“Thank you, Nate.” Placing her hand on his shoulder, she applied gentle pressure and he bent. She kissed his lips lightly. “You’re a good man and a wonderful father.”
Stroking his palm along her neck, he said, “You make me feel like both.” He kissed her again and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they continued toward the barn. Glancing down at her, he added, “Meeting you…it makes everything better.
Her smile made his heart race. For the first time in his life, Nate looked at a woman and saw his future.
No matter what it took, he was going to marry Zoe as soon as he could talk her into taking him.
With Mandy on his team, he knew he couldn’t lose.
Chapter Eight
They entered the barn and Nate led Zoe to one of the mares. She stroked her palm down her nose as he went to get a saddle from the tack room for her to use.
“This is Kisses. I’ll help Mandy and be right back,” he told Zoe.
“Take your time.”
She didn’t need anyone’s help to saddle a horse. Working through movements she could have done in her sleep, she was mounted before the father and daughter.
On the back of a horse, she was relaxed and confident. It was one of the few areas where she didn’t doubt herself in the slightest.
Mandy’s eyes were huge. “Zoe, you know how to saddle your own horse?” She nodded. “How did you learn?”
Resting the reins across her thigh, she signed, “I bred, raised, and trained horses before my accident.” The two of them stared at her in surprise. “I started earning money helping with Dad’s horses when I was about six. I saved up and bought my first foal.” She shrugged. “Before long, we had to build a second stable. Then I started boarding and training other people’s horses.” With a wink, she added, “I’m more comfortable on a horse than in a car.”
“You know everything about horses?” Lifting one shoulder, Zoe nodded. “I have a hundred questions.”
Leaning forward, Zoe patted the horse’s neck. She pointed her thumb to the main yard and guided the mare from the building.
She wanted to familiarize herself with the animal before they headed out on the property. Checking her responses to clicks and gentle movements of her knees, she barely used the reins.
When the father and daughter appeared, she signed to Nate, “Were these horses trained by Natives?”
“How the hell did you know that?”
“Their skill is always recognizable. They needed their hands free. You can’t use a bow and arrow if you’re worried about reins.”
Holding up her hand, she laid the leather loosely over her legs and guided the horse around the yard with her knees. A light walk to a gentle run, she gradually increased her speed. After a full circle of the house, she reappeared in front of them.
“She’s a beautiful girl and hasn’t forgotten her training.”
Nate’s lips were slightly parted. In a daze, he signed, “You’re really, uh, good on the back of a horse.”
“Dad, I want Zoe to teach me everything.” The librarian laughed. “She thinks I’m kidding. I’m so serious.”
Riding alongside Zoe, Nate patted her thigh. “More excuses to spend time together and they’re totally legit.”
Blushing lightly, she signed, “It’s no hardship.”
“Good.” Giving her a wink, he led the way through the double gate to the open area beyond.
Zoe certainly didn’t mind the way Nate looked on the back of a horse. Suddenly, an image of him in the kilt while riding crashed into her mind and she gasped softly.
Talk about fantasy material.
They rode over flat land for a quarter mile and Zoe saw a pond in the distance. Mandy explained the samples she’d collected for her science project as Zoe read her lips.
“This pond is fed by an underground stream but we get runoff from the ridge during the rainy season. It picks up a lot of sediment and minerals on the way down. A year ago, I started noticing the grass was dying on either side of the rut.”