Tangled Pursuit by Lindsay McKenna Read Free Book Online Page B

she was still breathing roughly, struggling to get the unfamiliar emotions he’d stirred up under control, probably feeling as trapped as those wild mustangs had been. He smiled a little and lifted his hands. “I’d fill a bucket with water, speak softly to them, and walk over toward them. As soon as they got the scent of that water, they wanted it more than anything else, so they slowly made their way toward me. It was always the stallion who came over first, the mares and fillies hanging back, watching the stud check me out. He’d eyeball me and I’d just stand quietly, speaking in a low, crooning voice. That stud would sink half his face into the pail, drinking in huge gulps. When I ran out of water, I’d slowly back away from them, never turning my back on them, and go fill up that bucket again. Then I’d come back, stand in the exact same place, and let them snort, make all kinds of scared sounds, but eventually, they’d haltingly come forward and drink.”
    Wyatt smiled a little, wanting to caress her flushed cheek and dispel the distrust he saw in her eyes. “Pretty soon, I had two or three mustangs all trying to get their noses into that same bucket all at once.” He laughed. “I was soaked, water splashing everywhere as they crowded in around me to get a drink. And when the bucket was empty, I’d back up to the hose, set the pail on the ground, and fill it again. Now those mustangs would follow me over to it, and before I could fill the pail, they were crowding around me, sucking up that water. They’d lost their fear of me. They knew I was going to provide them life-giving water and that I wasn’t going to hurt them.”
    He opened his large, square hand toward her. “They learned my hand brought only good things to them. Later, it was a dandy brush to brush their ears that always itched, clean the dirt off their faces and their lower legs. And then I brought a currycomb and ran it along the heavily muscled parts of their body. It was like giving them a massage at a horsey day spa.”
    “You tamed them with love,” Tal said softly, choked up by the story. She was a softy when it came to any child or animal.
    Wyatt was pleased. Mission accomplished! Now he had gotten Tal out of escape mode. Her breathing had settled down, her arms were across her chest, and she was no longer tense. People, like horses, needed a little TLC, so when he could employ similar methods, like that low Southern voice of his, to get the best from a frightened adversary, he would do it.
    “I showed them that a human could love them, but the first thing they learned about me was that they could trust me.”
    “And your story is another way of telling me I can trust you?” This was an unknown facet of him she’d never seen before. And Tal was fascinated and drawn powerfully to him, whether she wanted to be or not.
    “I know your mama raised highly intelligent children . . . ,” he said, showing her his surefire, amiable grin.
    Tal shrugged and managed a small smile. “My mother raised the three of us on Greek, Turkish, and American myths, fables, and fairy tales. I loved listening to her read to us at bedtime.” She sighed and looked him up and down in the shadowy darkness now surrounding them. “So you see me as a wild mustang? Someone who doesn’t trust you?”
    He scratched his bearded jaw. “I’m afraid if I shared how I really saw you, you’d deck me and run for that B-hut and for sure never want to see my face again.” His teeth showed white against the shadows.
    Tal smiled a little, feeling badly about how rude she’d been to him. That just wasn’t like her, but this cowboy did things to her she couldn’t explain or control. “You’re probably right.”
    “But yes, I would like to gain your trust, for a good reason,” Wyatt offered, completely sincere now. “I’m an Eighteen Delta corpsman for my platoon and on my time off, I go out to the villages and offer medical assistance to the males. As a man in