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Deidre returned her smile. “If I don’t fall off and break my neck,” she said under her breath as she turned in her seat.
“With teachers like Nick and I?” Brigit asked jovially. “Not a chance.”
As it turned out, Deidre had more than Nick and her mother for teachers. A half an hour later, she sat on the back of a brown mare named Grace as she was taught to find her seat. Nick held the horse steady while Addy adjusted one stirrup, Brigit adjusted the other and Evan, Addy’s husband, silently oversaw their progress. Deidre held the reins and tried to get used to the unusual sensation of sitting on a large animal’s back.
“Don’t jam your foot so tight in the stirrup,” Addy instructed.
“Keep your posture straight, but try to relax,” Brigit added.
“Quit poking at the girl and put her out on the lunge,” Evan chimed in.
“The lunge?” Deidre asked nervously. She petted Grace’s neck soothingly when Nick let go and her hooves shifted. Was she transferring her anxiety to the animal?
“It’s easiest to teach you how to post on a lunge line,” Nick explained as he attached a leather strap to Grace’s bridle.
“And what’s posting again?” Deidre wondered uncertainly.
“A horse’s trot is bouncy,” Nick explained. “Posting helps to smooth out the jarring motion. You rise in the saddle for every other stride. Can you show her while I explain?” Nick asked Brigit.
Brigit nodded. Evan brought her a sleek-looking, near-black horse that had already been saddled. Deidre watched in admiration as her mother mounted with ease and an elegant poise. She straightened her spine, trying to model her mother’s perfect posture. She watched Brigit urge the horse to a trot within the fenced enclosure.
“See how she rides the trot?” Nick said. Deidre listened intently as he described the necessary motion for the post, watching her mother with a tight focus, trying to memorize the movement.
“Are you ready to try it?” Nick asked.
“Not really,” Deidre said doubtfully. Her mom had made it seem like the easiest thing on earth to post on a horse, but she was quite sure it wasn’t.
“It’ll be okay,” Nick assured her. “You’ll circle me while I have Grace on the line. It’ll give you a chance to learn to post without having to worry about guiding her.”
“Can I lunge her?” Brigit asked breathlessly as she dismounted and handed her reins to Evan.
Nick glanced at Deidre, his eyebrows quirked upward. She gave him a shaky, hopeful smile.
“Sure,” he murmured, handing the lunge line to Brigit.
It took Deidre several minutes to get the required motion as she jostled around for a while on Grace’s back, circling the enclosure. After concentrating and shifting her muscles into the new movement, things seemed to smooth. She heard a shout from Addy and glanced through the gentle snowfall toward the fence.
“You’ve got it!” Addy called.
A surge of excitement went through her as she matched the rhythm of her body to that of the horse. It felt exhilarating.
She grinned and glanced at her mother. Brigit’s expression as she held the lunge line was beyond proud.
Chapter Ten
“That was so much fun!” Deidre called back to Nick two hours later as they approached the stables at a slow trot, Brigit riding several yards in front of them. White Christmas lights twinkled against the gray winter sky from the trees that lined the McGraw Stables entry drive. It’d been indescribable, practicing with Nick and her mother on one of the many well-cleared paths and finally taking her first full all-out ride, independent of the lunge line or instruction.
Riding a horse felt similar to soaring free on a high dive. It was a heart-pounding, thrilling...quite possibly addictive experience.
She glanced back, grinning, only to see Nick watching her, just a hint of a smile t
ilting his firm mouth. Her heart surged in her breast. Snowflakes dusted his dark hair and jacket. She’d seen him riding a few times at The Pines. While her mother reminded her of an elegant equestrian princess, Nick rode like he was one with the animal.
“I suppose you’re happy,” she said quietly as he came alongside her. “You guessed I’d love it, and you were right.”
He gave a small shrug and spoke quietly enough for only her to hear. “I wasn’t being smug,” he corrected. “I was just appreciating the rear view.”
Deidre snorted softly with laughter and brought Grace to a halt, thrilling at the manner in which the animal followed her slightest prompt. She was riding the high from her horseback ride until Nick helped her dismount. He noticed her grimace.
