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Morning caught Thad by surprise. He’d slept past sunup, and while a part of him wanted to roust himself out of bed to check his wheat field and feed the stock, another part wanted nothing more than to lie here with Leah beside him.
He’d gone way too far last night. Too far and too fast. But she must have liked it, or she wouldn’t be smiling at him that way, kind of shy and happy, with her cheeks all pink.
In the next moment she sat up, pulled on her work jeans and a shirt and disappeared out the bedroom door. Thad closed his eyes and thought about last night. Before he knew it, he’d drifted off again.
A thump from the kitchen brought him wide-awake. Hell, he’d never slept this late. What the devil was wrong with him?
He rolled out of bed, pulled on a pair of jeans and a clean shirt, and followed his nose into the kitchen. Damn, something smelled good.
He had to laugh at himself. Everything smelled good this morning.
“Morning.” Dammit, his voice was unsteady.
“Good morning.” Her voice was soft, almost hesitant.
“Leah—”
She placed one finger across his lips. “I have your breakfast ready,” she said quickly. “You will be surprised.”
Surprised? She hadn’t stopped surprising him since he’d first laid eyes on her.
At the kitchen table he found a mountain of fluffy scrambled eggs on his plate, along with crisp bacon and some kind of crunchy toast Leah had dreamed up using day-old biscuit halves crisped in the oven.
Teddy banged down the loft steps. “Mornin’, Pa.”
“Isn’t it a school day? You’re going to be late.”
“Today’s Saturday, Pa.”
“Ah, is it, now? Well, then.” He shot a glance at Leah. “How would you like to help me with an important project I’ve been putting off?”
Teddy gaped at his father. “You really mean it? What kinda project?”
Thad glanced again at Leah, bent over the oven where her biscuit toast was warming. “Today we’re going to teach Leah to ride a horse.”
She jerked upright and the baking sheet clattered onto the floor. “What?”
“It’s time, Leah. Can’t have you stuck out here with no way of getting to town without Ellie Johnson stopping by with her buggy.”
Leah stared at him in disbelief. “Ride a horse?” she said in a thin voice.
Teddy eyed her over his glass of milk. “You ain’t scared, are ya?”
She whirled away and snatched the baking sheet up off the floor. “Y-yes, I am scared. In China we did not have a horse.”
“We’ll help ya, won’t we, Pa?”
Thad reached over and ruffled Teddy’s uncombed hair. Leah’s heart skipped at the sight, then dropped like a stone into her stomach at the thought of climbing up onto a horse.
“I—I will try.” But a horse was so…big. Tall as a hay wagon, and those huge yellow teeth could bite, and it could kick hard enough to break her leg. Oh, heavens. She wondered how she would survive today.
The horse looked even bigger up close. Thad had saddled the animal in the barn, and now led it out into the upper pasture, where Leah waited. Her breath choked off.
Teddy jigged up and down with excitement. She suspected part of the boy’s excitement was the anticipation of seeing her fail. Taking another step backward, she sighed. Perhaps Thad’s son would never accept her; it was too much to hope he would come to like her.
It was a beautiful animal, a glossy dark brown, with slim legs and a steady gait. But it was still a horse. A big, muscular horse.
Thad walked the mare over to a thick pine stump. “Her name’s Lady. She’s real gentle, Leah. You’re gonna like riding her.”
Oh, no, she would not. She gazed up at the big black eye the animal fixed on her and shuddered.
“C’mon, Leah.” Teddy was off to the stump like a shot. She followed slowly, her palms damp.
Thad positioned her in front of the mare. “Most important thing is for you to let the horse get to know you.” He placed her hand on the animal’s nose. The skin rippled under her fingers, and she jerked away.
“Let her smell you all over.”
Smell her! Leah stood rigid with fear while the horse snuffled at the neck of her shirt.
“Ya must smell good,” Teddy chirped. “She likes you!”
“Now,” Thad instructed. “You watch me take off her bit and bridle, see how it’s done, and then I want you to put them back on.”
She watched his hands, committing his every move to memory. Then he thrust the jumble of paraphernalia at her and stepped aside.
“Your turn.”
Her hands shaking, Leah repeated his motions in reverse order and finished by looping the reins around the saddle horn.
