When they were finished, he removed the lead and set the horse free for a little exercise. When he turned he was pleased to see Lilly was still there. She leaned her forearms on the rail and watched him, her booted foot resting on the bottom rail.
Clay walked over to her, detached lead in hand, while the horse romped behind him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you unload today,” he said as he neared.
She shrugged. “I told you before, I can handle it. It’s my job.” She jutted her chin toward Streak. “He’s amazing.”
“Beautiful, isn’t he?” A thought emerged in his mind—how wonderful she would look astride a large chestnut creature like Streak—but he stopped the thought at once. The downside to letting a young horse into your head—you could accidentally send a message you didn’t intend.
“He seems to have calmed down a lot in a week, but he’s still… wild and crazy. But he likes you.”
“He comes from a champion line, but he was traumatized by an accident when he was young. Anxiousness in combination with strength can be lethal. So we’re going back in time, returning to his early training. And going slow.”
“Does he get that? That you’re starting from the beginning?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Clay said. “He’s cooperating for the moment. If I could, I’d regress him to the womb.” Then he smiled and said, “You hung around again.”
“I saw you working the horse and just wanted to look at him. And I like to check on Blue. That’s all.”
“She’s in fine shape. How long since you’ve ridden?”
She shrugged. “I bet it’s been six months. I rode almost every day as a young girl.”
He grinned at her. “You’re still a young girl,” he said.
“Really, I’m not that into riding. Just occasionally. If Annie wants someone to ride with.” And then she thought about what a huge lie that was. She’d revised her budget a hundred times to see how she could squeeze three hundred a month out of it. It didn’t look possible and she was just saving face. Oh, her pride! How it plagued her.
Clay glanced over his shoulder at Streak. “I have to work things out with that horse. He’s too damn valuable and good-looking to lose.”
“How would you lose him?” she asked.
“Well, if he can’t be ridden, if he can’t compete, he can’t work. If he can’t be ridden, no rider will want him, and if he’s got a personality disorder and can’t be trained, he shouldn’t be bred. A breeder with half a brain wouldn’t buy his sperm. Can’t breed him just for his good looks.”
“The animal kingdom is so civilized that way,” she said under her breath.
He shot her a look and laughed outright. “Completely.” He put a booted foot on the lowest rung of the fence and hoisted himself over to her side, facing the pen. “I shouldn’t take a chance like that, showing him my back.” He leaned on the fence along with her and watched Streak run back and forth. “Just because he’s cutting me some slack doesn’t mean he can be trusted. He’s got a short fuse and it doesn’t take much to ignite it.”
“Why is he like that? All high-strung and cranky.”
“Could be many things,” Clay said with a shrug. “I do know he had that accident—fell in a ditch and wasn’t rescued for a long time. Hours. I think he almost drove himself crazy trying to find a way out, and then had to be pulled out mechanically. You can’t hoist a colt up in the air in the dark of night and not expect repercussions. He’s screwed up, that’s all. So how’s that make him so different from the rest of us? He just needs understanding.”
“That’s all it takes? Understanding?”
“A little experience with horses doesn’t hurt. It’s horses like him that make me want to do my best. He’s big, smart enough to learn, to bond with and work through his fears. Right now he’s hard to handle, but if he ever gets under control, he’s got unimaginable power and grace. Sixteen and a half hands at two years— tall for an Arabian. Not mellow. But there are lots of things an edgy stallion can get done that a mellow horse just isn’t good for. Just like the rest of us, they come prepackaged with their very individual DNA.”
She didn’t respond to that. Eventually he turned toward her. “Who taught you to ride?” he asked.
“My grandfather and neighbors on the reservation. We were right next door to a big ranch and were friends with the owners till I was thirteen, when we moved away.”
Streak stopped running back and forth and began making wide, slow circles inside the corral. As he edged closer to the fence, Lilly made a clicking and humming sound, reaching a hand into the corral. Clay just watched curiously. Streak was looking at him expectantly, something he’d just begun to do in the past couple of days. It wasn’t quick, but on the fourth or fifth wide circle, the horse slowed dramatically. He tossed his head, dug at the ground a couple of times, then walked right up to Lilly.
Very softly, under his breath, Clay whispered, “No way …”
“Just a baby under all that temper and fuss,” she said gently, stroking his face, his neck. “Someone knows he’s pretty, that’s what. Never a good thing for a man— you’ll learn that. The women take to you at first, but they figure you out fast and then you’re on your own again. Shhhh, too handsome for your own good. A bit too strong. Go slowly, little man.”
Clay momentarily wondered, Who is she talking to? Him or me?
“There’s nothing much wrong with this horse except he isn’t comfortable with his own strength. He needs the right hand—gentle control. He needs a mommy who can handle him.”
“I thought he needed a good trainer ….”
“Well, yeah,” she said, stroking the white blaze that ran down the bridge of his nose. “But like most pretty boys, he’s full of himself and he’s going to need a well-trained rider. He’d prefer to run free and not be handled. He is filled with the spirit of youth.”
He stared at her in some wonder. “How do you know this, Lilly?”
She turned back to the horse’s eyes. “Who says I know? It’s my opinion and I could be totally off. He’s a toddler. A thousand pounds of terrible two. He needs a good mother, that’s all. A strong mother with lots of love and an iron will. Is there any chance he was removed from his mother too soon?”
Clay was stunned and couldn’t answer for a moment. “There’s a chance of that, yes,” he finally said.
“Ah. See, we never allowed that on the reservation.” She flashed Clay a smile that transformed her whole face. He was struck by how truly beautiful she was. “But you will do fine. You’ll do it ta-bilh.” Together.
Surprise widened his eyes. “Niik’eh,” he agreed in his Native language. Sure enough.
“I have to go now,” she told him. She gave the horse one more stroke. “Behave,” she warned him.
“Wait a minute,” Clay said as she turned. “I think we should do something. Break bread, get to know each other. We can find out if we have any friends in common.” The Hopi Reservation was completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation and she had just spoken in Navajo.
She shook her head. She was not getting any more entangled with him; he scared her to death! “Thank you, but no, I couldn’t do that. I have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, but how much of a boyfriend?”
She laughed