Free Affair of the Heart by Joan Wolf Page A

sake!”
    “Oh, stop it, Jay.” She turned her back on him and climbed out of the corral.
    “You only just got here, Jay,” One of the men put in. “She’s been on him for half an hour.” Caroline looked around, and the cowboy grinned at her. “Jesus, miss, but you can ride.”
    Caroline grinned back. “My name is Caroline,” she said.
    “And how did you manage with Mahogany?” Jay’s voice was hard as he stared at the ranch hand and then beyond him at the others.
    They all immediately looked away. “Not as well as Caroline,” Jim admitted. “I couldn’t keep him on the fence. No one could.”
    There was an unnerving silence and then Jay said, “Put that saddle back on Dusty.”
    “Sure thing, Jay.”
    Under his chilly blue gaze one of the men hastened to unbuckle Caroline’s girth and transfer the saddle to the gray. When the horse was ready, Jay turned to Caroline.
    “Coming?”
    She didn’t answer but went over to Dusty and swung into the saddle.
    “I don’t want you to ride that stallion again,” Jay said to her as they moved off.
    “He’s your horse,” she replied, her eyes looking straight ahead of her. “I would never have gotten on if I’d thought it would upset you so.”
    “Upset me? It scared the hell out of me.”
    Her lips tightened. “I didn’t jab at his mouth. I didn’t hurt him in any way at all.”
    “It wasn’t you hurting him that worried me,” he said grimly. “It was quite the other way around. That horse is too strong for you, Caroline. You’re a fine rider, but you don’t have the muscle power to control Mahogany.”
    Caroline knew he was right. She also felt a flicker of pleasure at his admission of concern for her. She smiled a little. “I know he’s too strong for me, but we were in the field. There wasn’t anywhere he could go.” She turned her head and looked at her stepbrother. “He’s too strong for anyone, really, unless he wants to cooperate.”
    Jay pushed his hat back on his head. “I guess so. What happened before I got there?”
    “Jim was spurring pretty heavily, and it was only making the stallion angry. I suggested that he stop.”
    Jay slanted her a look. “And they suggested that you get on and try?”
    She grinned. “They were dying to see the Eastern glamour puss dumped in the dust.”
    Jay grunted and didn’t look at her.
    “I didn’t just do it as a dare,” she went on. “I actually thought I might have some success with him. For some reason, I have a very soporific effect on horses. It makes it easy for me to get them to mind me.”
    “A soporific effect?”
    “Yes. As soon as I get on, they relax. I’ve never understood why.”
    He looked at her thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen Dusty this calm,” he said after a minute.
    She shrugged. “You see?”
    “It’s a handy gift to have.”
    “I suppose. It’s helpful on the hunting field and for trail riding, but it’s made me a disaster in the show ring.”
    “Why is that?”
    “A show horse should be collected, alert, alive. The really top show riders like Cecelia Archer just have to get on a horse and the horse looks fabulous. I get on and it looks as if he’s gone to sleep.”
    He smiled a little, as he was meant to, but his eyes remained grave. “Well, you won’t put Mahogany to sleep,” he said. He stopped his horse, and Caroline, surprised, pulled Dusty up as well and looked at him.
    “Mahogany is a magnificent animal,” he said to her, “and I know it must be a temptation to a rider of your caliber to get on him, but he’s not trustworthy, Caroline. Promise me you won’t ride him again.”
    He wasn’t angry now, but he was deadly serious. She looked back into his eyes. “I promise,” she said softly.
    He nodded gravely and began to move forward again.
    “What is this race the men were talking about?” she asked after a minute.
    “It’s at Owen Macdonald’s place down in Utah.” His face took on a faintly sardonic look. “He raises horses—has