Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,82

be petted and praised.” A beat of silence before he added, “Much like the rest of us.”

Was he flirting with her? Did she want to flirt back? Time to sort that out later. Right now, she had another male demanding her attention.

“Hello, Mel.” Jana stroked the horse’s nose before running a hand along his neck beneath the black mane. “You are handsome, aren’t you?”

Mel tossed his head as if agreeing with her.

“Mount up, Deputy.”

She hesitated, looking over her shoulder at the bay. “I have a horse.”

“And he’s a good horse,” Tobias agreed. “But not the right horse. You’re going to be answering calls and providing assistance in a town that’s just a kiss away from the Elder Hills. You need more than a horse. You need a partner. And …”

The bay snorted and fought the reins tying him to the rail.

“I’ll bring him in,” one of the men said, ducking between the rails.

“No, just stay with him until I get Deputy Paniccia settled.” Tobias looked at Jana. “That right there is a big reason why the bay isn’t the right horse for you.” He nodded at Mel, whose ears were pricked and whose attention was on something outside the corral.

Jana looked in that direction.

Virgil in Wolf form stared back at her.

“Mel and your coworkers have made friends,” Tobias said. “He’s not going to spook if one of them is running with you or approaches you when you’re on horseback. And he was bred from Prairie Gold stock and has been running on land like this his whole life. He’ll listen to you, but you have to listen to him too when he’s telling you there’s something around that could be trouble.”

Jana mounted, then waited while Tobias adjusted the stirrups and handed her the reins. As soon as she gathered the reins and held them as she’d been taught, Mel walked over to the rails where Virgil waited. Horse and Wolf did their greeting snuffle-sniffs.

“Time to work,” Tobias said.

Mel’s head came up. Ears wagged forward and back.

“Take him in a circle at a walk,” Tobias said. “And stay away from the bay for now.”

She’d been told the bay was a good horse for a beginner, but riding Mel was a totally different experience. They moved together, so smooth and easy.

“Jog,” Tobias called.

Before she could give Mel any signals, the horse began to jog in response to Tobias’s command. This wasn’t the pounding that made her wonder if she’d lose her ability to control her bladder by the time she was thirty; this was an easy cruising speed that gave her time to observe what was around her.

“Lope.”

Again, Mel obeyed before she did, and she felt the reality that matched what she’d always imagined it would be like to ride a horse. She could see herself riding across the open spaces and …

“Walk.”

Mel immediately dropped to a walk, jolting Jana out of her happy fantasy. She beamed at Tobias—and noticed Virgil standing on his hind legs, one paw on the rails for balance, watching her from the other side of the corral.

Tobias stepped away from the rails. “You two get acquainted while I deal with the bay.”

She discovered that ‘deal with the bay’ meant adjusting the stirrups and mounting. The bay seemed fine, calm, the easygoing horse she’d ridden for the past couple of days—until Tobias aimed the horse toward the front of the corral … and Virgil.

“He’s afraid,” she said, worried that Tobias would hurt the horse.

Tobias reined in. “Yep, he is. That’s no reflection on him. He’s obeying instincts that would keep him safe in most situations. But it also means he’s not trusting his rider to tell him it’s okay to ignore those instincts, and you can’t be out there on a horse that can’t trust you. Which is why you’re going to ride Mel.” He dismounted and handed the bay to one of the livery men. Then he walked past her, opened the gate, and smiled. “You aren’t going to learn enough riding in circles in a corral. Time to go out there and learn how to ride.”

“But …”

“The town square runs the length of the business district. You can circle around that a few times and get the feel of moving through trees and on grass. Get the feel of riding past people and the terra indigene. I’ll see what else they have in the stable and join you, if I may.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“Go on, then. I’ll catch up.”

The moment Mel’s feet touched the grass in the