Forbidden Spirits by Patricia Watters Read Free Book Online Page A

working with his horses in a meadow and he gave me a pretty in-depth explanation about how he got them to do what he wants, so maybe I'll consider the centaur-as-a-tutor angle."
    Maddy chuckled. "You'll be convinced if you stick around him long enough, which isn't easy to do. Most people can't figure him out because he is a centaur, so they leave him alone, which is fine with Tyler. I can see him when he's around ninety, still living out there with his horses, but he'll have long white hair and a long flowing beard and by then he will have forgotten how to communicate with humans and he'll become a legend. The Centaur of Spirit Mountain."
    Rose eyed Maddy with uncertainty. "That's the mountain the reservation's on," she said, wondering if Maddy was trying to make a point, whether it was a poke at Indian legends, or because of Tyler's Indian appearance.
    "It's also the mountain that Tyler's place backs up to ," Maddy said. "Well, actually the ranch backs up to the foothills of Spirit Mountain, but maybe some of the spirits in the mountain will wander onto Tyler's place and get through to him. He lives in a spiritual vacuum."
    Jack, who had been sitting silently at the end of the table while seeming to be taking everything in, said to Maddy, "Tyler has a spiritual side. He just hasn't tapped into it yet. When the awareness finally comes, it will come through his horses."
    Rose looked at Jack Hansen with curiosity. She'd seen him working horses and moving cattle and involved in ranch work with another son, Adam, but she never thought the man could have a philosophical side. She also thought he could be right. The problem was, Tyler could decimate Whispering Springs before coming to any kind of spiritual realization.
    Before anyone could respond to Jack's statement, the phone rang. Jack motioned for Grace to remain seated, then shoved his chair back and answered the phone in the kitchen. From the one-sided conversation it was clear that he was talking to either Tyler or Tyler's brother, Josh, because the conversation centered on the rodeo in Wyoming.
    When Jack hung up , he announced, "That was Josh. He said Billy's bull, Wild Card, got a bull score of forty-eight, and her Mexican bull, Vortex, got a forty-two, so that's good news. He also said Tyler's performance yesterday went well and he posted it on You Tube. It's up now."
    Maddy smiled broadly and immediately shoved her chair back, while saying to Rose, "Come o n. You might as well see the centaur in action. He doesn't much like rodeo crowds though, but tolerates them because they're his bread and butter."
    Rose heard a slight derogatory gru nt from Jack, and wondered exactly how expensive it was, hauling horses that were obviously very valuable, around to rodeos, as well as maintenance costs for the animals. Then she recalled that some of their maintenance, the veterinary care, would be partially covered, since his cousin, Rick, was a vet.
    They all moved into the family room, a large room with log interior walls and windows on three sides, and took their places in overstuffed leather recliners, while Jack sat on a couch, in front of a laptop computer on a coffee table that was positioned in front of a large-screen TV, like viewing You Tube videos was a normal occurrence there.
    After a couple of minutes the TV screen filled with movement and activity, and the room became alive with the sounds of a crowd cheering, while a voiceover announced, " From the great Roman Empire, and riding under the spotlight, please welcome Tyler Hansen with his six-horse-hitch, Moon Dancers, a team of magnificent Lusitano mares... "
    As the announcer spoke, Tyler entered the darkened arena with his horses in three pairs, the procession that was illuminated beneath the lights looking much as they had at the beach when the horses emerged from the fog, with Tyler standing on the pair in the rear. But this time, instead of the quiet rhythmic restlessness of waves washing and receding against the