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Authors: Marcia Lynn McClure
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on Sassy
and her stablin’.”
“No, I really do mean it,” Briney said. “I
admire your wisdom…what you’ve said about not judging everyone by
the circumstances they were born to. It seems few people consider
things as you do…as I do.”
“Oh, I’m pretty certain you’ll find that most
folks in Oakmont think different than what you might be used to,
Miss Thress,” Gunner assured her. He laughed then, apparently to
himself, and began, “Still, it’s probably a good thing you fixed up
your hair and things after your ride. Otherwise folks might suppose
I had had my way with…”
When he paused, appearing as if he wouldn’t
finish his thought, Briney prodded, “Might suppose you had had your
way with what?”
Gunner shifted uncomfortably in his seat and
then answered, “Folks might suppose I hadn’t done right by you
where horse business is concerned.”
Gunner figured the old crone that had adopted
Briney when she was a girl had made sure her traveling companion
had stayed pretty innocent to the ways of men. Otherwise, Briney
probably wouldn’t have ventured out to Gunner’s stables by herself
in the first of it. Still, things were a bit different in Oakmont
than they were in most cities. If a woman went out and bought her
own horse—especially alone without a chaperone—well, folks didn’t
really see anything improper about it.
Hell! He’d sold Widow Murphy a horse just the
week before, and she’d come out to the ranch all by herself, and no
one had thought a thing about it. Yet the Widow Murphy was
gray-haired, with children already in their adolescence. Still,
things were a bit different in Oakmont. People worked hard, and
they gossiped less.
Gunner glanced at Briney. Besides, he
thought, she was sunburned to near a crisp. It was obvious she’d
been out for a ride in the sunshine—for hours. And folks in town
knew Gunner was good man who valued his integrity and good
character above all else. No one would think anything was
suspicious about his returning Briney looking like she’d been
dragged over the countryside with one foot caught in a stirrup. And
if anybody asked him why Briney looked like she’d been ravaged,
he’d simply set them straight about what happened: she came to buy
a horse from him and got lost in the beauty of the day.
But when Gunner pulled the buggy to a stop in
front of the boardinghouse—when Bethanne Kelley and her mother both
gasped in horror when they saw the condition of Briney’s face,
hair, and clothes—he wondered for a moment if, for the very first
time, his spotless reputation was about to get dragged through the
mud.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Briney!” Bethanne exclaimed. “What on earth
happened?”
Again, a blush of humiliation that was
entirely indiscernible because of her sunburn rose to Briney’s
cheeks.
“You look like you’ve been baked to a crisp!”
Mrs. Kelley unnecessarily noted.
“Seems Miss Thress is a real horsewoman,”
Gunner said. “She found the horse she liked, rode out, and Charlie
and I were thinkin’ we’d better saddle up and go lookin’ for her
three hours later. But she come back on her own.”
“Three hours in the sun? Didn’t you have a
hat with you, honey?” Mrs. Kelley asked. Her expression was that of
deep concern.
“I did,” Briney admitted. She watched as
Gunner hopped down from the buggy and made his way to her side of
it. “But I wanted to feel the sun on my face, so I intentionally
left it behind. It was careless of me, I know.”
Briney groaned as she stood up from the buggy
seat. It seemed the idleness of sitting, even for the space of such
a short distance as three miles, had caused her already strained
and sore muscles to stiffen so badly she wasn’t sure she could step
down from the buggy at all!
Having obviously accounted for the fact that
the buggy ride would find Briney all the more miserable and sore,
however, Gunner simply reached up, taking her waist between his
strong
and her stablin’.”
“No, I really do mean it,” Briney said. “I
admire your wisdom…what you’ve said about not judging everyone by
the circumstances they were born to. It seems few people consider
things as you do…as I do.”
“Oh, I’m pretty certain you’ll find that most
folks in Oakmont think different than what you might be used to,
Miss Thress,” Gunner assured her. He laughed then, apparently to
himself, and began, “Still, it’s probably a good thing you fixed up
your hair and things after your ride. Otherwise folks might suppose
I had had my way with…”
When he paused, appearing as if he wouldn’t
finish his thought, Briney prodded, “Might suppose you had had your
way with what?”
Gunner shifted uncomfortably in his seat and
then answered, “Folks might suppose I hadn’t done right by you
where horse business is concerned.”
Gunner figured the old crone that had adopted
Briney when she was a girl had made sure her traveling companion
had stayed pretty innocent to the ways of men. Otherwise, Briney
probably wouldn’t have ventured out to Gunner’s stables by herself
in the first of it. Still, things were a bit different in Oakmont
than they were in most cities. If a woman went out and bought her
own horse—especially alone without a chaperone—well, folks didn’t
really see anything improper about it.
Hell! He’d sold Widow Murphy a horse just the
week before, and she’d come out to the ranch all by herself, and no
one had thought a thing about it. Yet the Widow Murphy was
gray-haired, with children already in their adolescence. Still,
things were a bit different in Oakmont. People worked hard, and
they gossiped less.
Gunner glanced at Briney. Besides, he
thought, she was sunburned to near a crisp. It was obvious she’d
been out for a ride in the sunshine—for hours. And folks in town
knew Gunner was good man who valued his integrity and good
character above all else. No one would think anything was
suspicious about his returning Briney looking like she’d been
dragged over the countryside with one foot caught in a stirrup. And
if anybody asked him why Briney looked like she’d been ravaged,
he’d simply set them straight about what happened: she came to buy
a horse from him and got lost in the beauty of the day.
But when Gunner pulled the buggy to a stop in
front of the boardinghouse—when Bethanne Kelley and her mother both
gasped in horror when they saw the condition of Briney’s face,
hair, and clothes—he wondered for a moment if, for the very first
time, his spotless reputation was about to get dragged through the
mud.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Briney!” Bethanne exclaimed. “What on earth
happened?”
Again, a blush of humiliation that was
entirely indiscernible because of her sunburn rose to Briney’s
cheeks.
“You look like you’ve been baked to a crisp!”
Mrs. Kelley unnecessarily noted.
“Seems Miss Thress is a real horsewoman,”
Gunner said. “She found the horse she liked, rode out, and Charlie
and I were thinkin’ we’d better saddle up and go lookin’ for her
three hours later. But she come back on her own.”
“Three hours in the sun? Didn’t you have a
hat with you, honey?” Mrs. Kelley asked. Her expression was that of
deep concern.
“I did,” Briney admitted. She watched as
Gunner hopped down from the buggy and made his way to her side of
it. “But I wanted to feel the sun on my face, so I intentionally
left it behind. It was careless of me, I know.”
Briney groaned as she stood up from the buggy
seat. It seemed the idleness of sitting, even for the space of such
a short distance as three miles, had caused her already strained
and sore muscles to stiffen so badly she wasn’t sure she could step
down from the buggy at all!
Having obviously accounted for the fact that
the buggy ride would find Briney all the more miserable and sore,
however, Gunner simply reached up, taking her waist between his
strong
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