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She frowned, looking puzzled.
He grinned. “That’s a fancy new word Mr. Prescott uses for training horses. Well, come on boy, let’s see how you do.”
Joe leaped the paddock fence rather than open the gate, and Anna felt she should follow suit. Far shorter and slimmer, leaping in one bound, however, was out of the question. Hurrying as not to let Joe see her climb the wooden fence, she quickly made her way over.
The lead hand grabbed the bridle around the horse’s neck and led her over to where Anna stood. “This here is Lucy. She’s our newest filly. A little on the shy side, but makes up for it on the spirited side.”
She looked up at the huge animal. From this side of the fence, the filly was much taller than she realized. Her eyes made contact with the horse.
“You need a saddle boy?”
Never having used one before she shook her head. That was a luxury her family never had, therefore, bareback was the only form for them.
“Suit yourself.” She thought she caught a smirk in the corner of his mouth as he turned away and tied the rope to the bridle as a makeshift rein, but she sincerely doubted as much. “I’ll hold her if you wanna go ahead and get on.”
“What’s going on?” A few ranch hands had come over to investigate.
“The new ranch hand here is going to give Lucy a go.”
Anna thought Joe’s voice sounded far too bright. A trickle of apprehension crept down her spine.
“Hell, this should be good.” One of the ranch hands muttered and plopped himself on the top rung of the fence to watch. The others did as well.
“Go on kid,” Joe said, looking down at her. “Or ya change your mind?”
In a split second, Anna knew if she was ever to gain this man’s respect she would have to climb on top of that horse. She had no idea what “schooling a horse” meant, but she knew what breaking a horse was, and she had a funny feeling the two were one and the same. Back home, that job was left to her father and brother. She had often watched and cringed at the apparent danger.
Putting her fears aside, she gripped the reins and felt the horse instinctively withdraw. She paused, waiting for the animal to calm itself before she tried once more. Again the animal did a little dance, shift her rump furthest from Anna. She would have gladly waited again until the horse had stopped moving altogether, but Joe had other ideas.
“Hell, kid, we ain’t got all day.” In one swift movement he gripped her around the waist and tossed her onto the back of the horse.
There was a moment’s hesitation where Anna felt the horse’s entire body tense before suddenly bursting into life. She pranced and bucked, trying desperately to remove the small woman on her back. Terrified, all Anna could do was hold on for dear life. Lucy neighed with a mix of anger and fear, shaking her head and body in massive convulsions. The cowboys on the fence were shouting and hooting, egging her on. Joe had leaped out of the way, grinning from ear to ear as he watched the wild beast tossing the human on her back like a rag doll.
Very quickly, Anna’s equilibrium was lost and she knew if she was to remain intact she would have to focus. Drowning out the laughter and whooping calls of the ranch hands, she concentrated instead on the movements of the horse beneath her. Lucy bucked and bolted not once letting up. She was determined to rid herself of the unwanted creature on her back, but Anna could not allow herself to focus on that, or Lucy would have her way. Instead, she honed in on the horse’s mane and used it as a central point to keep herself centered.
Her legs clung to the horse’s side while her hands gripped the reins with such force, she could feel them cut the skin in her palms. She registered the burning sensation, but the fear of a greater more lethal pain had her holding on with deadly strength.
* * *
Wade read the telegram with disappointment. It seemed Kathleen had picked up her child’s influenza bug. The message said she felt fine enough to travel and assumed she would be by the end of the fortnight, but she feared she might still be a carrier of the sometimes deadly illness. She hated to see an epidemic spread throughout the ranch, especially during roundup. The message ended with a promise to visit closer to Christmas, which would also include her entire family. Usually, her visits were alone, which suited Wade just fine. He really never had anything against her husband, but, like Prescott, she had met and married him while being educated in England. The man was far too proper for Wade’s liking. Not surprisingly, Prescott got along with him splendidly.
But his sister was right on one account. It was best she not come if she was sick. He couldn’t afford to lose one ranch hand this time of year. Even if the boy proved to be a good replacement, more hands were always better than less.
The reminder of the boy had him stuffing the letter in his breast pocket and turning back toward the paddocks. There was no sense feeling sorry for himself. He would just have to wait. Kathleen would be home soon enough. Winter always came far too soon.
As he got closer he heard his ranch hands hollering and cheering. He wondered what was going on and discovered soon enough when the paddocks came into sight. There was a rider on the back of Lucy who was doing her best to buck the poor fellow off. The cowboys gathered around the paddock fence were raising their hats and waving them in the air as they watched the lone rider try to tame the wild beast. It only took a split second, but Wade instantly recognized the boy on top of Lucy.
“Jesus Christ, what the hell is going on here?” he shouted, as he leaped the paddock fence in one stride.
Joe gave him a guilty grin but said, “The boy wanted to prove himself.”
“He’s going to break his damn neck.” Wade cursed, non-too-pleased with his lead ranch hand. “Get off the horse, kid!”
He stood and watched the boy being tossed and bucked in every direction, but amazingly still remained on the horse’s backside. Wade frowned and looked over at Joe. “How long has he been on?”
His smirk vanished immediately as realization struck the wrangler. “A good five minutes.”
Admittedly, Wade was impressed, but thrust the thought aside as the forefront of his concern was getting the kid safely off the bucking horse. “Boy, get off the damn horse now!”
