie wasn’t with them. Nor the foreman or any of the other cowboys she was familiar with.
Cal answered Brand. “Boss got called away to tend a bull.”
“When he returns, tell him he can find me at my campsite.” Brand headed for the gate.
“Hang on. There’s one more horse to go.”
Sybil felt the tension radiating from the cowboys. It trickled up her spine, caused her to curl her fingers until the nails bit into her palm.
Brand stopped, studied the circle of cowboys. “There wasn’t another this morning.”
Cal chortled. “We found this one ’specially for you.”
Only because she watched so carefully did Sybil see the way Brand’s shoulders tensed and his breathing paused for a second. Then he emptied his lungs in a slow sigh.
“Special for me, you say? Let me guess. This horse is meaner than a twister, ain’t never been rode, and has been known to bite, kick and generally let people know he don’t intend to be.”
Cal’s laugh seemed a little strained despite his obvious glee. “Let’s see if you can live up to your reputation. Or are ya scared to get on this horse?”
Brand tipped his hat back and slowly shifted his gaze from cowboy to cowboy. Several of them squirmed.
Then his gaze fell on her. His eyes—the color of warm chocolate—filled with resignation and a loneliness he would no doubt deny, but she felt it clear through to the bottom of her heart. “You don’t have to do this,” she whispered.
Acknowledgment flickered through his eyes, though he couldn’t have heard her. Something shifted in his demeanor. It was as if her inaudible words encouraged him, let him know that not everyone shared Cal’s wish to see him tossed into the dust.
“Bring him on.” Brand jerked his hat down low, widened his stance and waited.
Three men pulled on ropes to drag in a black horse with white-rimmed eyes. The animal snorted and kicked.
Sybil held her breath.
Again, she whispered, “You don’t have to do this.”
But Brand never noticed.
Every eye was on that wild stallion. Every man held his breath.
“Throw on a saddle if you can.” Brand’s voice dared them to fail.
It took an additional two men to get a saddle blanket on the horse and then the saddle. One of them came away limping after a kick from the angry animal.
“Hold him while I get seated.” Brand spoke calmly, as if the only uncertainty was the ability of the struggling cowboys to do so.
Sybil’s chest hurt from holding her breath as she watched him gingerly arrange himself in the saddle.
“Let him go.”
The cowboys released their ropes and raced away, throwing themselves over the fence, then scrambling around to watch the show.
Sybil could not tear her gaze from the big man on the horse. He sat poised and ready. At first the horse simply stood quivering, then it erupted into frenzied movement. It seemed to jerk every which way at the same time. She’d watched Brand buck out a number of horses over the past two days, but nothing like this. Hooves flying toward the sky. Back twisting two different directions at the same time. Head down. Snorting. Blowing. But Brand clung to the gyrating animal.
“He’s good,” said the cowboy on Sybil’s right.
“He ain’t done yet,” Cal answered, disappointment in his tone.
Then the horse stopped. It stood there quivering.
A murmur of approval circled the crowd.
“He did it,” Sybil said.
“Don’t think so, not yet.”
And then the animal turned and tried to bite its rider. As Brand kicked away from the teeth, the horse suddenly started to buck again.
Brand fought to stay in the saddle.
The horse ran for the fence, ramming him against the boards.
