Heartbreak Bronco Read online

  “No way,” she said.

  Surprised laughter came from Crystal and Amelia.

  “I’m not sure I could ever get back on,” Sam explained.

  “Maybe Jinx is done for the day,” Brynna suggested.

  Sam noticed that her stepmother was actually seeking her opinion. She sighed, wanting to be right in front of the girls and Jake.

  “I don’t think we should quit now,” Sam said.

  “A lot of times, a horse begins balking when he’s been pushed too hard, beyond his strength,” Brynna said.

  Sam considered that possibility.

  “I can’t read Jinx’s mind, of course, but I don’t think that’s what happened to him,” Sam said slowly. “Once he started galloping, Jinx was happy. It was before that when he seemed stressed.”

  “The horse psychic speaks,” Crystal joked, but she was the only one laughing.

  Sam stared at Brynna.

  Brynna stared back.

  As they tried to puzzle out the horse’s problem, Jinx’s dark muzzle swung around. Ears pricked forward, eyes soft, Jinx rubbed his nose against Sam’s boot. That wasn’t the act of a terrified horse.

  “You’re the one in the saddle, Sam,” Brynna said. “Tell us what you think.”

  “Okay.” Sam’s cheeks heated with a blush as she gathered the courage to speak. “What about this. If Jinx has always been a good runner, like Dallas said, and then he got a timid rider, who didn’t want him to run—”

  “Every time he wanted to stretch his legs and run full out, he’d get punished.”

  Sam grinned.

  The voice was Jake’s. If he’d joined in, he must agree with her.

  “Hi, Jake,” Sam said, and Brynna’s voice echoed her greeting.

  Amelia cast a quick glance at Jake then turned away, but not Crystal. As Jake lifted a hand in greeting, Crystal tried to catch his attention.

  She smoothed her hands over her long hair, twisted it up off her neck, and looked intently at Jake, even when he looked away.

  Oh, give me a break, Sam thought. Crystal had just finished seventh grade. Next year Jake would be a senior. And yet, Crystal was looking at Jake like he was—Sam’s mind groped for a comparison—chocolate!

  Jinx gave an uneasy nicker and Sam rubbed the flat of her palm in circles on his neck.

  “Settle down,” she murmured to the horse, but she wanted to say the same to Crystal.

  What did Crystal think she was doing? She couldn’t even see whether or not he was handsome. Jake’s face was shaded by the brim of his Stetson.

  Maybe that was it. Maybe Crystal was only interested because Jake was a cowboy. She didn’t know he was shy. Even when he felt at home with someone, he didn’t talk unless he had something to say.

  Watching Jake tend to a cinch that didn’t need his attention, Sam made a bet with herself that Jake wouldn’t speak to the HARP girls unless he was forced.

  “Jake?” Brynna’s voice invaded Sam’s thoughts. “I’d like you to meet our two students. Amelia, this is our neighbor Jake Ely.”

  “Hi,” Amelia said, ducking her head so that her glasses slid halfway down her nose and her thin hair almost covered her face.

  “Nice to meet you,” Crystal chirped before Brynna could introduce her. “I’m Crystal. Did we see you at that little town when we were coming in from the airport?”

  “Hello,” Jake managed, but that was all.

  As Crystal’s eyes scoured over him, Jake rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort.

  No wonder Jake didn’t want to be a HARP teacher. He was uneasy and tongue-tied around pushy girls.

  Jake’s gaze passed the girls and Brynna, soared over the fence, and met Sam’s as she sat inside the pasture on Jinx. There was an appeal for rescue in his eyes.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked him.

  “I, uh, need you to…” Jake mumbled the rest of the sentence.

  “What?” Sam rose in her stirrups as if that could help her hear. She was usually pretty good at understanding Jake, but from this distance, he’d have to speak up.

  He made a dismissing motion and tugged at his hat brim.

  “Never mind.”

  Sam sighed. If she got off Jinx now, she wouldn’t be able to remount without a fight. Each time that happened, it scarred her relationship with Jinx.

  I need you to…

  To what? What had Jake been about to ask her to do? If she let him leave River Bend without explaining, she might miss something interesting.

  “Sam?” Brynna said. “I’m going to take the girls back to the house for a cold drink. Can I bring you something? How about you, Jake?”

  “Sure,” Sam said, silently applauding her stepmother’s intuition.

  “No thanks,” Jake said. He watched Brynna and the girls until they were halfway to the house. Then, leaving Witch ground-tied, he strode toward the pasture gate.

  Crystal looked back over her shoulder with a smirk, but she kept walking.

  The pasture gate creaked open and Sam rode through.

  Though Witch was ground-tied yards away, she flattened her ears and bared her teeth at Jinx.

  “We don’t want to go over by her, anyway,” Sam told Jinx, and the gelding was happy to follow her directions to walk closer to Jake.

  Sam leaned forward so that her face was closer to Jake’s and whispered, “What do you need me to do?”

  He sighed. “Write a statement for the accident report. Not that it matters. That horse is a jinx. I’m going to lose my driver’s license.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Sam straightened in the saddle. When she tightened her reins and legs, Jinx backed without question—two steps, three, four.

  “Good boy.” Sam patted Jinx’s neck. Then she leaned down to talk to the horse, quietly, but loud enough for Jake to hear. “We had to back up so you could get a good look at this horseman, who actually believes you’re bringing him bad luck.”

  Jake’s angry expression faded.

  “It doesn’t put me in a good mood,” Jake admitted, “to know the best thing that can happen is I have to pay a ton of money to keep my car insurance, so I can drive.”

  “What did your mom say about her car?” Sam asked carefully. Mrs. Ely had been Sam’s history teacher during the school year. She made class fun, but Mrs. Ely was tough. She never accepted late homework or excuses.

  “Not much, but I have to pay for my insurance now,” Jake said. “That means getting a real job this summer.”

  As the youngest of six brothers on Three Ponies Ranch, Jake did his chores, of course, but he also worked with Sam’s dad. Together, they trained and conditioned horses that seemed to have potential, then sold them at a profit. They’d planned to do the same this summer and fall.

  “Just train horses with Dad like you planned,” Sam suggested.

  “Not a dependable income,” Jake said. “My dad said I can’t count on someone wantin’ to buy a horse just ’cause I have one to sell.”

  “I guess he’s right,” Sam said. “But I still don’t think it was your fault.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t think so, either.” Jake looked down and scuffed his boot toe in the dirt. “But no one’s real interested in my opinion.”

  With his head bent, Jake’s black hair, bound with a strip of soft leather at the nape of his neck, fell neatly against his ironed shirt collar. His shoulders might be as broad as Dad’s, but right now, Jake looked like a disappointed kid.

  “I am,” she told him. Then, when he didn’t look up, she added, “I want your opinion, but you have to bite your tongue and not give it to me until I finish asking.”

  “Yeah?”

  Only someone who knew him well would recognize the raised corner of Jake’s mouth as the beginning of a smile.

  “I want to take Jinx to War Drum Flats and run him. He was fast yesterday, but I want to try him with a rider this time. Me. Now,” she rushed on, when Jake took a breath, “because Jinx is tired, and easier to handle.”
r />   Jinx blew through his lips as if to prove her point.

  “Crystal, Amelia, and Brynna could follow in the truck,” Sam said. Then, half because it was true and half to tease Jake, she added, “Crystal might think it was exciting. Although, you’re the only thing that’s really piqued Crystal’s interest since she—”

  “Don’t,” Jake cautioned.

  Sam stopped. She was out of smart arguments for taking Jinx off the ranch, but she hadn’t mentioned her best reason.

  Jake watched her from beneath his hat brim.

  “Spit it out,” he said finally.

  “If Jinx remembers how it feels to run for the joy of it, without being jerked up short, I think he’ll be the perfect horse. Besides, Clara wants to race him.”

  “That claiming race you mentioned,” Jake said.

  “You remembered,” Sam said. She was sort of amazed. Jake had had plenty on his mind since they’d gone bouncing over the range yesterday and she’d asked him how a claiming race worked.

  “Sure,” Jake said, as if he’d be dumb not to remember. “And now you want me to back you up when you talk to Brynna.”

  It wasn’t a question, exactly. It took a few seconds for Sam to realize that Jake was making an offer. He agreed with her. He’d face Brynna and tell her so.

  “You bet,” Sam told him.

  Jake sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  By the time Brynna emerged from the house and stretched up to hand her a cup of lemonade, Jinx had rested for nearly half an hour.

  Sam drained the cup of lemonade. Neither she nor Jinx were dehydrated now, and all she had to do now was explain her plan for restoring Jinx’s self-esteem.

  As Sam handed her cup back down, Brynna raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “What are you two cooking up?” she asked.

  “It’s not a big deal,” Sam started.

  Brynna leaned against the fence as if she had all the time in the world.

  “I have this idea for Jinx,” Sam said. “If we take him back out on War Drum Flats, where he ran with the Phantom yesterday, and let him run again, he might remember he can have fun moving fast with a rider on his back.”

  Brynna frowned. She jiggled the latch on the gate.

  “After all,” Sam said, “Clara wants to race him. I don’t know if Dad told you.”

  Brynna nodded, then motioned Sam to silence.

  Was Brynna was worried over what Dad would say? Riders galloped out on the playa all the time. She and her best friend Jen raced Ace and Silly about once a week and nothing had ever gone wrong.

  Since Brynna hadn’t said no yet, Sam bit her lip and waited.

  “Jake, what do you think?” Brynna asked.

  As much as Sam wished Brynna would just trust her on this, she and Jake had both known Brynna would seek his opinion.

  Jake was a little older and a lot more experienced than Sam. But he wasn’t saying anything.

  Sam signaled Jake with a meaningful stare. He’d agreed to back her up. To do that, he’d have to open his mouth.

  “It could work,” Jake said.

  Don’t jump up and down with enthusiasm, Sam thought, shaking her head.

  “He’s fast, but he’s not fresh,” Jake added. “Witch could maybe run alongside.”

  “Okay,” Brynna said.

  Okay? Sam couldn’t believe they’d won so easily.

  “She’s just going to go out there?” Amelia asked. Her cheeks were bright red. “And ride him across the prairie?”

  “Across the playa,” Brynna corrected gently. “Which is the flat, white bottom of ancient Lake Lahontan…but, yes.”

  Amelia’s eyes focused far beyond Brynna and River Bend Ranch. The idea of riding outside a stable’s ring, free of fences, made her look dreamy.

  Sam wondered if she should tell Amelia how tricky it could be riding the range, but the point of HARP was to allow girls a sense of accomplishment. A dream of riding free might help Amelia set a goal and get there.

  “Can I pet him while you’re up?” Amelia asked, leaving Crystal’s side to stand near Jinx.

  “Sure,” Sam said.

  “I just know you’re right,” Amelia said as Jinx lowered his chocolate-colored lips to her hand. “About him not wanting to run because he’s afraid he’ll get in trouble?” She glanced up at Sam and gave a short laugh. “And then he gets in trouble for not running.”

  Sam nodded. Then Amelia added something that made absolutely no sense at all. “I guess it takes one to know one.”

  Hawk wings created a whirling shadow on the playa.

  Sam looked up, then winced at the glare. The hawk vanished in the dazzle of the noon sun directly overhead, but she heard its cry and the whisk of feathers.

  Riding at a jog, it had taken half an hour to reach the playa. A breeze had sprung up, bringing the scents of hot rocks, sagebrush, and something like berries. Dust swirled between pinion pines on the hillside.

  A path that looked like nothing more than a scuff in the dirt ran up that hillside.

  Although it was one of the Phantom’s getaway trails, nothing moved up there except the pinion branches and dust.

  Just ahead, Sam saw Dad’s truck pull to a stop. Thank goodness Brynna was driving. She had turned off the highway and onto a dirt road that overlooked the pond at War Drum Flats.

  In a flurry of magenta blouse and jeans, Crystal appeared, then leaned against the truck’s front fender, using something—maybe a magazine—to fan herself.

  It wasn’t that hot. Brynna said the high temperature today was supposed to be around eighty degrees. Just the same, Jinx was once more dark with sweat.

  As they rode, Jake studied the grulla.

  “What?” Sam said.

  “Watching him move—” Jake broke off, shaking his head. “For a fit, strong horse, he looks unsure.”

  “Not in a minute, he won’t,” Sam said, and her own words catapulted her pulse higher.

  Feeling her excitement, Jinx’s hooves stuttered on the chalky footing.

  “No mustangs today,” Sam told Jinx.

  She was silly to feel disappointed, but when they’d run together, Jinx and the Phantom had been beautiful.

  A tiny, insane voice in her mind was rooting for a match race. That would be asking for trouble, but it would be wonderful to watch.

  And if Dad saw it, she’d be dead meat.

  “Tell me before you two take off,” Jake said. “I’ll make Witch hang back ’til you’ve got him going.”

  Witch was a Quarter Horse, speedy as a jackrabbit over short distances. She could probably stay with Jinx for a few minutes, but then his mustang endurance would kick in.

  Miles of playa stretched before them, level and bare.

  Jinx’s head flew up as he recognized the possibilities of that open country.

  Could this be his home range?

  Tonight for homework, Brynna was going to have the girls figure out the coded brand on Jinx’s neck. What if he’d come from one of the herds nearby?

  All at once, the gelding tensed.

  “Now,” Sam said. She tightened her seat and urged Jinx forward, but there was another reason for his head to come up. He was going to balk.

  “Come on, boy.” Sam sighed, then used every muscle to ride as if he were already running. Jinx’s head rose even higher.

  Somewhere she’d read that a horse couldn’t stride beyond the tip of his nose. If that was so, they weren’t about to lunge into a gallop.

  Still, Jinx hadn’t stopped. That was better than last time, in the corral.

  Even though his high-kneed prance wasn’t what she wanted, Sam was thankful Jinx hadn’t frozen into his four-poster balk.

  “Hold on.” Jake’s voice came from over Sam’s shoulder.

  She glanced back in time to see Witch leap from a jog into a run. So much for the “hanging back” Jake had promised.

  As the black mare swept past, Sam understood Jake’s strategy. He was hoping Jinx’s herd instinct would take over a
nd he’d burst into a run.

  “C’mon boy, catch her.” Sam leaned low and cheered into the gelding’s ears. “You can do it, easy. Catch her!”

  The gelding’s hammering shamble said he wanted to chase Witch, but he was afraid.

  “I won’t jerk on your tender mouth,” Sam promised.

  All at once, Jinx’s head moved forward and his legs swept into a gallop. Sam tried to mold her body to the gait, but she was too late.

  Sam slammed back in the saddle. Her hat blew from her head and hit the end of the stampede string, tightening around her throat.

  But it didn’t matter. The gelding swung into a graceful gallop.

  It was easy to ride, though the hot wind made it hard to draw a breath. If she could have, Sam thought, she’d be yelling “yippee” as Jinx thundered on, closing the distance to Witch’s floating black tail.

  Just before he reached the mare, Jinx veered left. Sam shifted her weight, asking him to run alongside Witch instead of heading for the hills.

  Never breaking stride, he obeyed. They passed Witch. And the pond. For the first time all year, Sam didn’t check for the mustangs’ hoof prints in the mud. She was past it too quickly.

  A sudden push from Jinx’s hindquarters made Sam stay centered as he swerved left again. And then she knew why. Jinx saw the Phantom.

  Speeding silver with an ice-white mane, the stallion charged down from the foothills with his mouth agape.

  Now, anything could happen.

  Sam’s stomach dropped. It was one thing to watch the Phantom warn back horses he saw as intruders. It was another thing to be astride one.

  Will it matter when he sees me? Sam wondered. The stallion had to know Jinx wasn’t alone. A rider and flapping leather gear were never part of a mustang’s silhouette.

  Then, the stallion was beside them, matching Jinx stride for stride. Nearly a year ago, the Phantom had come upon her as she rode around a herd of cattle at night, and he’d herded Ace, with her aboard, back to his secret valley.

  That night, he’d seemed aware that she was Ace’s rider.

  Not today. Neck lowered, head level, the stallion saw Jinx’s speed, not his nearness to the herd, as a challenge. But the Phantom didn’t notice Sam at all.