Definitely a young lad. Not even a curse uttered from the unexpected change of events.
“Damn it.”
Sean smiled and stepped in to put his arm around the horse’s snout to settle it down. He spoke in a quiet, calming voice. “Easy now, Roana.”
“Roana! What kind of name is that?” The lad threw his leg over the far side of its body in preparation for his escape.
The courser was not very tall. Sean wondered why he didn’t just jump off.
“The one I gave it! A handsome beast deserves a handsome name.”
He grabbed at the lad’s skinny arm, hauling him across the saddle, flat on his belly, facing him.
Sean offered a contented smile. “Did ye have somewhere to go?”
The horse thief kicked his legs and strained against Sean’s unwavering grip.
“Let me loose!” He all but screeched in his outrage.
“I dunna take kindly to someone stealing my mount.”
“I told ye. ’Tismymount.” He yanked and pulled.
Sean took hold of his little shoulders and dragged him forward, dropping him hard on the ground beside him. The horse skittered away but didn’t seem inclined to stray very far despite the commotion. Sean held the end of the reins fast.
When the boy tried to stand, Sean shoved him back down with the toe of his boot. The thief landed on his backside with a loudoomph.
“Sit!” Sean stroked the horse with a soothingshhhbetween orders. “Stay!”
The boy sat with his knees pulled up tight to his body, shooting daggers at Sean. He had a young face from what Sean could see. A pretty face for a boy with reddish-brown hair pulled back.
“Were ye lying in wait for yer horse? If it even is yer horse.”
“’Tis my horse!” The boy lurched forward, his cheeks a bright red, and he spat the words at Sean then slammed his lips together and crossed his arms. The bright, green eyes held the telltale glistening of tears. Tears?
“Buck up, man.” Sean understood the lad’s frustration but to have him crumbling would be thoroughly embarrassing. “A slower man than I would have had quite a walk ahead and nae way to defend himself against brigands he may find along the way. And that after he had paid honestly for the use of the horse.”
“She was not theirs to lend out.” The lad jutted out his chin. “’Tis my horse and I’ve been searching for it. And ye’re not so fast.”
“Fast enough.”
The lad swiped at the tear dripping off his chin then looked away. “Go ahead. Take her. See if I care.”
Sean moved in close to the animal and removed his long sword from the scabbard with a slow, fluid movement. The boy stood, alert now, watching him. His eyes widened with fear.
“Ye want me to take her? Now?” Sean turned toward him and held the formidable weapon upright as if inclined to use it. “Take her? As in I would then be stealingyerhorse?”
The boy took a step back. And then another. Finally backing against the trunk of a large oak tree.
“Yewouldbe stealing it,” he said, his voice quiet.
The horse seemed alert to the lad as if she did belong to the boy. Sean was inclined to believe his story. Why lie? Truth to tell he only needed it as far as the sea. Once he had the knife back that he’d offered up as collateral, he didn’t care who took the animal. The rounded shoulders of the lad, the stench of living in the rough, and the way he kept glancing toward the animal made Sean feel a bit sorry for him. Mayhap an agreement could be reached.
“So ye say the horse was stolen from ye?”
“Taken without permission,” the boy corrected.
Was he being intentionally obstinate? “I dunna see the difference.”
