”I think she got stung,” Dar explained, slipping an arm over Kerry’s shoulders and supporting her solicitously. ”You sure you’re okay?”
Kerry leaned her head against the convenient shoulder and sighed.
”I’m shaking like a leaf, but yeah.” She glanced off down the path.
”Looks like I’m walking home, though.” She exhaled as the throbbing receded.
”You most certainly are not,” Dar snapped, her adrenaline still surging, making her hands shake almost uncontrollably. She took a few deep breaths, willing her heart to calm.
Surprised green eyes glanced at her, reading the ghosts of recent terror there. ”Hey, it’s okay,” she added gently. ”I’m all right. I’m not Hurricane Watch
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the first person who ever fell off a horse.” She laid a hand on Dar’s chest in comfort, then inhaled, as she felt the racing heartbeat under her fingers. ”Take it easy there, tiger.”
”I’m fine,” Dar replied, a little shortly. ”You can ride my horse. I’ll lead him.”
Kerry put a hand on her lover’s knee. ”No, you forgot to wear your brace, Dar. You’re not going to walk five miles back to the cabin. Now, just relax. I’m fine. I just got shook up a little.”
Stubborn blue eyes glared at her. ”We’ll both ride then. He’s a big horse,” she replied. ”We’ll take it real slow.”
Kerry considered arguing, then saw the set jaw, and the tensed muscles, and decided to let this one go. ”Okay,” she agreed. ”Poor horsie. You better get him some apples when we get back.”
”He’ll survive.” Dar relaxed a little. ”We’re still under the weight limit,” she added, letting a slight grin cross her lips now that the crisis was over.
Kerry poked her. ”Not by that much,” she teased. ”You still owe him apples.” She allowed Dar to lift her up to her feet, though, and she stood gingerly, testing her body out before she nodded. ”Okay. I’m all right. Let’s go.”
Smokey stood, watching them suspiciously as Dar collected his reins, and studied him. ”I’ll drive,” she decided, putting a foot in the stirrup and pulling herself up, then neatly sidestepping the horse over to where Kerry was standing, and extending an arm down. ”Grab on.
I’ll pull you up.”
Kerry felt herself smiling for no apparent reason, and as she reached up, her hand slid past Dar’s to grip the taller woman’s arm above the elbow, giving her a handle as she also reached for the back of the saddle.
The sensation of being lifted was so familiar, she almost laughed, as she threw her leg over the horse’s hindquarters, and settled in behind Dar in the large saddle. ”I’m going to squish you,” she warned.
”No problem,” Dar advised her, feeling the warm pressure as Kerry’s body melded into hers. ”Just hang on.”
A gentle laugh bubbled its way up through her lips as Kerry wrapped her arms around Dar’s body, squeezing her a little.
”Absolutely no problem there,” she assured her lover. ”Where you go, I go, buddy.”
Dar stopped, and half turned, gazing back at her with one eyebrow lifted. ”Buddy?”
Kerry grinned charmingly at her. ”Aren’t you my buddy?”
A shake of the dark head, then Dar turned back around and nudged her mount down the trail. ”Okay, Smokey, nice and easy. I don’t want any road bumps.”
The silence dropped around them again, and Kerry was able to put her aching shoulder aside, as she leaned against the warm body in front 248
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of her. The smell of sun warmed wool tickled her senses and she let her chin rest against Dar’s shoulder blades, feeling the bones move a little as Dar shifted.
”Mm.” She rubbed her cheek against the soft fabric, then blinked as it reminded her of her dream a while back. ”Hey.”
”What?” Dar whirled, almost unseating her, glancing back anxiously. ”Are you okay? You’re not starting to feel dizzy or anything, right? How’s your shoulder.”
Kerry cleared her throat, and resettled her legs, finding the contact with Dar both familiar and comforting. ”Well, it’d be a lot better if you’d stop jerking around like that,” she admonished her companion.
”Would you relax already? I just wanted to mention that this whole thing reminded me of that dream I had.”
Dar faced forward, feeling a little embarrassed. ”What dream?” she asked gruffly.
”The one with you in the armor,” Kerry placidly answered. ” You remember?”
”Oh yeah,” Dar grunted. ”Me in armor, silliest thing I ever heard.”
Kerry closed her eyes, trying to remember the sensations. ”And no pants.”
The horse stopped stock still. ”What?” Dar looked cautiously around at her.
”Your legs were bare,” Kerry replied, opening her eyes and patting her companion’s thigh. ”So were mine for that matter,” she giggled. ”Half naked horseback riding. I’m quite the wild thing in my dreams, huh?”
Dar started laughing.” Doesn’t say much for me. What kind of idiot would wear armor and no pants?”
”Hmm, there must be something deep and Freudian in that,” Kerry mused.
”Kerry?” Dar hesitated.
”Hmm?”
”Don’t go there.”
”Mm, yeah, okay.”
THEY GOT IN an hour later than they expected to, since Dar insisted on keeping poor Smokey to a pace somewhere between a turtle and a turtle. The stable man ran out to greet them and took Smokey’s reins, while Dar jumped down, then solicitously caught Kerry as she tried to follow, and let her down gently to the ground. ”The mare got bee stung, threw her and took off,” she explained tersely.
”We figured,” the man nodded. ”Had to pull four or five stingers out of her butt. Sorry about that. You all right, ma’am?” His eyes turned anxiously to Kerry.
”I’m just peachy, thanks,” Kerry assured him, as she looked up at Dar. ”You can let me go now, I think.” She straightened her legs with a Hurricane Watch
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wince, but they held.
”Oh. Sorry.” Dar gave her a little pat on the back and cleared her throat. ”Listen, let’s save the sailing for tomorrow, okay?” Her eyes flicked to the stable man’s. ”Anything going on here tonight?”
He considered. ”We’ve got a hay ride scheduled,” he offered. ”Out to the big fire pit after dinner.”
”That sounds wonderful,” Kerry spoke up, with a grin. ”I love hayrides. C’mon, Dar, I bet they’ll have marshmallows.”
”Yes, ma’am, we do. The riders make s’mores, in fact.” The man smiled back at her. ”And we’ve got a couple folks who play guitar, and some that tell stories, too.”
Kerry gave Dar a wishful look, and was rewarded with a tolerantly knowing grin. ”Sure,” Dar agreed. ”C’mon, let’s go change into something that smells less like horses, and relax before dinner.” She put her arm around Kerry’s shoulders and they headed off towards the cabin, pausing as they noticed a large group clustered around the tailgate of a work worn blue pickup truck.
”What’s up?” Dar inquired, as they neared it.
Millie turned, and shook her head. ”Poor people, they’ve had an awful rain out in Arizona, just look at it,” she pointed.
In the back of the truck was a portable television, running off the truck’s engine. A grainy picture showed a hapless man in a blue poncho, standing with his microphone in a complete downpour as bits of trees and small animals floated by in the background. A caption at the bottom was labeled Channel 12 News. ”Man, look at that,” one of the workers whistled softly. ”And that damn storm’s heading our way, too.”Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. ”When?” they both asked together.