Page 298 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs

“Myrna’s a jewel.”

“Yes, I really like her. And she thinks the world of you.” The conversation felt forced and stilted. Her heart sank. Was this how it was going to be for the next eighteen months? Both of them tiptoeing around the other, while drowning in polite conversation?

“You hungry?”

“No, I ate just a little while ago.”

He adjusted his cowboy hat. “Oh, yeah. You just said that.”

“I’ll go in with you while you eat though. And then maybe you can show me around the ranch.”

A mischievous glint lit his eyes. “I’ve got a better idea.”

“Oh, yeah. What’s that?”

“I’ll show you around the ranch … which will take all of about fifteen minutes. And then let’s go horseback riding.”

“Horseback riding?” When they were a couple, Nash kept trying to talk her into going horseback riding at the ranch, but she always came up with excuses as to why she couldn’t go. Was this his way of taunting her now that she was stuck here? Her throat turned to sandpaper as she swallowed. “I don’t know. I’ve never really considered myself to be a horse person.”

He chuckled, and his eyes sparkled with an infectious excitement that caused delicious tingles to circle down her spine “Come on. Live a little.”

A grin slid over her face. “Okay, you talked me into it.” Admittedly, the thoughts of getting on a horse tied her in knots, but having Nash all to herself for several hours was too tempting a proposition to pass up.

His phone buzzed, and he reached for it. “Hey … yeah … okay, I’ll get right on that. Thanks.” He ended the call and placed the phone back into his pocket.

“Everything okay?”

“That was my dad. The fence on the back corner of the property is down, and he wants me to reconnect the barbed wire before the cattle get out.”

Disappointment stabbed at her. “Oh, okay,” she said despondently. She was back to square one—trying to find something to do.

“Hey, why don’t you ride out there with me? We can still take the horses. I’ll just load a few tools in the saddle.”

She brightened at the thought. “Are you sure?”

He smiled. “Absolutely.”

Chapter 14

Brooke tried her best to concentrate on the instructions Carlos was giving, as he explained in detail how to mount and ride the horse. But he was soft-spoken with a thick, Spanish accent, making it hard to catch every word. It was obvious that Carlos’s gentle nature was a plus when working with the animals and that he preferred keeping tucked away in the stables rather than being around large groups of people. A little on the portly side, Carlos was medium height with a full head of black hair and a pencil-thin mustache that curled on the ends. His olive skin and kind eyes were his best features. Still, he wasn’t overly attractive, making her wonder how he’d managed to capture Myrna. With her porcelain skin and flaming red hair, Myrna was very striking, and her boisterous personality drew others to her. Whereas, Carlos was more ho-hum and likely to be passed over without so much as a second thought.

She liked him though. He had a way about him that put others at ease. But he was overloading her with information. She didn’t need to know the ins and outs of Bessie’s diet and how she consumed an average of twenty-one pounds of hay a day. And she certainly didn’t need to know that she was eighteen years old, and her teeth were still growing. It was like he’d been stuckout here by himself for so long that he was hungry for someone to pay attention to him. She feigned interest in every word falling from his mouth, all the while trying to weed out the unnecessary and focus on the key elements, which would actually help her learn to ride. Tips such as keeping her shoulders straight and lifting from the sternum to open the space in her ribs. Also, Carlos said she should be able to draw a straight line between her ear, shoulder, hip, and heel. He encouraged her to work on keeping a solid leg position, imagining that straight line so that her legs weren’t too far forward or back. “Horses are smart. They can tell when you’re nervous, so you need to remain calm. And you need to let Bessie know that you’re in charge. Don’t worry, though, Bessie’s about as gentle as they come. When you get used to her, I’ll let you try one of the more energetic horses.”

“Bessie’s fine,” she inserted quickly.

Carlos’s eyes seemed to smile a little at her reaction, then he paused only long enough to catch his breath before continuing his lecture. “The stirrup should be held by the ball of the foot. Your toes need to point towards the sky, keeping the ankles flexed and the heels down.” Then he went on another fifteen minutes, telling her the proper way to hold the reins. Finally, when she felt like she couldn’t process another thing, he motioned. “You ready to give it a go?”

Her nerves were jumping like a frog on a hot tin plate. “Yes,” she lied through thin lips. Her palms were dripping sweat. At least Nash wasn’t here to watch her make a complete idiot of herself. He’d left her with Carlos while he gathered his tools.

She grasped the saddle horn and placed her left heel in the stirrup. Then she heaved her right leg over. Carlos gave her a shove, and she scooted onto the saddle, trying to find a comfortable spot. He handed her the reins, and she grasped them for all they were worth.

“Easy,” he cautioned. “Don’t pull too tightly. Keep the reins loose until you’re ready to stop.” He led her out of the stables, to the adjoining pen. “Go ahead and walk Bessie around the pen a few times. You’ll start to get the feel of it.”

She doubted that very seriously!She’d never felt more vulnerable. Lucky for her, Bessie knew the drill and walked around the pen without any guidance from Brooke whatsoever. After the third time around, Brooke was starting to feel more at ease.

“Give a firm pull on the reins to make her stop,” Carlos instructed.

She pulled but Bessie kept walking. “She’s not stopping!”

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