Leo’s eye was taken by a chestnut. He was a quarter horse, short, muscular, bred for speed over a quarter mile, the perfect barrel racer.
‘Beautiful, isn’t he?’ Barton said as they looked him over. ‘He came from here originally, bought by the wife of a friend of mine. I bought him back when she gave up the rodeo to have kids.’
‘Can we take him back with us, and put him in the stable?’ Leo asked thoughtfully.
Barton nodded, but as they rode home he mused, ‘My friend, you are getting in over your head.’
‘C’mon Barton, you know what the insurance guys are going to say. They’ll take one look at Elliot and one at the van, and when they’ve stopped laughing they’ll offer her ten cents.’
‘And what’s it to you? None of it was your fault.’
‘She’s going to lose everything.’
‘Yes, but what’s it to you?’
Leo ground his teeth. ‘Can we just get home?’
Barton grinned.
They arrived to find a mood of gloom. Selena was sitting on the step of her van, staring at the ground while the two girls tried to comfort her, and Paulie hovered, clucking.
‘The vet says Elliot won’t be well enough for her to ride next week,’ Carrie said. ‘If she tries, it could really injure him.’
‘Of course I won’t do that,’ Selena said at once. ‘But now I’ll have no chance to win anything, and I must owe you so much-’
‘Now, now, none of that,’ Barton said. ‘The insurance-’
‘The insurance will just about buy me a wheelbarrow and a donkey,’ Selena said with a wry smile. She pointed to her forehead. ‘I’m over this now. I can face the truth.’
‘We won’t know the truth until you’ve ridden a couple of races,’ Barton declared.
‘On what?’ With a faint attempt at comedy she added, ‘I don’t have the donkey yet.’
‘No, but you can do me a favour.’ Barton indicated the quarter horse. ‘His name’s Jeepers. I’ve got a buyer interested, and if he wins a barrel race or two I can up the price. So you ride him, show him off, and that’ll more than repay me.’
‘He’s beautiful,’ Selena breathed, running her hands lovingly over the animal. ‘Not as beautiful as Elliot of course,’ she added quickly.
‘Of course not,’ Leo said gently.
‘He’s well trained,’ Barton told her. He explained the story of the previous owner and Selena was scandalised.
‘She gave up the rodeo to stay in one place and have babies?’
‘Some women are funny like that,’ Leo observed, grinning.
Selena’s look showed him what she thought of such an idea. ‘Can I put my saddle on him now?’
‘Good idea.’
While Selena got to work Leo drew Barton aside.
‘So tell me about this mysterious buyer,’ he said.
Barton looked him full in the eye.
‘You know who’s gonna buy that horse, as well as I do,’ he said.
The whole family turned out to watch Selena try out Jeepers in Barton’s testing ring. The three barrels were set up in a triangle, with one side of ninety feet, and the other two sides one hundred and five feet each. Selena and Jeepers came flying across the starting line, into the triangle, turned sharply right around the first barrel, back into the triangle, around the second barrel, turned left and headed up the centre for the last barrel.
Each turn was a tight forty-five degrees, testing a horse’s balance and agility as well as speed. Jeepers was swift yet steady as a rock, and Selena controlled him with light, strong hands. Even Leo, no expert in barrel racing, could see that they were a match made in heaven.
After the final turn they headed back down the centre of the triangle, and out, to the cheers of the family and the hands.
‘Eighteen seconds,’ Barton called.
Selena’s eyes were shining. ‘We took it slow the first time. Wait till we get going. It’ll be fourteen in no time.’
She let out a joyous
Leo, watching her face, thought he’d never seen any human being look so totally happy.
CHAPTER FOUR
SELENA had said there was no excuse for being a wimp, and over the next few days she lived up to her belief. She brushed off her injury with the airiness of someone who’d had worse and ignored it, and she rode hell-for-leather on Jeepers until she’d gotten his time down to fourteen seconds, just as she’d vowed.
Barton insisted that she stay at the Four-Ten until after the rodeo. This made sense as Elliot’s recovery was slow, and she had no money to go anywhere else, but privately he gave Leo a wink, proving there was more to his offer than kindness.
‘It’s all in your head,’ Leo growled when they were alone. ‘Sure I like the girl, sure I want to help her. Dammit, nobody ever did until us! But that doesn’t mean-’
‘Of course not,’ Barton said, and went on his way whistling.
Leo had a horrible suspicion that the events of the first night had somehow become known throughout the house, which meant that Billie and Carrie’s giggling meant something after all. Paulie clearly thought so, because his manner towards Leo became cool.
Leo dropped in at the stables each evening, knowing he’d find Selena there, saying goodnight to Elliot. She always did this at length, and Leo was privately convinced that she was trying to make sure that he knew he still came first with her, despite Jeepers. Sometimes she stayed all night.
But tonight something was different. Instead of her softly murmuring voice he could hear the sounds of a scuffle as he pushed open the stable door. Somewhere deep in the shadows a fight was going on.
After a moment he saw the two combatants. There was Selena, fending off advances from Paulie, who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
‘C’mon, stop fooling. I’ve seen the looks you’ve been giving me. I know when a woman wants it.’
He made a lunge. Leo swore under his breath and gathered himself to spring on Paulie, a knight coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress.
But this damsel needed no such help. There was a yell from Paulie, who went reeling back, clutching his nose, while Selena blew on her knuckles.
‘Nice,’ Leo mused. ‘I’ll make a note not to get on your wrong side. Not that I planned to anyway, but now I’ve had my warning.’
‘He asked for it,’ Selena said, still blowing.
‘Not a doubt.’
Abruptly her manner changed. ‘But I shouldn’t have done it,’ she said. ‘Oh, lord, I wish I hadn’t.’
‘What for?’ Leo demanded. ‘Why stop when you’re having fun? And I should think socking him must have been great fun. I’m green with envy.’
‘But they’ll throw me out,’ she said frantically. ‘And Elliot’s not ready to go. Do you think if I apologised-?’
He stared at her. Talk of an apology was the last thing he’d expected from her.
‘Apologise? You?’
‘I can’t move Elliot yet. Let me talk to that creature.’
‘No, let me,’ he said, taking firm hold of her and keeping her where she was.
He strolled over to where Paulie had just staggered upright, glaring over a hand that was clutched to his nose.
‘How y’doing, Paulie?’ Leo asked affably.
