"Y'all ready to dothis?"
The kids opened their mouths as if they were going to cheer, but they quickly stifledit.
"Yeah," said Bradygruffly.
"All right. Here's your headwear." He handed the black riders' helmets to Brady and Julianne and then quickly plopped the third one in the doctor'shands.
Her eyes widened instantly. He saw the wordnoform on her lips. He took the helmet back, spun it in his hands, and placed it gently on herhead.
"Yeah! Aunt Megan's going to ride!" Julianne did a little jig at hisside.
He reached for the buckle that went beneath her chin. His fingers brushed the softness of her skin, and hefroze.
Megan's hands came up, but his tangled fingers blocked her, preventing her from pulling the helmetoff.
He got caught in her eyes. Bright and intelligent andscared.
He cleared his throat, trying to break free of her tractor beam but not quite able to do it. He kept his voice low. "You don't want them to be afraid, doyou?"
He could feel the kids watching them, but he still couldn't look away. Waiting to see what their aunt would do. Chicken out? Or accept hisdare?
The cowboy was playing dirty.
There was no way she was getting on a horse. But she couldn't say no to adare.
And he'd dared hergood.
"Fine," she whispered through tremblinglips.
He smiled, though it wasn’t smug. In fact, it seemed almost as if he were... proud of her. He tapped beneath her chin with onefinger.
One of the horses blew, and it seemed to startle him out of the moment. His eyes were shadowed as he backedaway.
Megan buckled the helmet as she followed the trio to the corral and the three horses that waited there. When they'd driven up, she'd stupidly thought that he meant to ride with thekids.
Nother.
She'd wanted to call the whole thing off the entire drive out, but every time she'd glanced in the rearview mirror, she'd seen Brady’s face. She hadn’t seen this level of happiness since before Emma's death. Ever since she’d told them about the riding lessons, he'd been steadier at home. Maybe this was what theyneeded.
Even though she had serious reservations, she couldn't take this away from him. Surely the cowboy wouldn't put her kids indanger.
She'd been reassured when he'd handed out the helmets. Until he dropped one in herhand.
The corral had two rails and the cowboy ducked through the open middle, motioning for the kids tofollow.
Megan hungback.
"Coming, doc?" Danasked.
She sighed and slipped between therails.
Up close, the horses were even bigger than she'd expected. They all had reins draped over the corral railing. Were they even tiedoff?
"This is Tad," Dan said to Brady. He rubbed the neck of a huge blond horse with a dark mane and socks. "He's abuckskin."
He was huge, almost twice Brady'sheight.
Megan wanted to call her nephew back. The words stuck in her throat as Brady held out one hand. The horse didn't move at first. Dan whispered something to Brady that she couldn't hear. The boy was as still as astatue.
