by Deb Kastner
Problem solved.
He was in the midst of turning Zephyr around when the girl burst into a loud, agonizing wail that sent a chill skittering up Cole’s spine.
What was her name again? Briana?
Why was she crying? If she wanted her horse to bolt out from under her, that sound would be just the ticket.
All was well that ended well, right? She was safe enough now—and always had been, really, with Zephyr’s level disposition and Cole right behind her. He ticked off other possibilities in his head. She’d managed to stay in the saddle, so she hadn’t been physically injured. She might be freaked out some, poor girl, but surely she realized the worst of her traumatic experience was over.
Unless she kept up the sobbing, which was enough to shake up a grown man. He shuddered.
He pulled Checkers closer to Zephyr’s side, hoping that would help Briana feel safer and more confident. Cole also wanted to make sure Zephyr kept his head, since clearly the girl had no idea how her voice and actions might affect her mount.
Marcus pulled up on his quarter horse and slid to the ground, then held up his arms to the still-sobbing youngster and grinned at her.
“Hey, now, little lady, let’s get you back on your own two feet for a minute. Get some ground underneath you. Don’t worry. Cole has your horse, and I’ve got you. Nothing bad is going to happen here.”
The girl sniffed and ran her palms across her now-flaming cheeks and then allowed Marcus to help her dismount.
“There you go,” Marcus said, holding her elbow until she gained her footing. “Steady now. See? It’s all good. I’ve got you.”
Briana had not only stopped crying, but she was now gazing up at Marcus as if he made the sun rise in the morning. Her hero.
Cole scoffed softly and bit his tongue to keep from adding his own remarks. Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armor clearly didn’t know the old adage about getting back up on a horse after being thrown from it.
Not that Cole had let Briana fall off the horse. Far from it. But he was certain the principle was the same. Briana needed to face down whatever mental obstacle it was that had tried to best her. He assumed the girl had been crying because she’d been frightened of Zephyr, or at the very least of the crazy horse’s two-hoofed antics. The best way to get over her fear was to keep riding, to say nothing of the fact that she would have to ride in order to return to the homestead. They were too far out to walk back even if she’d wanted to. He could lead Zephyr if it made her feel more secure, but she’d still have to be in the saddle.
Alexis had halted the line of trail riders, and every eye was staring in his direction—or rather, at swoop-in-and-save-the-day Marcus and his charge. Had no one noticed that he’d actually done the saving?
Apparently not. The only one not looking at Marcus was Tessa, and her gaze was burning a hole clean through Cole.
It had been a long time since he’d spent any time with Tessa, and his interpretive skills might be a little rusty—not that they were ever that great to begin with—but she looked astounded. And if he didn’t miss his guess, disappointed.
What had he done? He’d just saved the day, Marcus or no Marcus, but he wouldn’t have known that from her expression.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly ask Tessa what she was thinking, since he was still holding Zephyr’s lead rope.
“What are you planning to do here?” he asked Marcus, trying not to clench his jaw as he spoke. Cole was used to giving orders, not taking them, and it rubbed him wrong that Marcus had by default taken the lead in this situation—not to mention the credit.
Not that Cole wanted to be making any decisions where adolescent females with dicey emotions were concerned. Better he let Marcus take that job—but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow. A man had his pride.
“What do you think, little lady? Are you ready to climb back on Zephyr for me?” Marcus asked Briana with an overexaggerated Texas accent that made Cole’s ears ache. “Don’t worry about a thing, darlin’. No one’s going to let your horse get away from you again. I’ll keep a tight grip on Zephyr’s lead rope for the rest of the ride. You’re in good hands.”
Cole wondered if anyone noticed that he was the one who still held the lead and had Zephyr under control. Technically Briana was in his good hands.
Marcus smiled down at Briana in a way that made Cole want to grind his teeth or lose his lunch—or maybe both. Ridiculous, that’s what it was. Using a winsome smile as a way to charm the girl into compliance and forget about all her problems. Getting her all googly-eyed and out of breath wasn’t going to help her become a good horsewoman. What had happened to straight talking and straight shooting?
Maybe that didn’t work with teenage girls. But he recalled one teenage girl who didn’t need silly grins and goofy speeches to learn how to ride a horse.
Tessa had always had a good head on her shoulders. He hadn’t needed to play games with her. Not ever. Unlike Marcus, she was still direct and candid, wasn’t she?
Or maybe not.
It was disconcerting to realize that he really didn’t have a clue anymore. His whole world had turned up on end since coming back to Serendipity, and especially since finding out he’d be working with Tessa.
Reluctantly, he turned his attention back to the drama unfolding before him. Once Briana was back in the saddle, Marcus remounted and took Zephyr’s lead from Cole, then brought the girl and her horse back to her place in the line, signaling Alexis that all was well and she could resume the ride.
Cole guided Checkers back in line with Tessa’s horse, but she studiously avoided his gaze, and whatever conversation she’d been attempting with him earlier was shot clear out of the water. Obviously she had a problem with him—or, to be more specific, with something he’d done—but he didn’t know what that was. Better to get it over with.
“Are you going to tell me what I did wrong or just leave me to guess?” He couldn’t help it if his voice came out as a growl.
Her eyes snapped to his. “Are you serious right now?”
He shrugged. What did she want him to say? If he’d known what the problem was, he wouldn’t have been asking her about it, now would he?
“You made Briana cry.”
He’d what?
How did she figure he was responsible for that girl’s tears?
Her eyebrows rose at the same moment her gaze flooded with...something. He didn’t know what. Disappointment? Pity?
He cringed, wishing he was riding anywhere except next to her. Back in the day, she used to be able to read him like a book. She’d always known what he was thinking and feeling, sometimes before he did himself. He hoped that fact, at least, had altered, although the prospect looked bleak. He didn’t want or need Tessa to interpret his emotions for him.
“Cole, you laughed at her.”
“What? I did not. I—”
Oh, man. Tessa was right. He had laughed—not at Briana, of course. It was Zephyr’s antics that had him chuckling. But Briana wouldn’t have known that. Shame filled him. He wanted to kick himself. No matter that it wasn’t intended. He’d gone and trampled on an innocent young lady’s feelings. No wonder she’d beamed when Marcus had ridden up. At least the counselor had been kind, even if he was too dramatic for Cole’s liking.
“I...was laughing at the horse, Red,” he said, feeling as if he should explain. “Zephyr was front side down and back side up and just grazing away like nothing could bother him.”
One corner of Tessa’s mouth turned up—a little. Maybe. But he wasn’t certain, and he wasn’t much trusting his instincts right now.
“Yeah, I saw that, too,” Tessa admitted. “But Briana didn’t understand. She was probably a little worried about getting hurt, but I can guarantee you she was mainly terrified about taking a digger. To a teenage girl with a group of guys watchin
g her—well, let’s just say there aren’t many things worse in the world than being unceremoniously planted in the dirt. Except maybe the most handsome older man on the ranch riding up and snickering at her.”
He swallowed hard and tried to ignore what her words did to his suddenly fluttering stomach. “Hey, watch who you’re calling old.” His words were careless, but his emotions were not. He’d gone and inadvertently upset a teenage girl. He should have realized, paid more attention. “I hope I didn’t hurt her feelings. I really blew it.”
“You’ll learn.”
“I don’t think so. I’m clearly not cut out for this, and I’ve proven that today. Alexis didn’t know what she was asking when she hired me on to be a mentor.”
Tessa’s smile returned. “Oh, I think she did.”
He shook his head. Everyone was wrong about him. He couldn’t even figure out how to help a teenage girl out of a bind. And the kids were supposed to look up to him?
“There is one thing you can clarify for me,” he said, trying to understand all the nuances of what had gone down today. “You gave that boy a good setting down. But when we interact with the girls, it’s different, right? Because we can hurt their feelings?”
“I don’t let the young ladies under my charge get away with anything, if that’s what you mean. But yes, sometimes I take a different tack with them. Matt was goofing around, and he could have hurt himself. He thought he was a better rider than the rest of the group. And I’m sure he was trying to show off for the girls. But he’ll get what’s coming to him, in more ways than one. Thanks to you, part of his lesson will be a whole lot more effective than chopping vegetables.”
“Thanks to me? What did I do?” Cole seemed to be asking that particular question a lot lately. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. He’d already had enough blame cast upon him for one day—even if he’d fully earned every bit of the weight. He hadn’t done anything to Matt, though. He was certain of that much.
“Ginger.”
Matt’s horse? “What about her?”
“You could put a preschooler on her and she’d be the sweetest, most attentive mount you could possibly imagine. She instinctively knows the little ones are inexperienced. It’s a beautiful thing to watch her compensate for their lack of competence and the innocence of their riding errors.”
“But?” He didn’t know where she was going with this. How would a gentle horse help or hinder Matt’s attitude?
“But you just watch what she does when she gets a rider on her back who acts like he’s too big for his boots.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You will. Let’s just say Matt may find himself brushed up against a few bushes and trees as the day wears on. Ginger has a wicked sense of humor.”
Despite everything that had happened and the weight Cole carried in his heart, he couldn’t help but join Tessa’s laughter. It was quite a picture, a horse getting back at her rider by bumping him into things.
Which reminded him—
“What should I do about Briana? To make it up to her, I mean. I don’t want her to think I’m a spiteful man. I wasn’t laughing at her, and I’m appalled to think that she might have thought that I was. I need to apologize and tell her I’m sorry.”
Tessa shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I think Marcus charmed her right out of any distress she might have been feeling. I’m sure you’ve noticed his upbeat personality. He has a way with the teenagers, keeping them happy and smiling. Briana probably doesn’t even remember what set her off into tears in the first place.”
“Maybe not, but I still think I owe her an apology. I want her to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I wasn’t laughing at her.”
“It’s no problem. Really. I’ll pull her aside this evening and pass the explanation of your actions along for you.”
“You don’t think she needs to hear it from me?”
“Don’t make a big deal out of it, okay? It’s probably better that we just let it slide and move on. But I promise I’ll mention your apology to her.”
“Thanks, Red.” Cole felt the weight of anxiety roll off his back, and not only because he knew Tessa would fix his problem for him. It was much more than that.
For the first time since he’d returned to Serendipity, he didn’t feel tension turning his muscles into knots because he was around Tessa. In fact, riding beside her now, he felt almost comfortable, like pulling on the softness and scent of a familiar sweatshirt. He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in, enjoying the smell of the Texas grassland and the comfort of the gentle rock of Checkers’s gait.
He’d missed this. The landscape. The peace.
Tessa.
“Oh, no.” Tessa’s strained voice broke in on Cole’s tranquility and brought him to instant alertness.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Whitley.”
He looked around, trying to figure out what had Tessa on edge. Another teenager making trouble? They couldn’t just ride their horses and enjoy the beautiful Texas landscape?
“Who is—”
He didn’t get to finish his question. Tessa spurred Little Bit into a canter and rode up the line. At first Cole couldn’t see where she was going, but then he spotted the problem at about the same time Tessa reached Whitley.
After Zephyr’s crazy antics earlier, Cole thought he’d seen everything, but this one was new. Whitley was clinging to her saddle, which had slid off to the side of the horse, threatening to swing underneath. It was a dangerous position for a rider to be in, especially an inexperienced one. He was amazed the girl hadn’t rolled off the horse and into the dirt.
And once again, he was to blame. How could this be happening?
His muscles once again in knots, he nudged Checkers with the heels of his boots. When he reached Whitley’s side, he jumped from the saddle and joined Tessa in helping Whitley dismount without injuring herself. Marcus held the horse’s head while Tessa and Cole tag-teamed, Cole sweeping the girl safely to the ground while Tessa shoved the saddle up onto the horse’s back and checked the cinch—the very cinch Cole had been responsible for tightening.
He didn’t get it. He’d been saddling horses since he was in preschool. He knew about horses’ proclivity to bloat their undersides to keep the cinch loose and had experienced every other trick in the book where mischievous equines were concerned. A loose cinch was a beginner’s mistake, and one he knew he hadn’t made.
He couldn’t possibly have caused this accident, and yet...the evidence was right there in front of him. The knot had loosened enough for the saddle to slide, but not so much that it slipped under the horse. He offered up a quick thanks to God for watching out for the shaken teenager.
“Who did this?” Tessa demanded, shifting the saddle to the appropriate spot on the horse’s back and meticulously tightening the cinch knot. The saddle wouldn’t slide around this time. “Whitley? Tell me who’s responsible for this stunt.”
Whitley pinched her lips and remained silent, but Cole didn’t miss her inadvertent glance toward a couple of the boys nearby.
Neither, apparently, did Tessa.
“Do you have something you want to say?” Cole challenged a smirking blond kid whose jeans probably cost more than Cole had made in a month in the navy. It didn’t take a genius to see he was one of the instigators. The boy shrugged and shook his head.
“No? How about you?” he asked the kid’s indigo-haired friend, who was looking equally satisfied with his antics. If Cole had anything to do with it, he would wipe the smirks from both of their faces. Never mind peeling potatoes. These two guys deserved a swift kick in their behinds.
But before he could say a thing, Tessa whirled on the lads, her face as white as a sheet. He would have expected her cheeks to be flushed, because she was clearly angry enough to spi
t nails.
“You,” she said, pointing to the smug blond, “and you. I want you off your horses. Now.”
Cole wondered if anyone else noticed that she was speaking through clenched teeth. He wouldn’t want to be those boys right now. No matter what her peaked complexion hinted at, she was steaming-from-the-ears mad.
The boys slid from their saddles, and Cole moved to hold their horses’ heads.
“What do you have to say for yourselves?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at the young men. She marched back and forth in front of them, her hands propped on her hips.
“We were just trying to have a little fun,” the blond-haired kid mumbled, looking at the ground and kicking up dirt with the toe of his white sneaker.
“You think it’s fun to put a girl in danger?” Tessa fumed. “Whitley could have been seriously hurt. She could have fallen or been trampled or worse. It’s a good thing I saw her when I did or who knows what might have happened. Are you two the only ones responsible here?”
The blond kid remained silent, his gaze focused on his shoes. Indigo glanced at his friend and then at Tessa. He swallowed hard. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, there’s something. At least you’re owning up to it. I appreciate your honesty. Now I want to know what you’re going to do about it. Reparation is in order.”
Neither of the boys spoke up. Cole cringed. Couldn’t they see Tessa wasn’t messing around with them? Did they have a death wish or something?
“Apparently I haven’t made myself clear,” she continued. “For starters, I want to hear you—both of you—apologize to Whitley. Right now. Like you mean it.”
Whitley’s face turned the shade of a ripe apple. Cole wasn’t sure she appreciated the extra attention she was getting. Not this way.
The blond boy shrugged. “Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Like you mean it,” Tessa repeated sternly.
“Sorry,” the blond said again. “Uh, Whitley. We didn’t mean anything bad by it. Sorry if we scared you. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt or anything.”
