Exposing Amber by Elizabeth Goddard

Author:Elizabeth Goddard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Amber took a deep breath and smiled up at the clear, blue sky. She loved North Dakota weather in the summer. An hour ride into the Badlands would bring breathless views as well, so the guide had said.

“All right.” Tom Snickett pointed at her as he led a large brown beast around. “You can have Blue.”

But the horse is brown. And it looked to be twice as tall as Amber. “You want me to get on that?”

Another man brought a stool over and set it next to Blue while Tom held on to the reins. “Blue is one of our calmest. She won’t do you wrong.”

After a quick glare at Muriel who already sat astride a white horse called Black, Amber took a step. Despite her shaking knees, she forced herself to walk toward the horse. Tom lifted his hand, signaling Amber to stop.

“Try not to be afraid. Horses can sense fear.”

Fantastic. If he wanted her to feel confident and douse the fear, he’d said the wrong thing.

“Chin up, chickadee.” Muriel waved. “You can do this.”

Amber tried to think of something else besides riding, and her thoughts landed smack on Dr. Selman. Not good. Her pulse hit high gear as she thought about his phone call. Muriel had said he wanted to speak to her. On the drive over, she dialed his cell. Getting no answer, she left a message.

Tom still stood waiting, so Amber shifted her focus to the horse.

“Okay.” Tom held the reins at Blue’s head. “Grab hold of the saddle horn with your left hand.”

Amber stood on the stool, grateful she didn’t have to figure out a way to haul herself up the side of the living mountain and somehow sling her right leg over the beast’s back. She grabbed the saddle horn and stuck her left foot in the stirrup. So far so good.

“Now grab the back of the saddle with your right hand, put your weight on the ball of your left foot, then sling your right leg over the horse.”

She could do this. Amber bit her lip. Hands on the saddle. Push on the left foot. Right leg over, swivel.

Once her right foot found the other stirrup, she released a sigh.

Tom lifted his hat and handed her the reins.

“Nothing to it,” she said.

“Hold the reins in one hand. When you’re going left, pull the reins a little toward the left side of Blue’s neck. Going right, pull to the right. Not too hard, though. Blue knows the drill.”

“Got it.” Piece of cake.

Amber drew a long, shaky breath, keenly aware of every little movement and twitch of the horse beneath her. She wasn’t sure how many riders were ahead of her in the line, or behind her for that matter, but she counted seven that she could see before the rest disappeared into the tree-shrouded trail. When the line began moving, her horse fell into step by rote, and Amber rocked with the rhythmic movement that was Blue. After a while, Amber began to relax. This wasn’t bad.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.