Promise Canyon by Robyn Carr Read Free Book Online

roast and visit with his friends before the worst of the horse’s recovery happened in the stall. When he returned to the stable, he could have sworn the mare was smiling.
    “Well,” he said. “Feeling better?” She saw him and whinnied. “Tender belly, I’ll bet. And Nathaniel’s records of his single visit to the Jerome house indicate your name is Blue Rhapsody. You’re a beauty. Must’ve half killed them to leave you behind.” Then he shookhis head and muttered, “Things must’ve gotten real bad around the old homestead.”
    One anonymous phone call to Nathaniel Jensen’s answering machine stating that the horse was being abandoned might have seen a brighter immediate future for the mare. Nathaniel might not be in the rescue business, but he’d have tried his best to make arrangements.
    At 6:00 a.m. Clay turned her out in one of the small paddocks where she could see the Jensen horses. Then he went about the business of cleaning stalls. When he’d finished that, he went back to check on the mare. It shouldn’t have surprised him at all to find that Hopi girl leaning on the fence at the crack of dawn, watching her. He got rid of the rake and leaned on the rail beside her. “They call her Blue Rhapsody.”
    “Blue,” she said in a breath, keeping her eyes on the horse. “Perfect.” Then she turned toward him. “And she’s going to be all right?”
    “Unless there’s a chronic condition that hasn’t revealed itself,” he said with a shrug. “My instincts say you probably had it right—the owners left out feed, thinking they’d give her a better chance to survive and be found, and it did more harm than good.”
    “What will happen to her now?” Lilly asked.
    “If she proves healthy and sound, which I assume she will, we’ll make some calls and see if we can place her. She’s actually a valuable horse. They shouldn’t have left her. A black Arabian with those markings, gentle, bred a few times which means a proven uterus and she’s a good potential surrogate, twelve isn’t too old…”
    “I can’t imagine why they didn’t look for at least a few hundred dollars for her,” Lilly said.
    “Maybe they did,” Clay said. “Or maybe they cameby the horse some other way—took her to help someone out, or she was a gift for the kids, or something like that—and they weren’t really aware of her potential value. They weren’t horse people. They just had Blue.”
    “Blue,” she repeated. “It suits her.”
    “She’s twelve and yet Nathaniel only made one visit to that farm a year ago. He didn’t know her. That means she’s not from around here. She has a story we don’t know.”
    They stood quietly and watched her in the paddock. She seemed peaceful and relaxed. “I should talk to Nathaniel about her,” Lilly said.
    “Oh?”
    “Will he want to sell her? Blue?”
    Clay frowned and shook his head. “He doesn’t own her, Lilly.”
    “I wonder if he’d give it a few days to see if I know anyone responsible who might want to take her….”
    “Oh?” Clay asked again.
    “I have friends. My grandpa has customers. People post animal sales on his bulletin board sometimes, so… I’d feel so much better if I knew she’d found a good home. Where she’d be appreciated—she’s such a nice horse. Didn’t you get a sense from her that she’s sweet-natured but has a wicked sense of humor, too?”
    Actually, he had gotten that from her, but since that sort of thing happened to him all the time he tended to take it for granted. Lilly’s blue eyes twinkled in anticipation, so Clay just said, “You have your few days, Lilly. Call your friends or customers. Consider the favor granted and I’ll talk to Nathaniel for you. He won’t be hard to convince.”
    “He won’t?”
    “He likes it when things work out for the best.” He felt an urge to lift her chin with one finger and look into those deep blue eyes for a long time. Maybe whisper to her; maybe even… “I’d better get