Free Once Touched by Laura Moore Page B

said, who was far more comfortable in the saddle than his wife, even though he’d confessed it had been nearly a decade since he was last astride a horse.
    “That’s ’cause he’s standing still. All bets are off once he starts going.”
    “No worries, Sharon. Major and I will take care of you,” Quinn assured her with an easy smile. “You, Paul, Mellie and Leonard, and Katherine and Stephen will be riding with me. Domino and I are going to take you on some of our favorite trails.”
    “And the others get to go with Josh?” Katherine asked, her pout matching her tone.
    “That’s right. He’ll be taking the more experienced riders this morning.” And the less flirtatious ones, too. It was sheer good luck that Katherine wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the faster-paced ride, because the overt come-hither glances she’d been casting Josh’s way had quickly gone into
Houston, we have a problem
territory. Had Katherine bothered to look over at Stephen, she’d have beheld a supremely pissed-off spouse.
    Even if Katherine had been an intermediate rider—and from the way she slouched in the saddle and held her reins, it was clear she was anything but—Quinn didn’t want her and Stephen anywhere near Josh. The other guests didn’t deserve to be treated to a marital blow-up on their trail ride.
    Domino had been standing patiently while Quinn checked stirrups and cinches and adjusted the riders’ hands on their reins, urging them to relax their death grip. Each contact made her remember another pair, this one surprisingly sensitive and strong. Even now she could recall the warm weight and steady pressure of Ethan’s hands covering hers as she taught him to milk.
    Quinn was the first to admit she had a tendency to act impulsively. Her suggestion that Ethan place his hands over hers was a perfect example. In her own defense, she’d believed that, given the stiffness in his injured shoulder and arm, hands-on learning would be the best way to teach him. He’d caught on amazingly quickly—but not before the heat from his body transferred to hers. Not before her body started listening to his, communicating on some level she wasn’t used to.
    Even now she was feeling odd and unsettled.
    Grasping Domino’s reins in her left hand, she raised her leg, placed the toe of her boot in the stirrup, and swung herself up into the saddle, finding the other stirrup with her right foot. Settling her weight in the cantle, she leaned forward and ran her hand up the crest of Domino’s neck, saying hello to her gelding.
    He looked good. Josh had brushed him until his inky black coat gleamed and the white spots on his haunches stood out like giant snowflakes. Even his black ears, which had swiveled at the familiar caress, were at their glossiest.
    For that alone she should be able to shake off her annoyance with Josh, irrational though it was. It wasn’t his fault he’d been unaware that Ethan had been injured in Afghanistan, especially since Ethan had discarded his sling. And though he was noticeably thin and haggard, the morning light had softened his drawn expression and the shadows in his eyes.
    Nor could she blame Josh for behaving like an armchair general. If he had friends who’d been deployed in Afghanistan, he’d probably heard just enough to think he knew something about what it was like for the men risking their lives. But while she didn’t know all the details of what had happened to Ethan, she instinctively understood that he’d chosen Silver Creek Ranch as a refuge from those questions. Unfortunately, the Texan hadn’t picked up on the fact that a little discretion was in order.
    For whatever reason, perhaps because he was caught up in the excitement of discussing the war, Josh hadn’t noticed how still Ethan became when asked about the soldiers with whom he’d been stationed and where they were now. No,
still
wasn’t the right word. He’d become frozen, locked in his memories.
    Josh hadn’t noticed