Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade

Author:Becky Wade
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC042040, FIC027020, FIC042000
ISBN: 9781441261403
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2013-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

A queasy rush of apprehension hit her when she spotted Bo and a brown horse waiting for her in the pasture outside her father’s stable. The sensation had nothing to do with Bo and everything to do with the fact that he expected her to RIDE THE BIG UNPREDICTABLE ANIMAL.

Bo spent a long time talking to her about the horse he’d picked for her (a female named Banjo), the bridle thing and how it worked, the saddle and how it worked. Patiently, and in simple terms, he explained how to steer with the reins and how to get the horse to go and to stop. Meg found it hard to concentrate, though, because her brain was thinking yikes yikes yikes the whole time.

She should have taken riding lessons from anyone but Bo. Then she wouldn’t have cared if she acted like a colossal baby in front of her teacher. With Bo, she did care, so she pretended courage.

Finally, it came time to get on top of Banjo. She surveyed the horse’s head, trying to judge whether she had evil intentions in her eyes and also to make sure her ears weren’t flattened back. She’d heard somewhere that was a bad sign.

The horse looked completely calm. Ears in the upright position.

“Meg,” Bo said gently. He pointed to his own ear, and she realized she’d been spinning her earring back.

“Oh.” She lowered her hand. “I’m ready.”

“Look at me.”

She looked.

“I’d never let anything happen to you.” Clouds framed his face and dark birds took to the sky from distant treetops.

He said the words with such utter seriousness that tears sprang to Meg’s eyes.

“Tissue?” He reached toward his pocket.

“No.” She drew herself up, smiled gamely. “I really am ready.” Total fib.

He bent over and cupped his hands. She put her boot—the only pair she owned and probably not at all correct for actual riding—into his palms, and he hoisted her upward easily. She swung a leg over Banjo’s back and landed in the saddle.

In instant response, her throat tightened with fear and her pulse thrummed fast in her ears. She remembered this from childhood. This feeling of being at the horse’s mercy.

The day she’d been thrown, the last time she’d sat in a saddle, the horse had bucked, twisted, and veered underneath her. She could remember scrabbling for control, terrified, before she’d fallen.

She thought back to when she and Bo had baby-sat Jayden together. What had she been thinking? She should have changed the two dirty diapers. Horseback riding stunk way worse than toddler poop.

Bo kept up a steady stream of reassurance and teaching. He positioned the reins correctly in her hands, fitted the stirrups under her feet. “If it’s okay with you, I’m just going to lead her around at a walk.”

Meg nodded tersely. She’d left the recommended amount of slack in the reins, but that didn’t stop her from gripping the leather strips ferociously.

Bo had clipped a length of puffy rope to Banjo’s bridle. He didn’t need to pull on it to make the horse follow him.

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