The Last Cowboy. Lindsay McKenna
has the slightly dished face of an Arabian.”
Jordana nodded. “And she possesses that long, elastic trot of an Arab, too, but I’m sure you already saw that.” After all, he’d ridden Stormy two days in a row.
Nodding, Slade found himself enjoying Jordana’s knowledge. She knew her mustang well. “Yes, and that’s what will make your mare a potential winner. Arabians are the only breed with the extended trot where they naturally float, all four feet off the ground.” He held his hands up to demonstrate. “All other breeds have an extended trot, too, but they don’t float a foot or two farther with each stride when all four hooves are off the ground, like an Arab or mustang can. And it’s that one to two feet of float above the ground that gives Stormy a stride advantage. She can take on horses that are fifteen and sixteen hands high and still match their stride. The taller horses have longer legs, therefore, a longer stride. Mustangs and Arabians, however, compensate with this genetic gift only they have.”
“And that’s why,” Jordana told him, “so many Arabian and part-Arabians win the major endurance contests.”
Nodding, he said, “Right.”
“And Thor, your mustang stud, has the same type of stride. I’ve seen video on the internet of him when you’ve got him in the extended trot. He’s magnificent.”
Pleased by the sudden passion in her husky voice and the enthusiasm burning in her eyes, Slade privately arched a little over her praise. It struck him in that moment that he really had missed the soft warmth of a woman around him. There had been times when Isabel had been like that with him, but not very often. Scowling, Slade said, “Thor has won every major endurance event.”
Relaxing in the saddle, Jordana brought her leg up and over the saddle. “You and Curt Downing, who owns that black Arabian stallion, are always trading for first or second. I can’t tell you how many times you gave us an exciting finish.”
Mouth tightening, Slade snarled, “Downing is a son of a bitch and I don’t want to talk about him.” He held on to his simmering anger. Seeing the shock register on Jordana’s face, he added, “Whether you know it or not, Downing is a cheat and up to no good out on the trail when judges and spectators don’t see him.”
“What do you mean?” Jordana asked, confused. She saw anger come to his narrow eyes. This time, Slade was real easy to read. She was beginning to realize when his full mouth was thinned, he was upset about something. And the way his brown brows slashed downward, it was easy to see he was furious. With her? Jordana hoped not.
“Downing has no honor out on the trail,” Slade gritted out. “We’ve got the fifty mile Tetons Endurance ride coming up on September 1st. He’ll be there and so will I.”
“What do you mean no honor?”
Studying her innocent face, Slade said, “You’ve been in endurance races?”
“Sure, many, but they were fifty milers was all, and I was small stuff compared to the pros who rode their horses.”
“Did you ever see anyone strike a horse and rider with a crop? Crowd them off a narrow trail?”
“Why…no,” she admitted. “Is that what Downing does?”
Giving her a sour look, Slade said, “Oh, yeah, and worse.”
“You know this from personal experience?”
“I do,” he said in a clipped voice. “And so do a lot of the other pros who ride the top endurance circuit.”
“If Downing is as bad as you say he is, how come he’s never been caught doing these things?” she demanded. Jordana knew that the ranch next to Slade’s was owned by the Downing family. Was this a local dust-up? Two arrogant endurance champions who couldn’t stand one another from a competitive sense?
“Believe me, there’s plenty of endurance riders just waiting to catch him in the act. Once it gets beyond the ‘he said-she said’ and we’ve got cell-phone photo proof, he’ll be booted out once and for all. Until that happens, it’s one person’s word against another and the judges can’t move on that. Downing does his dirty work in areas where there are no prying eyes of spectators or judges.”
Jordana felt the anger in Slade. “I never realized that went on. All the contests I’ve ridden on, the riders were respectful and followed the rules.”
Giving her a quirked grin, Slade said, “There’s always a bad apple in every group. Downing is it. And you might as well know it because if you’re going to ride on the national circuit, you’ll be meeting him at every one of those endurance events.”
Shivering, Jordana ran her hand down her arm feeling the goose bumps Slade’s harsh words created. “I just can’t believe it.”
Whipping his gaze upward, Slade met and held her innocent-looking blue eyes. “You won’t have much to worry about. Your mare will never be able to keep up with his black stud or Thor.”
“We’ll see about that,” Jordana said, keeping her voice light. She saw the steel glint in Slade’s eyes. God help her, but she thought he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. He wasn’t pretty-boy handsome. He was a man’s man from the rugged cut of his sunburned features to the way he stood, walked and held himself. Despite his constant grumpiness toward her, Jordana allowed herself to at least appreciate him on purely a woman’s level. The words “eye candy” came to mind. Despite his outer armored toughness, she’d seen him deal gently with her horse. There was good somewhere deep down in this Wyoming cowboy. And inwardly, Jordana promised herself she’d find it. Not sure how, she kept that secret to herself.
“Enough talking,” Slade muttered. “Let’s repeat the gaits and figure eight in the other direction.”
“May I post this time?” she asked, smiling down at him. She saw his face thaw for an instant. And just as quickly become hardened. So, a warm smile got to him? Well, that was good to know. Maybe just being friendly was all she had to do around him. Jordana wanted a less acerbic teaching relationship with Slade. She saw enough irritable and angry people in the emergency room of the hospital. She didn’t need it out here, too.
“Post,” he agreed, gesturing for her to get out in the arena once more.
Later, after an hour’s worth of working Stormy in the arena, Jordana walked at Slade’s side as she led her mare back to the stall area to be unsaddled. The sun’s light was more westerly now, the thunder-clouds approaching the valley beneath the slopes of the Tetons. The wind was picking up, too. “Looks like we’re going to get that thunderstorm,” she said, wanting to see if he would make small talk.
Grunting, Slade gave her a brisk nod.
Ouch. Undaunted, Jordana said, “When I was in residency at a New York City hospital, I always loved the storms that came during the summer. It cooled the city down for a little bit.”
Staring at her, Slade almost stopped. “You’re from New York City?”
She heard the stunned disbelief in his tone. Why was he looking at her suddenly as if she was an alien from another planet? “Yes, I was born and raised there. Why?”
Clamping down on an expletive, Slade said instead, “You’re a city slicker.”
“That sounds like a curse,” Jordana teased lightly, taken aback by his scowl. Slowing up, she dropped Stormy’s reins just outside the tack room. Stormy had been taught to ground tie. When the reins dropped to the ground, she was to stand and not move. Jordana eased the flap of her saddle upward to reach the cinch.
Slade stood uncertainly, his mind whirling. Isabel had been from that same damned city, a spoiled brat pouting all the time when she didn’t get her way. She would throw a temper tantrum like a young horse who was saddled for the first time. And yet, as he watched Jordana release the cinch and unbuckle the breastplate around Stormy’s chest, he couldn’t help but stop the comparison. This woman was confident, mature and had a quick, easy smile that automatically