The Forest Ranger's Child by Leigh Bale

Author:Leigh Bale
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Religion & Spirituality, Maraya21, Fiction, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 0373877498
Publisher: Mills & Boon Love Inspired
Published: 2012-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

As Nate pulled his silver truck into the wide driveway at Emerald Ranch, his gaze rested on Lily. A thread of joy speared his heart and he wondered why seeing this woman made him so happy.

Dressed in blue jeans, cowboy boots and a shirt with the buttons tight across her pregnant tummy, she stood near a horse trailer set up in front of the barn. A haltered cream buckskin mare pranced back and forth in front of the trailer. Wearing leather gloves, Lily held the lead line to the horse in one hand and a stick with a long string attached at the end in the other hand. Now and then, Lily flicked the string at the horse’s hind rump. The fluttering string didn’t hurt the mare, but it caused her to move her feet.

Parking his truck, Nate got out and walked over to the horse trailer. He gazed at Lily’s distended stomach and widened his eyes. He’d never seen a woman so far along in pregnancy train a horse like this. And he wasn’t sure he liked Lily being so close to horse hooves. If the animal reared, Lily could be knocked down and seriously hurt.

Most women this far along would be waddling like a duck, but Lily seemed energetic and light on her feet. Because he realized Lily was concentrating on the horse, he didn’t speak. Instead, he sat beside Hank on the loading dock of the barn and watched the show with appreciation for this talented horsewoman.

Hank nodded and spoke low. “Howdy, Nate. Lily’s trailer training one of the mares.”

“I see that. You sure she’s safe?”

“Yeah, Lily knows what she’s doing.”

Both men watched Lily work. Nate wanted to see if she was as good with horses as Hank claimed. The lead rope was tied to the halter rather than clipped. That would keep it from bonking the horse in the chin if Lily had to jerk on the lead rope to get the horse to back away from her.

Very shrewd.

Holding the lead rope loose in her forward hand, Lily lightly touched the animal’s rump from behind to drive the horse forward a step or two. Then she jiggled the rope to cue the mare to back up a couple of steps. Over and over again, she repeated this exercise. Forward, retreat. Forward, retreat. Nate could see the mare relaxing as she became accustomed to the process and began to understand what Lily wanted from her.

The horse blew dust from her nostrils. Lily paused frequently to stroke and reassure the animal, teaching the horse to overcome the flight instinct of a prey animal.

As Nate watched Lily gentle the horse, it occurred to him that he must handle Lily the same way. To earn her trust, he must show her again and again that he meant her no harm. That she could rely on him. And eventually she would come to him on her own terms.

“They say you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat animals,” he told Hank.

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