He’s a beauty.” Jonas leaned his arms on the top board of the corral next to Cait. She glanced at him before turning her gaze back to the colt. On legs more like stilts, the foal attempted to run. His legs tangled and he collapsed in a heap. Poppy turned to nose her offspring as if asking if he was okay.
Cait laughed. “He’s as awkward as Sally Mae, the baker, when she tries to dance.”
Jonas chuckled. “You’re right. That woman can bake bread that melts in your mouth, but the last barn dance I attended, Sally Mae raised more dust than a windstorm.”
The palomino foal scrabbled up again. He sidled up to his mother, butted her with his head, and began to nurse. His stubby tail twitched. Sheer joy made Cait grin again. She loved these horses, especially Poppy and her baby. She couldn’t imagine giving them up. She’d even come to accept that Jonas would be here and working with her. After all, his actions, maybe even his prayer, had saved her horse.
“How’s work coming on that sorrel you’ve been training?” Jonas stood so close that when he turned to her they were almost touching. Cait could see where the dark brown of his eyes faded to the color of sarsaparilla. A hank of dark hair hung down on his forehead. She let out a slow breath and took a mental step backward.
“He’s coming along. I should have him ready in a couple more days. He’ll make a fine mount.” She wanted to inch away from Jonas. When he stood this close she could feel the magnetic attraction of him. The urge to touch him almost overcame her common sense. She had to remind herself why she couldn’t trust Jonas.
“Looks like that little colt is going to make a fine horse one day.” Angus strode up beside Cait and gave her a hug. She used the contact to move a step away from Jonas. Angus lifted his chin to Poppy and her foal. “Another palomino. They sell better than other horses.”
A pang of regret sliced through Cait. She didn’t want to consider the day she would have to sell the foal. Of course, she went through this with all their horses. She fell in love with each one she trained. If she had her way, she and her father would be broke and have more horses than they could feed.
“I know what you’re thinking, Caitie.” Angus squeezed her and let go. “I said you could keep the mare, but that’s it. We need the sale of these horses.”
“We do.” Cait rested her chin on her hands, hoping her father and Jonas wouldn’t see the moisture in her eyes. She hated when girls cried. The only thing that ever brought tears to her eyes would be losing a horse. Or losing her sister. Or losing her trust in Jonas.
“I came down here to talk to you two.” Angus turned to face Cait and Jonas. Something in his stance alerted Cait that he meant business.
“We’ve lost some livestock in the past few days. Cait, you and Jonas have been so busy breaking and training the horses, you probably haven’t noticed. I’m taking a couple of the hands and we’re going to ride out and look for the missing stock.” Angus lifted his hat to run a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair.
“I’ll try to be back by suppertime. If I’m not, Martha will hold something for me.” He squeezed Cait’s shoulder. “I need you to work a bit faster. I’m expecting Colonel Lawson and his men in about a month. We have to have as many ready as we can.”
Cait swallowed hard. She nodded at her father, unable to speak.
“We’ll quit watching this baby and get to work.” Jonas pushed back from the fence. “We’ve been discussing a way to work together.”
“Finally.” Angus shook his head as he strode back to the barn. A few moments later they heard the cadence of hooves pounding as he, and the hands, rode from the yard.
“We’re discussing how to work together?” Cait cocked an eyebrow at Jonas. “Don’t you think that was a bit of an exaggeration?”
Jonas grinned. “Just yesterday I said we needed to learn to combine our methods.”
“And we discussed something?” Cait bit back a laugh at his puppy-dog expression.
“You said when horses climb trees.” He glanced around the nearby pastures. Fields of grass stretched across the landscape broken by only a few scraggly bushes and trees that wouldn’t be recognized as such in wetter climes. “I saw one of the horses walk right through that big bush over there this morning. That should be close enough to climbing a tree.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her. Cait had to hold her breath to keep from snorting a laugh.
“I’d say that constitutes a discussion. Maybe we should take it further.” Jonas’s dark eyes sparkled like a midday mirage. A mirage that drew the thirsty in with its lies and then left them dying.
Cait stepped back. She thought of her sister’s broken heart. Something else niggled at her memory—something about her sister’s crying—but she couldn’t grasp the thought. “I don’t think we have anything to discuss. I’m not letting you climb on the horses I’m assigned. You’ll ruin everything I’ve worked hard to accomplish.”
“I’m not ruining anything.” Jonas straightened. His jaw muscles bunched. “My method is tried and true. Every cowboy I know breaks horses this way. You need to admit that your mollycoddling isn’t going to work.”
Anger seethed through her. Cait knew her face must be as red as her hair, and she didn’t care. If she could shoot fire from her eyes, she would incinerate Jonas. “I do not mollycoddle my horses. I have a legitimate method and you know it.” She turned and stalked away before she gave in to temptation and dunked Jonas in the horse trough.
Jonas watched Cait stalk away and nudged the fence post with the side of his boot. No wonder she had fire-red hair. The passion she carried for life bled into everything she did and into who she was. He loved that in her. He loved her enthusiasm. Her energy. Her.
Lord, I’ve got quite a task here. I could use Your help, because You know I’m a bumbler. I say the wrong things and do the wrong things. What I want to do is just grab her and kiss her senseless, but that wouldn’t accomplish much. Please turn her heart toward me and toward You.
Kissing Cait senseless might not be the best idea, but when she turned on the fire, Jonas could almost feel her in his arms. Feel her full lips on his. Feel the beat of her heart matching the beat of his.
When she was out of sight, Jonas sighed and headed for the other corral. He had a horse to work, and mooning over Cait Sullivan wouldn’t get his work done. If them getting together was a part of God’s plan, He would see to it that Cait forgave Jonas and saw him for who he’d become.
The hours crawled past. By late afternoon, Jonas was tired of fighting to dominate a bunch of stubborn horses. His bones ached as he climbed up on a buckskin stallion who’d been resisting him as a rider. He barely got settled when the horse went airborne. The buckskin twisted and kicked and fought the bit in his mouth. Too tired to think, Jonas felt his grip slip. The inevitable landing on his back stunned the breath out of him. He groaned as he pushed with his palms to sit up.
Someone outside the fence began to clap. He groaned again, knowing who was watching. He didn’t even want to look at her.
“That training method seems to be working wonders. I’ll bet you’re feeling spry as a man three times your age about now.” Cait might have a lopsided grin on her face, but Jonas thought he detected a note of concern in her voice.
“This is part of my scheme.” Jonas slapped his hat against his leg as he limped toward Cait. “I let the horse think he’s winning. When he gets cocky about his ability, I show him who’s boss.”
Cait’s laughter sparkled refreshment on his soul. “Let me know when you get to the boss part. Seems all I see is the horse winning.”
Jonas leaned close, only the fence rail between them. He could see that Cait wanted to back off. He also knew she was too proud to let him know she wanted to.
“Did you just come here to mock me, or is there a reason I’m graced with your presence.” He tipped his head to the side. “Maybe you want to give me a kiss to make me feel better.” Her face flamed. She stepped back.
“My father is home. He’d like to see us in the house as soon as you’re presentable.” With that, she turned and stalked off. Jonas couldn’t stop a chuckle.
After he washed the worst of the dust away and slipped on a shirt that didn’t have dirt ground into it, Jonas headed for the house. He found Angus and Cait together in the kitchen. Angus sat at the table. Cait paced like a caged cat.
Jonas pulled out a chair. “Have a seat, Cait. You’re wearing a hole in the floor.” He smiled to soften the words. She glared at him, but plopped down with such force, he could almost hear his mother’s reprimand about treating the furniture right.
He eased down on the chair next to Cait. He figured she’d like to move hers farther from him but wouldn’t. The set of her jaw told him he was right. The scent of coffee and something sweet baking made his stomach growl.
Martha patted his shoulder as she set a steaming mug in front of him. “I have a pie in the oven for supper.”
Jonas thanked her and then turned to Angus. “Did you find the missing horses?”
Angus wrapped his big hands around his coffee cup and shook his head. “We looked all over north of here. I thought they might go that way, but with the drought, the feed is mostly dead and the creek up that way dried up.”
“Do you think someone drove them off?” Cait drummed her fingers on the table. Jonas didn’t understand how she could have such patience with horses but not with anything else in life.
“I think they’re off searching for food.” Angus slurped his coffee. He frowned across at them. “I’ll be plenty glad when Lawson shows up to buy the horses we have ready. There isn’t enough feed for all the stock we have.” He shook his head. The lines in his face seemed to have deepened in the past few weeks. Jonas knew the strain of the tight times and drought was tough on Angus.
“Tomorrow, the boys and I will go out again. In case there is someone out there taking livestock, I don’t want to go alone. I’d like the two of you to take a day off from your work and search, too. We’ll head east, and you can look to the west.”
“I thought you wanted us to finish up as many horses as possible before Colonel Lawson gets here.” Cait glanced toward Jonas so fast he couldn’t read her expression. “We can’t get the horses ready if we’re off running around looking for lost animals.”
“I know that, Cait.” Angus reached over to cover her jittery hand with his. “I need you to do this. Some of the missing horses are ones you’ve already trained for the cavalry. We need them back.”
Cait’s sharp nod spoke for itself. She wasn’t happy, but she would do as her father wanted. Jonas did his best to keep his glee from showing. Had God answered his prayer by giving him this extra time alone with Cait? He couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.