Free Sapphic Cowboi by K'Anne Meinel Page B

curious
after Perry warned her that people, even the circus people, would
steal anything not nailed down. “Do you want me to do anything
different from last night?” she asked and thought about how out of
control she really was the previous night.
    “ Well I’m sure Martha can
show you a thing or two” he assured her.
    Maggie’s face fell. She hadn’t seen Martha
since she had rudely introduced herself.
    Cecil noted her expression and wondered if
she had realized yet that Martha was his brother’s mistress.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “ Does she even know how to
ride a horse?” she asked not wishing to complain, after all Martha
was their choice not hers although she did recall talking to Cecil
about choosing the right person to work with her horses.
    Cecil was uncomfortable, he had no idea if
Martha could ride a horse, all he knew was that she had tried many
jobs in the circus to earn her pay and he wasn’t sure sleeping with
his brother wasn’t one of the jobs. “Of course she does” he said
heartily not sure if he really believed it or not. He tried to
smile to show his confidence but he didn’t realize how fake it came
across. “How did today’s practice go?” he asked.
    “ Practice?” Maggie asked
wondering if she had missed something, someone hadn’t told her
about a practice.
    “ You and Martha? How’d she
do on the horses?” he watched them a little uneasily, they were
watching him too, those that weren’t eating.
    “ We didn’t practice” Maggie
confessed wondering if she had just lost her job because she hadn’t
known she was supposed to practice.
    “ Martha was supposed to come
over and introduce herself…” he started wondering what had
happened.
    “ She did come and introduce
herself but we never got to the horses.” Maggie was puzzled, she
didn’t understand.
    “ Dammit” he swore causing
Maggie to feel startled “she was supposed to practice on your
horses” he said angrily.
    Maggie didn’t know if she should answer that
and chose to stay quiet watching Cecil for a clue of what to say or
do.
    Cecil knew what had probably
happened. That lazy slut Martha had probably come over, introduced
herself but gone off to sleep off another one of her binges. His
father would not be happy. He had loved Maggie’s horses but he had
said how much better it would be with a pretty girl on back of the horses like the
crowds expected. Cecil cursed the day his brother had started
sleeping with the little opportunist. “She was supposed to work on
your act today so you two could perform together tonight, some of
the basic stuff until we had the costumes made!” They had gone to a
lot of expense over the costumes that his brother had insisted on
for Martha, to keep her happy, to shut up her constant harping. He
had never known such a greedy woman. He saw Maggie’s concerned face
though and knew it wasn’t her fault. Attempting to keep his anger
under control he said “don’t worry about it; I’m sure you will do
fine.” He went off to tell his father and make sure he understood
it wasn’t Maggie’s or Cecil’s fault that his brother’s mistress
wasn’t prepared.
    Maggie had the horses
looking sharp. They had all relaxed and stayed away from the
outstretched hands of people wanting to pet the beautiful black
horses. The animals flicked their ears when people talked to them
but they weren’t Maggie and they answered only to their Maggie and looked
curiously at the others who tried to entice them closer. Several
people tried to climb under or over the fence and with or without
Maggie there it had been handled. Between the horses rushing them,
Feather’s growling and barking, or Maggie warning them away the
impression was that these were wild and unmanageable horses and not
to be trifled with.
    Martha showed up ten minutes before they were
to go into the tent that night. Maggie was shocked, she was dressed
in a harem outfit, or so she assured the surprised Maggie. It left
very