The Horseman (4 page)

Consequently, even though she feared her
hurried manner of walking might find her shoes leaving blisters on
her tender feet at the end of the day, Briney walked the dusty road
toward the Horseman’s property as swiftly as her happy heart
determined she should walk.

In fact, Briney was so caught up in the
beauty of the day and the feeling of liberation coursing through
her that it seemed she’d hardly been walking any distance at all
when an enormous red barn suddenly breached the horizon. Its bright
roof seemed to beckon to Briney—as if calling to her in announcing
adventure.

And as she topped the small hill before her,
the expanse of the Horseman’s success was obvious, and Briney
paused to study the large red barn, its smaller counterpart, and
other outbuildings—fenced corrals filled to near breaching with
beautiful horses and such a wide vista of grass-covered land that
it appeared as if Mother Nature herself had swathed the earth with
green velvet for as far as Briney could see.

It was as truly breathtaking a sight as
Briney had ever seen, and in that moment Briney was content that
her heart had chosen to linger in Oakmont for the rest of her
days—if for no other reason than to walk the three miles from town,
crest the hill overlooking the Horseman’s property, and take
pleasure in the beautiful view before her.

Thinking to herself that Mr. Kelley had
indeed given her wise direction in seeking out the Horseman’s help
in purchasing a proper mount, Briney hurried down the hill toward
the corrals filled with horses.

As she drew nearer to the place, Briney
smiled as she noticed several men on horseback were mixed in among
the horses being corralled. They whistled and called out to one
another as the horses reared, whinnied, and bolted here and there
within the confines of the corral fencing.

It was obvious these horses were not used to
being corralled, and a part of Briney felt rather sad for them, for
she knew what it was to live without being fully free.

“Howdy, ma’am,” a young man greeted Briney as
he approached from the direction of the enormous red barn. “Can I
help you out with somethin’?”

“Well, I hope so,” Briney said, returning the
young man’s friendly smile. “I’m interested in purchasing a horse,
and Mr. Kelley in town told me that I should inquire of the
Horseman, Mr. Cole, concerning the matter.”

The young man’s smile broadened. “Oh yes,
ma’am! Mr. Cole is the greatest horseman in the state, I can assure
you of that! He can match a body with the right horse in his sleep,
Miss…uh…Miss…”

“Briney,” Briney answered, offering the man
her hand. “Briney Thress.”

The fellow accepted Briney’s handshake,
grasping her hand much more firmly than she was accustomed to.

“Charles Plummer, ma’am,” the young man said,
“but most folks just call me Charlie.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Charlie,”
Briney said, smiling. He was a very charming young man. Briney
surmised his age to be that of near her own. He was tall, with
bright green eyes that seemed to smile in unison with the smile on
his lips, and he owned brown hair—at least from what Briney could
gather from his hair showing from beneath his hat.

“Pleased to meet you too, ma’am,” Charlie
said with a nod. “Now, if you’d like to follow me over here to the
main stable, I’ll fetch Mr. Cole for you, all right?”

“Of course,” Briney assured him as a small
giggle of delight escaped her throat. The man was so naturally
charming she found herself feeling rather giddy inside.
Furthermore, she was about to possibly purchase a horse—her very
own horse!

The excitement in her bosom welled to such an
expanse that Briney found she had difficulty breathing normally for
a moment. And as she followed Charlie into the biggest of the red
barns on the Horseman’s property—as the aromas of leather, straw,
horsehair, and even horse manure entered her nostrils—Briney
breathed deep of the essence of the stabling and caring of horses,
finding tears of elation brimming in her eyes. She’d never been in
an actual stable before—never been in a barn, for that matter—and
all at once, she thought for a moment that it might be nice to
sleep in a barn one night—to breathe the scent of straw and horses,
listen to the quiet whinnying sounds the animals might make. Thus,
the idea of sleeping in the Horseman’s barn set fire to a new dream
in Briney’s mind—a new dream to join the list of so many others
she’d secreted through her life.

“These here on the left are spoken for,
ma’am,” Charlie explained. “But most of these stalls to the right
are for sale. And Mr. Cole’s got more in the west stables as well.
You just have a look around, ma’am, while I fetch Mr. Cole. I won’t
be but a minute, all-righty?”

“Of course,” Briney assured the young man.
She was so overcome with the joy she was feeling at simply being in
proximity with such beautiful horses that she didn’t care if
Charlie took an hour to find Mr. Cole!

Charlie hurried away, and Briney stood,
frozen in awe for a few moments. Each stall in the barn was
occupied by a beautiful horse! She was overwhelmed for a moment by
the pure actuality of it—that she was free form Mrs. Fletcher’s
grasp and standing in a barn full of horses.

She drew herself back to her senses quickly,
however, and, determining not to be tempted into falling in love
with a horse that had already been sold, began ambling along the
row of stalls to her right. Every horse in every stall was
magnificent! The first stall was occupied by a beautiful bay horse,
the next by what she surmised from her reading was an Appaloosa. A
lovely grey horse whinnied a friendly whinny at her as she passed,
and she giggled with delight.

Pausing at the sixth stall down, however,
Briney smiled. As was the fact with all the stalls, the upper part
of the stall door was open while the lower half remained closed. A
beautiful bay horse stood at the back of the stall, seeming to
study Briney.

“
Sassafras
,” Briney read aloud from
the sign hanging on the lower part of the door. She looked to the
horse in the back of the stall and smiled. “Are you Sassafras?” she
asked, smiling. Instantly, the pretty horse hurried to the stall
door and whinnied.

Briney was startled when the horse leaned its
head out over the closed bottom of the stall door, nuzzling her
with its muzzle.

“Oh my! Aren’t you a friendly one?” Briney
giggled. Uncertain as to whether it would be appropriate for her to
pat the horse’s head in returning the greeting, Briney shrugged and
tossed caution to the wind. Reaching out, she tenderly stroked the
horse’s jaw and then its velvety nose. The horse whinnied again,
shaking its head with apparent delight.

“She’s right in here, Mr. Cole,” Charlie said
as he motioned for his boss to enter the largest stable on the
ranch. “She’s about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, truth be
told, and dressed like she just waltzed outta some big society
event. I wasn’t sure what to tell her, so I just come and fetched
you. I figured you best handle this one, bein’ as I don’t know her
experience with ridin’, and, well, I ain’t never sold a horse to a
lone woman before, boss.”

Gunner Cole chuckled. “Oh, that’s all right,
Charlie. That last mustang ‘bout tore me to shreds breakin’ him. I
could use a break.”

But Gunner and Charlie both stopped in their
tracks as they stepped into the stable.

“Is that Sassy nuzzling up to her?” Charlie
asked in an awed whisper.

“Yeah,” Gunner mumbled, too astonished by
what he saw to say anything else. Of course, truth be told, Gunner
wasn’t sure whether it was the fact that Sassafras seemed to be
taking to the woman who’d come to buy a horse or that the woman
who’d come to buy a horse was young, pretty, and dressed in the
most striking purple dress he’d ever seen anybody wear in
Colorado.

“Is…is she plannin’ on ridin’ this horse
she’s gonna buy, do you know, Charlie?” Gunner asked in a
whisper.

Charlie shrugged. “She didn’t say for
certain, but that was the impression I got,” Charlie answered.

Gunner rubbed at the two-days’ whisker growth
on his chin. “Um…would you, um…would you run on over and tell Ike
to keep breakin’ them new mustangs…and then would you run on into
the house and fetch me a shirt? I done threw away the one I was
wearin’. That last mustang tossed me into a fence, and it wasn’t
nothin’ but a rag after that.”

“You bet, boss,” Charlie said.

Gunner rubbed his whiskery chin again,
mumbling to himself, “Well, this oughta be interestin’.”

Briney heard the jingle of spurs approaching
but couldn’t seem to tear her attention away from the friendly
horse nuzzling her arm. It wasn’t until the person drew nearer to
her and spoke that every hair on the top of her head tingled—that
every inch of her flesh broke into goose bumps.

“Mornin’ there, ma’am,” the rich, smooth
voice greeted, the same voice that had lulled Briney to sleep on
several occasions since Mrs. Fletcher’s death. “I hear you’ve come
lookin’ to buy a horse.”

Briney found she couldn’t speak as she looked
to her right to see a tall, broad-shouldered man striding toward
her—a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing only boots and a pair of
blue jeans! He was bare from the waist up, and his torso was
bronzed to such an extent that Briney suspected he often pranced
around in such a state of undress.

Still, the fact of the matter was, not only
was the man breathtakingly good-looking—dark-haired, blue-eyed,
with a flawlessly square jaw and straight nose—but he was the man
who owned the voice that had so often soothed her since Mrs.
Fletcher’s death, the voice she eavesdropped on when she was
drifting off to sleep.

“You are lookin’ to buy a horse, aren’t you?”
the man asked, striding to stand directly next to her.

“Why…y-yes, that’s correct,” Briney managed
to respond, studying the man from head to toe in awed astonishment.
Briney gulped a bit, truly trying not to stare—trying to keep her
mouth from falling agape in awe of the man’s unrivaled good looks
and perfectly sculpted musculature.

“Well, you’ve come to the right man then,”
the man said, smiling at her and causing her knees to feel as if
they might give way at any moment.

Offering his hand to her, he introduced
himself. “I’m Gunner Cole. Some folks just call me the
Horseman.”

Placing her trembling, kid-gloved hand in his
callused and obviously very powerful one, Briney managed to
stammer, “Br-Briney Thress. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,
Mr. Cole.”

As Gunner shook her hand with firm
confidence, Briney couldn’t keep a smile of flattered delight from
curving her lips as he said, “The pleasure is all mine, ma’am. I’m
sure of that.” Then he asked, “But I am curious as to what you mean
by it’s nice to
finally
meet me?”

Briney’s delight turned to a knot of
uncomfortable nervousness, and again she gulped. She couldn’t
possibly tell him the truth—that she’d been eavesdropping on his
conversations with his friends at night in order to relax enough to
drift to sleep. She couldn’t possibly tell him that, as wonderful
as his voice was, his physical appearance was even more
magnificent.

She paused a moment, trying to look
unaffected as she inwardly struggled for an answer. Yet it was
difficult to think of one with him standing there, looming over her
only half dressed—looking down at her with blue eyes through dark
eyelashes that perfectly matched the color of the several days’
growth of whiskers, accentuating the faultless angle of his jaw and
chin. Now that he was closer to her, she could see that his hair
was a deep chestnut that looked almost black where it showed
beneath his well-worn hat.

At last, however, Briney found her voice and
a measure of composure and answered, “Mr. Kelley, the proprietor of
the boardinghouse in town,” she managed, “he said you’re the best
horseman in six counties and that you would be the one to talk to
about purchasing a horse.”

Gunner Cole smiled, and Briney thought she
might swoon at the euphoric effect it had on her. “Well, I don’t
know if I’m the best horseman in six counties, but I do love
horses, and I do try to match the right horse with the right
owner.”

Briney exhaled a sigh of both admiration and
relief. It seemed as if Mr. Cole would be willing to help her.

“Now, why don’t you tell me a bit about
yourself and the temperament you’re lookin’ for in a mount, Miss
Thress?” Gunner began.

“Well, in truth, Mr. Cole, I’ve never owned a
horse before, though I’ve ridden a great deal,” Briney explained.
She began to wring her hands, for the man so wildly unsettled her
she was afraid she would forget why she’d sought him out in the
first place. “So I suppose I should just say to you that…well, I’m
a novice who has always loved horses from afar and always dreamt of
having a horse of my own to ride…” She looked to him and bravely
added, “To ride astride…and whenever and wherever I like.
Therefore, I’m thinking I need a horse that is experienced and
patient. One that will be tolerant of my learning to ride astride
and things.”

She was worried when Gunner frowned and
studied her a moment. “You’re a novice? Meaning…you’re new in
ownin’ a horse, right? Not that you’re gettin’ ready to become a
nun in a convent?”

Briney laughed—wholeheartedly burst into
laughter. “Oh no! No, of course not, Mr. Cole. I definitely mean
that I’m new to dealing in matters of horse sales and stabling.”
She laughed again for a moment, adding, “Oh, believe me, I’m the
furthest woman from becoming a nun you’ve ever known.”

Gunner Cole’s handsome browns arched in
astonishment then as he asked, “Really? The furthest from being a
nun? Do you mean you’re a…a…”

“Oh, heavens no!” Briney gasped, mortified as
she realized what he must’ve thought she meant. “No! No! I just
meant that…I’ve never had any intention of becoming a nun. I’m not
even Catholic or anything! I just meant…well, I just meant that I’m
an average woman, simply looking to buy and hopefully board a horse
of my own.”