Free Riding the River by Jeanne Harrell Page B

Sarah from
inside the barn.
    “Want some company?” he yelled back. Richie
blinked his eyes in surprise.
    “That would be great,” said Tess. “We’d love
some.” She’d decided that Tyler really was too shy to talk to
women, so talkative Richie might do after all. She smiled at him
and he smiled back.
    “Well, let’s get the horses saddled.”
    Richie and Matt headed into the barn with
Tess following. Sarah stood in the center frowning with hands on
her hips.
    “I thought you were needed for the sorting,
whatever that is.”
    “We can do it later,” said Matt cheerfully as
he got a saddle down for her.
    Sarah didn’t want the men to come along,
especially Matt. She’d liked him at first until he embarrassed her
when he caught her sleeping in the meadow. And then his nosy
comment about a boyfriend really set her off. She didn’t want him
along, but she’d been brought up to be polite.
    “We want to look for various animals on this
list Mr. Walker gave me.” She tried again. “I’m sure this will not be interesting to you guys.”
    “Let’s see that list.” Matt walked over and
read the list in her hand. He stood too close – Was that his
aftershave? Wow… She handed him the list and moved away.
Matt noticed.
    So did Richie.
    So did Tess…
    Everyone’s senses were on high alert. It was
obvious that nice Sarah was pissed off… And at Matt ... This could,
indeed, be interesting. Richie wasn’t going to miss this for the
world. Tess either…
    “Right… Well, let’s get those horses
saddled.” Richie decided to move things along, so they didn’t fall
apart here in the barn. Sarah didn’t look happy and Richie, nosy
guy that he was, wanted to learn the reason. And fun-loving Tess
had her own reasons for wanting the guys to come along.
    “Riding into those low hills, we should
probably see a couple of those animals on your list,” offered Matt.
He took off his hat to run a hand through his wavy hair. Then he
readjusted the hat back on his head.
    “That so?” Tess grinned at him. She glanced
at Sarah who’d set her lips in a thin line. Apparently, her mouth
was too tight to talk and she almost laughed at her. Then Tess
thought of something… “Any sage grouse around here?”
    Sarah perked up. She really wanted to see a
beautiful sage grouse, more than anything, which Tess knew. She’d
read up about them and they were interesting birds found primarily
in the West.
    “Sage grouse?”
    Matt picked up on her interest. “They feed on
sagebrush which we have a lot of on several parts of the property.”
He waited for her response.
    “Really?”
    “I think I have binoculars in my saddlebag as
well.”
    That seemed to settle things. Matt saddled
her horse, and gave her the reins.
    “Tess,” she said happily. “I’ve got Thunder
again. He’s the nicest horse.”
    Richie, as well as Matt, was breathing a
small sigh of relief. Tess almost laughed at their reactions.
    “Good. Who have I got, Richie?”
    “That’s Strawberry. He’s a good boy too.”
    They rode along together in comfortable
silence for a spell. Richie glanced at Matt who nodded, so Richie
walked his horse a little faster to catch up with Tess. Matt slowed
his horse to ride with Sarah -- Then they were riding in pairs.
Richie began explaining what sorting cattle meant to a beaming
Tess. She was all ears… Sarah looked out into the hills as she and
Matt rode along together.
    “Are you going to forgive me? Ever?”
    Pause…
    “Do you really care if I do or not?”
    “… Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “Can I tell you later?”
    “Okay…”
    Her eyes slid over to meet his questioning
ones.
    “You’re doing it again.”
    “What?”
    “Answering my question with another question.
What gives with you anyway?”
    Matt laughed. He wasn’t too sure how to
respond.
    “I’m not sure how to answer that without
asking another question.”
    “You need to give out more information
then.”
    “What would you like to know,