A Special Kind of Love (4 page)

Chapter Two

Tanner
was thunder struck the moment he saw Sharon. Damn that woman was fine, and that
kid of hers…wow, he was smart. He might be a little different, but Tanner
really liked him. He loved kids and he had no problem dating a woman with
children. If he was lucky he’d be dating this one soon.

He
looked down at the woman walking beside him and smiled. She was everything he
loved about a woman wrapped up in a cute little package. Golden blonde hair was
secured to the top of her head in a
ponytail,
he bet
it would reach her waist when it was loose. Her body was curvy in all the right
places, her breasts more than filled out the T-shirt she was wearing and those
hips, dang he could just imagine holding onto them while she rode him, instead
of Big Red.
Whoa buddy, better watch what
you’re thinking or you’re going to have an obvious reaction.

Tanner
led her to a stall two doors down on the right, grabbed a lead rope from the
hook outside the door and stepped inside, Sharon close on his heels.

“This
is Big Red. He’s a great trail horse, really gentle and well mannered. Do you have
any riding experience? Tammy wasn’t sure.”

“Not
really. I rode a few times when I was younger, but it’s been years since I was
on a horse.”

“Well,
Red won’t give you any trouble.” He clipped the lead rope onto Red’s halter and
motioned Sharon forward. “Always walk on the left side when you are leading a
horse. Come over here and you can lead him out. I’ll be right beside you.”

Sharon
stepped forward and took the rope from Tanner’s hand. She ran a hand down Red’s
neck and softly said “Hi there big boy, how are you today?”

She
started to walk out of the stall ahead of Big Red and Tanner laid a hand on her
shoulder.

“Never
walk in front of a horse when you are leading them, walk beside their head.
They need to see you and see where they are going, plus you don’t want him to
step on you or knock into you. Even though Red is gentle, he weighs about
fifteen hundred pounds and he sometimes doesn’t know his own strength.”

“Okay,
thanks.”

Sharon
stepped back until she was beside Red’s head.

“How
do I get him to move?”

“Just
push the lead forward and he should start walking. If he doesn’t, click your
tongue a little, like this.”

Tanner
made a clucking noise by popping his tongue from the roof of his mouth. The
look she gave him was priceless. It seemed to
say,
yeah sure
, he forgot everyone hadn’t
been raised around horses.

They
walked the short way back to Aaron, and Tanner hooked Red up to the cross ties
facing Missy. Aaron was just finishing up with the curry comb.

“Hold
on a second and I’ll get Aaron started with the brush and you can start
currying Red.”

Tanner
walked over to Aaron and Missy. He inspected her coat, running a hand along her
right side.

“Good
job, Aaron. You’re ready to move onto the brush.” He waved for Aaron to follow
him and squatted down in front of the tool bucket pulling out a soft brush,
about eight inches long with a wooden back.

“Hand
me the curry and I’ll show you how to use the brush.”

Aaron
handed him the curry and followed him back to Missy’s side.

“You
want to use short, quick strokes, like this.” Tanner demonstrated and then handed
the brush to Aaron. He watched for a moment to make sure Aaron understood. When
he was satisfied that the boy could handle it, he clapped him on the shoulder.

“You’ve
got it, dude. Make sure you get under her belly really well, especially just
behind her front legs where the saddle girth will sit. You don’t want any dirt
there to irritate her skin. I’m going to go help your mom get started on Red.”

The
three made quick work of finishing up the grooming process. Tanner was just
about to head for the tack room to get the saddles and bridles when a group of
about fifteen people started filtering into the barn.

“That
must be the rest of our riding party,” Tanner said, he walked ahead until he
was beside Missy’s rump, placing a hand on her flanks to keep her calm.

“Hi,
everyone.
Ready for a good ride today?”

Sounds
of agreement came from the crowd, and Tammy exited a stall just behind him,
waving to the group.

“Well,
I hope y’all are ready for some fun in the sun. It looks like it’s going to be
a beautiful day for a ride. If you’ll all follow me, the hands will be bringing
out your horses in a few minutes. I want to go over a few simple rules with you
before we get started.”

Tammy
and her crew of guests headed out into the corral and Tanner turned back to
Aaron and Sharon.

“Well,
we better get these horses saddled up or we’ll be left behind.”

Tanner
quickly and efficiently saddled up the two mounts, showing his charges the
basics as he went.

“The
most important thing to remember when saddling a horse is to make sure that the
girth is tight enough to keep the saddle stable. You don’t want it slipping
from side to side when you’re riding. But, you don’t want it so tight it pinches
the horse either.”

He
gave the leather strap a good pull, hooking the metal pin from the girth strap
into a notch and then threading the strap through a loop on the top of the
saddle to hold it out of the way.

When
both horses were saddled, he loosened the halter strap on Missy, slipped the
halter off her neck, but keeping it secured around her throat, he slipped her
bridle on. He then unhooked the halter completely. He extended the reins to
Aaron.

“Stand
right here and hold onto her reins while I get Red’s bridle on.”

Uh-oh,
he hadn’t been thinking this far ahead, too distracted by a certain pretty
lady. He was going to need some help getting Missy and Red, plus his own horse,
Phantom, out to the holding area where their ride would begin. He had Phantom
already saddled up in his stall, ready and waiting to go. He’d just get one of
the barn hands to help him out. He got Red outfitted with the bridle and handed
the reins to Sharon.

“Y’all
just hang on here a minute.” He turned and walked down the aisle glancing in
stalls as he passed. He spotted Tim scrubbing out a
waterer
in Red’s stall.

“Hey,
can you give me a hand getting these horses out to the pen?”

“Sure
thing.”
Tim stepped out of the stall. “Who do you want me to take?”

“If
you’ll take Phantom out, I’ll get the other two. Thanks, man.”

“No
problem.”

Tim
headed to Phantom’s stall and Tanner turned back to Sharon and Aaron.

“Do
you think you can handle leading Red out? You do it just the same as when you
led him out of the stall.”

“Yeah,
I think I can handle it.”

Tanner
took the reins from Aaron and carefully turned Missy around in the wide aisle.

“Come
on up here and lead her out. I’ll walk right beside you.” He extended the reins
to Aaron.

Aaron
held the reins just below the bit, stayed to Missy’s left side and led her
forward. Either he’d been paying attention when Tanner was giving Sharon
instructions or the kid had researched how to lead a horse, along with the rest
of his reading.

They
reached the corral and joined the rest of the group. The horses were all
saddled and ready to go, some of the riders were mounted up and others were
holding their horse’s reins and waiting for assistance in mounting.

“Do
you know how to mount a horse?” Tanner directed his question to Aaron.

“Yes,
sir.
Place the reins around the horse’s
neck,
hold the
reins in your left hand. Mount from the left side. Place your left foot in the
stirrup, hold onto the pommel with your left hand, keeping hold of the reins,
and grab the cantle with your right hand. Lift up and swing your right leg over
the back of the horse.”

Yep, the kid had definitely been
reading
.

“That’s
right. But, you’re a little short to get your foot in the stirrup without help.
You can either use a mounting block or I can give you a leg up.”

“What
is a leg up?”

“I
lock my hands together like this,” Tanner made a cradle from his interlocked
fingers “and you put your foot into my hands, then you stand up and I lift at
the same time.”

“I
want to do that. I like that word,
legup
,
legup
,
legup
.” Aaron’s volume
increased with each repetition of the word, causing several of the other riders
to look their way.

“What
the hell’s the matter with that kid?” a surly voice growled. “Is he some kind a
retard or something?”

“Shut
up, Harold.” A woman’s voice hissed.

Tanner
had been struggling not to laugh at Aaron’s antics, damn the kid was cute. But
his demeanor changed instantly upon hearing the muttered comments. He turned a
fierce glare on the couple. The woman looked mortified and stared at the
ground. The man merely shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

Tanner
turned back to his charges, and thankfully Aaron seemed unaffected. Sharon, on
the other hand…her face was crimson and her jaw was clenched so tightly he was
afraid she was going to crack a tooth.

“Okay,
let’s mount up then,” Tanner said, hoping to defuse the tension.

Aaron
swung into the saddle like a pro. Tanner adjusted the reins so the bit didn’t
pull on Missy’s mouth, but there was still enough tension to control her. He
arranged the reins in Aaron’s left hand, index finger between the reins, thumb
on top and the rest of the hand closed around both reins.

“Okay,
just stay right there while I get your mom and I mounted up. Don’t squeeze with
your legs or move your feet around, those are cues to make her move. Just sit
quietly.”

“‘Kay.”

Tanner
sauntered over to Sharon. He was glad to see that her posture had relaxed and
she was smiling up at her son.

“Were
you paying attention, ma’am?”

She
batted her lashes at him and drawled in a terrible imitation of a southern
accent. “Oh, yes, sir. I surely was.”

He
laughed, it appeared the woman was determined to let the incident pass and go
on to enjoy the day. Thank God, she wasn’t going to let that ass-hat ruin a
good time. Some people were such assholes. He had wanted to punch the jerk
right in the mouth, but it wouldn’t have served any purpose. Well, except to
make
himself
feel better.

Shaking
off his own anger, he smiled at the lovely lady he was hoping to get to know
better. “So what’s it going to be for you, mounting block or leg up?” He sure
hoped she opted for a leg
up,
maybe he could just put his hands
around her pretty little waist and swing her up. Yeah, he could really get
behind that idea.

“Umm,
leg up, I guess.”

Hot damn, I’m going to get to put my
hands on her hot little body.
“Okay, well since you’re a little bigger than Aaron we’ll do it a little
differently. You can use my knee as a step, place your foot on it and I’ll help
you swing over.” Tanner placed one leg forward, leaning down slightly so his
thigh stuck out at a forty degree angle.

“Grab
hold of the saddle horn, and put your left foot here.” He patted his thigh.

Sharon
did as he directed and he placed his hands on her waist. Her fabulous fanny was
just about eye level and man, did he like the view.

“Okay,
put all your weight on your left foot and swing your right leg over. I’ll hold
you steady.”

Sharon
wobbled a little on the takeoff, but he held her steady and she landed in the
saddle without overbalancing too much. Walking around the other side of the
horse and securing her foot in the stirrup. He arranged her reins and gave her
leg a pat.