Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,83

square, Jana felt the change in him, as if he’d been bored before and now he wasn’t. She understood the feeling.

“We’re still walking,” she told him when she felt him gather himself for something a little more speedy. One ear swiveled back at the sound of her voice, but his attention was still on something ahead of them.

A moment later, Barb Debany and her blue-roan gelding, Rowan, cut across the square and jumped the little creek.

“They let you out of the corral,” Barb said, turning Rowan to walk beside Mel.

“Tobias Walker has a different opinion about how a person should learn,” Jana replied.

Barb admired Mel. “What happened to the bay?”

“Tobias had opinions about that too, and now I have a new riding partner. And it looks like Mel and Rowan are barn buddies.”

Barb laughed. “Didn’t think of it that way, but it sure looks like it.”

Now that they were riding together, the horses seemed content to keep to an active walk.

“You’re not wearing your six-gun,” Barb said when they turned at the end of the square. She waved at three children playing in the little garden next to the Universal Temple. They waved back.

“I left it at the office. Figured that was better than accidentally shooting me or the horse.”

“You’ll have to ride and carry when you’re officially on duty, right?”

“Right.” She’d worry about that later. Better yet, she’d ask Tobias about riding while wearing a gun.

“You girls out for an Earthday stroll, or are you out to ride?” Tobias asked as he rode up to join them.

“Rowan and I are cooling down from our ride,” Barb replied. “I was just keeping Jana company until you got here.” She grinned at Jana. “See you later.” Then she mouthed, Or not.

Feeling her face heat, Jana shortened the reins before Mel decided to follow his buddy.

“Warmed up now?” Tobias asked.

She nodded. She knew he meant the horse, but, yeah, she was feeling plenty warm right now. As the town’s only female—and human—deputy, she couldn’t afford to gain a reputation for being an easy ride, and she wasn’t sure if Tobias had caught Barb’s silent, teasing remark.

“Then let’s ride.”

For the next half hour, they jogged and loped and circled and changed directions. They stopped and backed up. Jana was pretty sure she wasn’t more than a passenger and Mel was following Tobias’s commands, but she learned how it felt to be on a horse that was moving over ground that wasn’t a corral. Finally they were circling the town square at a walk, giving the horses a long rein to stretch their necks.

Tobias smiled. “Pretty good for your first time out.”

“Mel did all the work.”

“You have all your gear? I noticed you weren’t riding with it in the corral.”

Jana frowned at him in puzzlement. “Gear?”

Tobias shook his head and sighed. “Well, it’s all farm folk and city folk who have come to town, so I guess it’s not surprising that no one told you what you should have out here.”

Jana’s eyes widened as he listed the things she should be carrying with her. “I’m riding a horse, not driving a car with an empty back seat.”

“You’d be surprised what you can fit into saddlebags.”

“And the rope?”

Tobias eyed her. “Do you know how to use a lasso?”

“As in, rope that cow?”

“Or that bank robber—unless he’s got a gun, which is likely. But you never know when you might need to throw a rope over something or someone.”

“Another skill I didn’t learn.”

“Hard to learn a skill without a teacher.”

“Are you offering to teach me?”

“I surely am. How about this afternoon? I’m in town today but need to get back to the ranch and put in some time there, especially since I’ve got some new hands to break in.”

“I have to be at this town council meeting early this afternoon, but I’m free after that.”

“Don’t get in trouble with your boss on account of me.”

Jana looked around. “Speaking of my boss, you had something to tell me?” After dealing with Virgil for the past couple of days, she needed all the information she could get.

Tobias looked away and said nothing until they rode past the sheriff’s office and were out of earshot—of anything she could see, anyway.

“Regular wolves have an alpha pair,” he said quietly. “They’re the ones who mate, and the pack works together to raise those pups. Can’t really afford to have more than one litter of pups to feed. But the terra indigene don’t follow the traits and behavior of the predators whose