Riding High. Vicki Lewis Thompson

battling to the death for control of the herd. That wasn’t going to happen, though. She had Regan on her side, and he knew his way around these animals, thank God.

      At last she opened the stall where Sally stood with a chestnut gelding named Brown Sugar. The gelding meandered out, but Sally lingered as if hoping for a treat. That was Lily’s fault. She’d often slipped the little mare pieces of carrot and apple.

      “Sorry, girl. No treats on me, tonight.” She stroked the horse’s silky neck. “You aren’t really trying to control me, are you? You just want to be good friends.”

      Sally butted her head against Lily’s chest.

      “See, that’s what I thought. Come on. Everybody else has left the barn, so you might as well, too.” She turned and started down the wooden aisle.

      Sally followed, but she didn’t stay slightly back the way Rex had when Regan had led him toward the corral. She came right up to Lily, her nose often bumping Lily’s arm. Lily moved over, and Sally moved with her.

      As an experiment, Lily kept moving to the right each time Sally crowded her. Pretty soon she was out of room. She turned to face the mare. “Are you herding me?”

      Sally’s big brown eyes gave nothing away.

      But Lily had her answer. Sally was in charge, and Lily wasn’t. She had no rope or quirt, so she untied the tails of the shirt knotted at her waist and flapped those in front of the mare’s face. “Back off, sweetheart!”

      Sally’s head jerked up and she took a couple of steps backward.

      “Yep, that’s what I’m talking about! Give me some room!” Lily flapped her shirt a few more times, and Sally retreated again. “Huh. Amazing.”

      She’d managed to intimidate Sally a little bit, but she had no illusions that she’d get the same respect from Rex or Strawberry. For that matter, most of the new arrivals might not pay any attention to her efforts. She had a lot to learn, and not much time to learn it. Knotting her shirt at her waist once again, she walked out of the barn into the soft twilight, followed at a respectful distance by Sally.

      Regan, looking better with every minute that passed, came to meet her.

      She was excited to share her small triumph with him. “Hey, you may not believe it, but I backed Sally off by undoing my shirt and flapping the ends in her face.”

      “Excellent!” He smiled. “Creative solution. Maybe you don’t need a rope after all.”

      “Yeah, I do. I don’t think my shirttails will make much of an impression on Rex.”

      “Maybe not. Anyway, I talked to Nick, and he’ll do what he can, but summer is the worst time to get a crew ASAP. Busiest time of the year for fence companies because it’s when they repair winter storm damage.”

      “Not surprising.” But it wasn’t the news she’d hoped to hear.

      “He said he’d offer to send out some of the ranch hands, but there’s a special riding event in Cheyenne this weekend, so he’s short a few guys as it is. He can get right on it Monday morning, though.”

      “So I’m on my own with twenty-one horses who could decide to revolt at any moment.”

      “No, they won’t.” Concern shadowed his eyes. “I didn’t mean to scare you that much. I just wanted to make a point.”

      “You made it, and I’m not sure how well I’m going to sleep tonight.”

      “You’ll be fine. You can call me if there’s a problem. I don’t have any appointments tomorrow, so I can come out and check on you. I can do the same thing on Sunday.”

      “I have a better idea.” It wasn’t a wise idea, but desperate times called for desperate measures. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but would you be willing to spend the weekend with me?”