The Girl in the Window (14 page)

It was shockingly intense, that moment, but she put it aside and kept walking.

He was beautiful, though, and she wasn’t thinking about the horse.

Then Josh smiled and she almost stopped breathing altogether.

“How did it go?” he asked, knowing it was her first day at the home.

Involuntarily her hand went to her stomach, to the nerves that threatened there, but she smiled in answer to his.

“All set and ready,” she said. “It’s all so clean, so new.”

“You’ll do fine,” he said, and startled her by giving her a quick one-armed hug and a kiss on the forehead. “We’re all here for you if you need us.”

Russ and Will had said much the same thing.

She blinked in surprise as she suddenly realized that it was true and her throat locked.

Warmth washed through her, too, at the gesture, and she ducked her head.

She could still feel Josh’s arm around her, his lips on her forehead as if they had been branded there, even as she stepped away from him.

Gestures of affection always took her by surprise, caught her off guard, but this was different.

It had been an impulse to hug her, one Josh almost instantly regretted, except that to his astonishment and delight she hadn’t pulled away. He thought he saw a faint blush color her cheeks as she ducked her head. She bit her lip, but he also thought he saw her lips curve in a faint smile.

He resisted the urge to cheer.

“All right,” he said, briskly, moving on before she had too much time to think either about what had just happened or what was about to.

They’d talked about it, rehearsed it.

Beth was aware that the boys – that Russ, Will and Tony – were in the barn, just in case.

Regardless of anything else, Fair was a big animal, and he could be dangerous as they all knew. This would be a big step and no one wanted to risk her getting hurt.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Josh asked.

Beth nodded.

This was the scary part, for all of them.

Including Fair.

Josh took the harness off his shoulder, draped it over hers, and fought the urge to hug her again. The leather traces seemed to dwarf her.

He looked at her.

She smiled and nodded.

They’d gotten Fair accustomed to her coming inside the gate, but the horse was still alert to her presence, a little excited in anticipation of a treat, but aware, too, somehow, that something was different.

As she had before, Beth left the harness over her shoulder, standing and waiting patiently with the carrot in her hand while another waited in her back pocket.

Slowly, ears flicking, Fair ambled over, eyeing her a little cautiously.

“It’s nothing we haven’t done before, horse,” she said to him softly. “Nothing you haven’t done in the past.”

He took the offered treat while she stroked his nose, the long arching curve of his neck.

After a moment, Josh joined them.

“Will you let us do this, Fair?” she asked, her stomach a bundle of nerves.

The horse eyed her as she let the harness slip off her shoulder and into her hands. This she’d done before, too.

Carefully, she gathered it properly, held it to let him see it.

Then, slowly, she brought it over his nose, and to her and everyone’s astonishment he lowered his head so she could fit it over his ears. He waited patiently while she buckled it in place with Josh’s help. Together they settled the harness over him. The horse nudged her for his other treat.

Stunned, a little in awe, she laughed, brought out the carrot and gave it to him, stroking his cheek.

“Good boy,” she whispered, and patted his neck.

The reality of it, of the ease of it, of the task being accomplished, had her walking on air. It was an effort not to run, not to make any sudden moves that would startle him.

Josh opened the gate, grinning. It was clear it wasn’t the first time Fair had been harnessed, something that had worried him. If it was a new thing, it would throw his training off by months. Fair was already behind his age group, they had a lot of ground to make up.

But not as much as he’d feared it seemed.

That training track Josh was having Russ lay out on some bottom land in anticipation of just this moment might see some use after all.

Grinning back Beth jumped on Josh in excitement, throwing her arms around his neck to kiss him on the cheek.

“We did it!” she said.

The puppy started barking and racing around.

Long used to that, Fair hardly flinched.

Josh was so excited himself, and so startled by the kiss, that for a moment he could only hold onto her, looking down into her delighted, laughing face.

Those watching in the barn were almost as excited. Will and Tony high-fived each other.

All but Russ, although he was clearly pleased.

A hard hand clamped down on Will’s shoulder as he started out of the barn.

Surprised, Will glanced at Russ.

“If either one of you move one inch,” Russ said, although his eyes weren’t on either of them, “in the next moment, you’ll answer to me. Kiss her, boy. Kiss the damn girl.”

Will glanced out the doors, grinned, and then looked at Tony. Who grinned back.

As one, they stepped further back into the shadows of the barn.

“Kiss her,” Russ said, in exasperation, peering out through the doors.

Russ was a romantic.

Who would have guessed
? Will thought.

Wanting to laugh, wanting to see what happened next, Will peered out the door beside Tony.

His arms full of Beth, for a moment Josh froze, caught by the light in her eyes, by the beauty of her, and by long days of control.

But her mouth was right there, soft, laughing, and she felt so good, so right in his arms.

Right at that moment nothing else mattered, nothing else existed, except Beth.

Slowly, so as not to startle her, he lowered his head.

His lips just brushed hers, an invitation, an offer, giving her the chance to turn away.

It was as if all the air left Beth’s lungs as she looked up into Josh’s eyes.

The moment between them seemed to stretch endlessly.

Something shifted, changed between them, blossomed, and then his mouth touched hers.

A spark shot through her, an almost painful yearning, and she lifted up on her tiptoes, holding him as her lips met his.

Her heart ached, not with pain this time, but with want and need and a burst of love inside her that was so intense her head swam.

If Josh had thought that kissing her would be sweet, the thought was nothing against the reality of her in his arms, her mouth against his, her body pliant against his as she kissed him back. A surge of emotion erupted inside him, rushed through him. One arm tightened around her, the other he plunged into her silky hair, and then he was savoring the taste of her, the feel of her.

“Now,” Russ said, with a nod.

Better not to let either of them think about it too much.

Besides, they both knew he and the boys were there, waiting. In a moment, they would remember. It might be awkward.

This way was better.

Laughing, Will and Tony ran out, Russ following at a walk.

“We did it,” Will shouted.

Josh and Beth broke apart as Will reached out a hand. Josh met it, and Russ clapped his shoulder before he caught Beth up in a bear hug.

Clearly startled, she didn’t bolt or stiffen, as he’d half expected.

Russ took a breath, nodded in satisfaction, and then looked at the horse.

It looked as if they might save him yet.

Wolf barked frantically, insistently, the sound irritating, high-pitched puppy barks. Paws skittered as he bounded down the stairs, and then the unmistakable sound of him hitting the dog door Russ had installed. The flap of it. Pulling her pillow over her head, Beth groaned. It was late. Too late for puppy madness.

Half awake, she frowned.
Was that laughter? At this hour
?

She glanced at the clock. It was past two in the morning.

Hooves pounded, drummed nearly frantically…

She was pulling a nightgown over her head and running even as the sounds took root in her consciousness.

No one should be laughing at that hour, not that loudly.

Her feet were nearly silent on the stairs as she raced down, threw open the front door as it was closest, and ran out.

A huge pickup truck was parked by the roadside. Its motor rumbled. Headlights speared through the darkness, pointing away from her. The cab was empty.

There was laughter, odd laughter, from the paddock, and the sound of hooves as the puppy barked hysterically.

Heedless, Beth ran toward the corral and the sound of both.

“Josh,” she cried, “Josh! Wolf, come here. Wolf, come here,
now
!”

Josh’s house was set further back from the road than hers, the barn somewhat between it and the road, muffling the sounds.

The shadows cast by the headlights were nightmarish, huge.

There were three or four of them.

Wolf charged ahead recklessly to protect his buddy, his round puppy body disappearing into the high grass and the darkness.

“Wolf!” she cried out.

He didn’t answer, yipping frantically.

In the paddock, Fair charged this way and that trying to avoid the laughing, drunken boys as they tried to corral him.

Looking at the size of them, at the skinny gangly bodies of two of them she had time to think they were surely too young to be that drunk. Their movements were unhinged, loose. If they’d been more sober they would’ve been able to catch Fair more easily.

Fair. “Stop it,” she cried, “leave him alone.”

He was just getting used to having his harness on and attached to a training bike.

They hadn’t yet managed to get Fair in under cover inside the barn. That he’d still refused, tossing his great head up, fighting them, clearly reluctant to go inside the dark cavern.

That had been another of his problems, he hated being inside despite the shelter it offered.

Rather than force him, they’d decided to wait, to let him get used to wearing the harness, to the bike, the weight of it as Josh, Russ and Will began his training in earnest.

One of the boys leaped, caught the halter, and hung on it, bringing Fair’s great proud head down while another tried to jump on him.

Everything they did risked undoing weeks of work.

“He’s not a riding horse,” she shouted, “he’s a trotter, a racehorse. Let him go, get off him.”

A couple of the boys turned, startled at the sound of her voice.

They were all bigger than she was, but two seemed older than the others somehow.

The distant headlights barely illuminated their faces, a chiaroscuro of light and shadow, like masks. Both looked ugly in that hard light, mean, and one had a bottle of something in his hand.

Charging to the rescue, Wolf shot out of the darkness to nip at the pant leg of one of them, snarling puppy growls.

“Wolf, no!” she shouted.

The boy kicked, lashed out hard and viciously at the dog.

The puppy yelped and tumbled back into the shadows.

“Wolf!” Beth cried as she ducked between the rails and grabbed for the paddock rake by the gate.

She put herself between the boys, the horse, and her dog, the boy hanging onto Fair’s halter surprised enough by her sudden presence to let go.