“’Cause they wouldn’t understand, and I don’t want folks thinkin’ I’m strange.”
Randall tore his hair. “North, will you just tell me?”
The young cowboy put up a callused hand to scratch his forehead. In the firelight his face looked like teak. He leaned closer to Randall like a conspirator.
“Can you get me some Jane Austen?”
Next morning Randall logged onto the internet, found an online book store and bought a complete set of Jane Austen, using his own credit card. He grinned as he thought how Dave and Olly would react to its arrival. “British wimp” would be the kindest thing they’d call him. But he would keep North’s secret. He owed him that much after all he’d learned the night before. Jane Austen had come up trumps in a big way.
Claire came in just as he was logging off.
“Why are they bringing Nailer out into the yard?” she demanded, aghast. “Don’t tell me you’re fool enough-”
“Fool enough for anything,” he confirmed.
“You don’t know what you’re doing. I’m putting a stop to this.”
Randall rose quickly and grabbed her arm as she made for the door. “You’ll do no such thing,” he said, assuming his most lordly “British” air. “My dear gel, I’ve committed myself, and the Stantons never back down from a challenge.”
“But you’ll break your neck.”
He lifted his chin. “Then I shall go down with honor!”
“Will you stop talking like that, you-you
“Is that the worst you can find to call me?”
“For the moment, yes, but I’m working on it.”
“Try ‘toffee-nosed git’,” he teased.
“Dammit all!” Claire breathed. “Can’t I ever say anything that you mind about?”
Randall’s eyes held a curious alert expression. “That would hurt me, you mean?” he asked.
“No, I-of course I don’t-what do you think I-”
He touched her cheek with a gentle finger. “If you want to break my heart,” he said quietly, “you could do it far more easily than that.”
He strode off without waiting for her reply. Claire looked after him. Her pulse was racing and she was suddenly breathless.
Full of shame, she realized that she had been trying to hurt him. She’d been trying to do that ever since he arrived, punishing him for not being Gabe. Punishing Gabe.
But Gabe was far away from her thoughts right now. All she could hear was the soft drawl of Randall’s voice as he said-what? What had he really meant by those mysterious words about breaking his heart?
Who cared about Randall’s heart? Her own heart belonged to Gabe.
But she couldn’t resist touching her cheek, which seemed to burn where he’d caressed it. Then she hurried out after him.
The hands were waiting in the corral. Dave and Olly sat gleefully on the fence, Frank lounged against it, while North held Nailer’s reins. The huge brute stood still and silent, but Randall wasn’t fooled. This was one mean horse.
“Don’t forget everything I told you,” North murmured, so softly that only Randall could hear.
He nodded, took a deep breath and vaulted up into the saddle.
“Let him go.”
North complied and stepped back hastily. The next moment Randall felt as if the earth had heaved him off. He landed back in the saddle with a crash, just remembering to lean to the right. He gripped with his knees, but Nailer bucked violently again and sent him back up.
On the second landing, he tensed his knees faster and managed not to be thrown up so high the next time. Nailer bucked and bucked, always unseating him a little, but not enough to get him right off. And, as North had predicted, he was getting good ’n’ mad at not succeeding at once.
Then Randall made his mistake. Allowing himself a small feeling of triumph he lost concentration, and suddenly he was flying through the air, to crash into the ground with a force that nearly knocked the breath out of his body. He gasped violently, and fought for control, forcing himself up before he was ready. Anything rather than let them see he was winded.
His head was spinning but he managed to get to his feet. North had gotten hold of Nailer who was standing still again, apparently calm except for the heavy snorts that were coming from his nostrils. There was an evil glint in his eye, as though he was eager for another bout.
“He beat ya!” Dave chortled, getting down from the fence.
“The hell with that! I’m getting back on.”
“Look, we know you can’t make it-”
“Get out of my way!”
Something in Randall’s voice made Dave back off. As Randall vaulted back into the saddle North grinned and released the rein just in time to escape Nailer’s whirling hooves.
Now it felt like a battle to the death, with no quarter asked or given on either side.
Whenever Randall went down Nailer came up, colliding with him so hard that he wondered why his bones didn’t shatter to fragments. He gritted his teeth and hung on. Slowly, agonizingly he was getting into Nailer’s rhythm, and at last he could instinctively throw his weight into the right position for clinging on.
Despite the cold, the sweat was pouring down his face, into his eyes. Every part of him was aching. In fact he was hurting so much that he could no longer feel it. A twist of Nailer’s body brought Claire into sight. He had a brief glimpse of her with her hands pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide, before Nailer twisted again, and he lost sight of her. He must stay on. There was no way he was giving up in front of Claire.
It was stalemate. The horse couldn’t get rid of him, but he wasn’t tiring. Randall began to feel desperate. For some reason winning this battle was the most important thing in the world right now.
Nailer’s violent movements brought him back within Claire’s range. And now he wondered if the ordeal was making him hallucinate, for he could almost have sworn that she was cheering him on. She vanished from sight too fast for him to be sure.
On and on it went until Randall thought it would never end. Just when he felt he was about to black out, Nailer came up with his final trick. He gave in, not slowing gradually but stopping so suddenly that Randall nearly went over his head. He clung on, wondering what had happened to the world that seemed to have reversed and started spinning in the opposite direction. When his head cleared he realized that he’d won.
North and Olly were dancing with glee, filling the air with ear-splitting shrieks. Dave glared. Claire had buried her face in her hands, but as Randall sat there, brushing the sweat out of his eyes, heaving like a set of bellows and feeling as if his body was about to fall apart, she lifted her head.
Her eyes were shining. She was all aglow with some inner radiance that was for him. An answering light came on inside Randall. Had any man ever been looked at like that before?
It took all the strength he had left to get off Nailer without collapsing. The ground swayed again as his feet touched it, but North was there to steady him. He would have taken charge of
