from the honda. Give yourself plenty of loose rope in the other hand. Looks good.” Luke backed away. “Start swinging.”
Papa raised his hand, and the noose began to circle in the air above his head. Within a few swings it opened up like Luke’s.
“Good job, Jonas.” A note of surprise filled Luke’s voice. “Now get the feel of the rope and let it swing until you’re—”
Before he finished speaking, Papa let loose his rope. The loop sailed through the air and landed half-on and half-off the stump. He gave the excess a jerk, and the noose tightened and held.
“Papa, you lassoed a stump!” Rebecca’s squeal joined the applause of the group behind them while Luke stared.
He recovered himself. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you, Jonas?”
Recoiling the rope carefully around his arm, Papa lifted a shoulder. “Once or twice.”
“Uh-huh.” After a slap on the back, Luke pointed. “You can go over there and pick another stump to practice on. This one is for beginners.”
Papa stepped back but didn’t move away. Apparently he wasn’t about to let the lesson continue without his watchful eye.
“Who’s next?”
Luke glanced at Emma, but before she could speak Rebecca ran forward to take the spot Papa had vacated.
“I am. Show me one more time.”
Under the guise of watching the lesson, Emma was free to stare at Luke all she wanted. He’d taken off his hat, and the breeze ruffled through the waves of his hair. The sun had tanned his skin to a warm shade that made his dark eyes stand out. When he raised his arm above his head to demonstrate, the fabric of his shirt stretched across muscles strengthened from years of hard work on the trail. And his hands, the very ones that had circled her waist—
With a start, Emma jerked her mind away from that trail. Perhaps there was nothing wrong in looking, but the Lord surely wouldn’t approve of thoughts that lingered on touching.
“Good, Rebecca.” He took a step backward to give her room. “Now swing the loop above your head, right to left.”
Rebecca raised her arm and swung, with little effect. Instead of rising into the air, the limp rope circled her body. Frustrated, she dropped her arm to her side with a slap against her leg. “I think this one is broken.”
A guffaw sounded from the direction of their wagon. Jesse.
Luke ignored him. “It’s fine. You just need to put a little more energy into it. Swing harder.”
A sigh came from her lips as she reset her stance and tried again. At first the loop behaved the same, but at Luke’s urging Rebecca increased the speed of her arm. Slowly, the loop opened. Not a perfect circle, as Papa’s had been, but it was at least recognizable as a lariat.
“You’re doing great.” Luke’s approval brought a quick smile to Rebecca’s face, which immediately returned to an expression of fierce concentration as the lariat swung round and round above her head.
His words kindled a fierce desire in Emma to hear the same encouragement. She watched her sister, noting the placement of her feet and the speed of her swing.
“Move your arm a tiny bit and feel the rope react.”
“I feel it.” Rebecca’s head faced toward the stump, but her eyes turned upward and circled with the rope.
“Focus on your target,” Luke said. “When you’re ready, release the noose as it swings forward. Drop your wrist down and then let your palm swing open.”
She did so, and the noose went flying through the air. It hit the ground at least ten feet short of the stump.
Rebecca’s lower lip protruded. “I missed.”
“But that was a good try!” No one could doubt the sincere enthusiasm of Luke’s praise. “That’s one of the best first throws I’ve ever seen. It took Jesse a week to get that close to the target when he was learning.”
“Hey!” Jesse yelled, protesting from his chair. “I was six years old.”
“Yeah?” Charlie’s shout was tinged with laughter. “So what’s your excuse for missing that calf last week?”
Several others joined in the teasing.
Jesse took the ribbing with good humor. “You wait till this leg of mine heals. Then we’ll see who can out-rope any man in this outfit.”
Nerves skipped across Emma’s muscles, leaving them tense and her stomach uneasy. She watched closely as Rebecca threw four more times, each time her aim improving and her rope coming closer to her target. Her sister had always been the more active of the two, even besting boys in games and races. What if