Chapter 6 #2
She flushed, opened her mouth to speak, to apologize, but Mav beat her to it.
‘Don’t,’ he said before she could talk. ‘Don’t apologize.
Not for that. Never for that. If you don’t want to be touched, you tell me.
We’ll find another way to get on.’ He looked around, saw the porch railing and figured he could make it work.
But Nina only stepped closer. In what he knew was a deliberate act of trust, she placed her hand lightly on his arm.
Only for a second. But Mav felt that faint pressure like a hot iron.
‘I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘And I appreciate the fact that you asked.’ She shook her head quickly. ‘Most people don’t understand …’
‘I don’t either,’ he said quietly. ‘How could I? But that’s why you’re going to have to be vocal about what you’re comfortable with. And what you’re not.’
Without another word, he interlocked his fingers, forming a little step, and bent down.
‘You’re going to face the saddle, hold on to it with both hands, and then put your left foot here.
’ He indicated the little platform he’d made with his hands.
‘You pull upwards. I’ll boost you slowly until you can swing your right leg over the saddle and take a seat. ’
‘Do you think I’m strong enough?’ she asked sceptically.
‘Absolutely.’
She nodded, looked down at his interlocked fingers one last time before following his instructions.
He boosted her into the saddle easily, stepped back, and then immediately reached out to grip her calf, steadying her in her seat when he saw her face, leached of all colour.
‘What’s wrong?’
She released a wheezing laugh. ‘Cracked ribs. Just give me a moment.’
Mav tried to ignore that same whip of anger he felt when he’d first seen her bruises. Though he wasn’t aware of doing it, his hand on her calf gentled, then began to soothe in long, calming strokes.
In the saddle, Nina took a deep breath and opened her eyes to look down at him. For a moment when their gazes met, he knew she saw all the things he wanted to say but didn’t know how to communicate. Things like, I’m sorry, That should never have happened to you, and I wish I could make it go away.
‘Do you need me to help you down?’ he asked instead.
‘No. I knew it would hurt.’ She unconsciously raised a hand to her ribs. ‘But I’m not going to put my life on hold anymore. And this—’ she reached the same hand forward to pat Zephyr’s neck ‘—this is something I refuse to let him take from me.’
She shifted her leg slightly, making him aware of his hand, which had come to rest around the back of her calf.
Mav calmly moved it away.
Nina didn’t seem to notice. She grinned and reverently whispered, ‘Holy cow, I’m on a horse.’
‘Easy-peasy?’
‘So far.’
He stepped back. ‘Let your legs dangle for a minute. I want to take a look at your stirrups.’
As soon as she complied, Mav double-checked the length, making sure that the bottom of the stirrup fell just below her ankle. He held it at an angle and waited for her to put her foot in, then did the same to the other side. Everything looked good, but he still asked, ‘How do you feel?’
‘Amazing. This is—’ she shook her head, settled on: ‘—so freaking cool.’
The certainty she said it with made him smile. He reached up, pulled his rope from the saddle horn in lieu of a lead rope.
‘What do I do?’
‘Zeph is very well trained and very responsive,’ he said as he looped his rope through the underside of the bridle’s noseband. ‘All she needs are a few voice and leg cues. I’m going to teach them to you, and then let you take over.’
Her face fell. ‘You’re not going to leave me though – right?’
‘No ma’am.’
‘Okay.’ She nodded rapidly as if trying to convince herself. ‘Okay, I can do this. Tell me.’
Mav didn’t give her time to doubt herself.
‘Anytime you want her to move, it’s two clicks.
That’s it.’ He took two steps back, clicked with his tongue twice, and let Zephyr close the small space to him.
‘It’s the same to make her back up, but you’re going to keep a tight rein.
’ He reached up, gathered the reins, showing her how much tension to apply.
‘Horses have very sensitive mouths, so just keep the pressure firm but gentle. Consistent.’ He waited for her to do it. ‘Click twice.’
Nina made a clicking noise, and Zephyr immediately took two steps back. ‘Oh my God!’ Zephyr kept moving backwards. ‘Oh my God,’ she repeated.
‘She’ll keep moving backwards until you release the pressure,’ Mav calmly told her, and watched her hands instantly slacken on the reins.
Zephyr stopped immediately.
‘You remembering to breathe?’
Nina exhaled in an exaggeratedly loud whoosh of air, making him laugh.
‘Okay, so, you’ve got forward and back. Now steering.
In western-style riding and with a horse this well trained, most of your control is going to come from your legs.
Keep the reins loose and use them for subtle corrections or if you miss a cue and need to quickly get her back on track.
’ He talked her through readjusting her hands until the reins were slack.
‘To drive her body right, you’re going to apply your left leg.
It seems counterintuitive but think of it as gently pushing her body in the direction you want her to go. ’
‘What do you mean by apply my left leg? Like a kick?’
‘Nope. Just roll your calf a little.’ He reached out to adjust her leg, stopped.
Nina caught the movement, and this time she didn’t hesitate to say, ‘It’s okay. Show me.’
He took her calf in one hand, tried not to focus on the slender shape of it beneath the denim, and gripped her booted foot in the other.
‘You’re just going to rotate your toes outwards until your calf makes contact and then slowly increase the pressure until she does what you want her to do – in this case, go right.
The moment she turns, you remove the pressure.
’ He let her leg go. ‘It’s the same on the other side, to make her turn left.
‘And the last thing you need to know for Lesson One is the word “whoa”.’
‘Not “stop”?’
‘Nope. She doesn’t know that one. Whoa. She’s got the verbal cues down, but if she needs some help, sit back in your seat and extend your legs forward before repeating the cue.’
He made her demonstrate, nodded with approval when she got it first time.
‘Okay. Are you ready?’
‘Yes.’ She nodded firmly.
Mav didn’t move. ‘You know what to do now.’
‘That’s it?’ she asked, looking slightly dumbfounded. ‘I just go for it?’
Mav held up the rope. It didn’t matter that Nina could have walked Zephyr for days without the horse taking off; he understood that she needed to feel safe and knew from experience to always prepare for the worst when it came to inexperienced riders.
‘I’m not letting you two make a run for it just yet,’ he said gently.
‘But you ride. I’ll just be along for the walk. ’
Nina sat down in the saddle, gripped the reins until her knuckles whitened. She urged Zephyr forward with two wavering clicks.
The horse moved forward instantly. Mav moved several feet off to the side and walked in line with Zephyr’s shoulder, the rope in his hands.
After only twenty yards, he turned to look up at Nina on his horse.
Her grin was a mile wide and nothing, not even the bruises under her makeup, could detract from how genuinely happy she looked just then.
It was her eyes, he realized, eyes that had looked so sad but were now lit with awe and wonder in that moment.
Mav figured he didn’t have to have seen any of her movies to know that those eyes had made Nina Keller a movie star. Everything she felt was amplified for the world to see, and Mav had front-row seats to witness the raw joy in her as she experienced a new first.
He ambled at their side and deliberately pushed all thought of the work he still had to get done to the back of his mind.
When Zephyr whinnied upon seeing Spud, a little pony who was often stalled next to her, grazing, Nina laughed, and Mav decided right then that showing this beautiful woman how to ride a horse first thing in the morning might have been even better than his usual routine of watching the sun rise with his first cup of coffee.