Wild Horses by D'Ann Lindun Read Free Book Online

shiver. Her hands felt like two lumps of ice on the reins and she flexed them in her leather gloves, forcing the circulation to keep moving. Gato slipped a little and Castaña prayed he’d keep his feet. Accustomed only to the arenas and flat trails of Sun Dial training facility, this was a challenge for her horses. She didn’t bother looking over her shoulder at Cloud. He’d been born on this land, and Martin had ridden him everywhere.
    Finally, they dropped to the sandy wash in the bottom of the canyon. The wind was a little better here, but the cold didn’t let up. Urging the geldings to trot, Castaña leaned forward in her saddle, eager to dismount and warm up.
    Rounding a bend, she was relieved to see the hundred-year-old cabin snuggled against the canyon wall, nearly hidden under a grove of cottonwood and walnut trees. The square sandstone looked exactly the same as it always had. She jumped off Gato and led the horses toward the familiar dwelling. She heard Jake dismount behind her, but she didn’t turn around. “This is it.”
    “Good.” Relief rang in his voice.
    They tied the horses to a tree, and hurried inside. Castaña pulled a flashlight out of her coat pocket and flashed it around the interior. Rattlesnakes sometimes liked to shade up inside. None today, thank goodness. No musky scent of deer mice either. And no Martin.
    She swallowed her disappointment and stared at the table and bunks along the back wall someone had carved out of the red limestone. If he had been here, he’d left no sign other than a stack of wood by the fireplace that might have been there a week or a year. She moved that way. “I’ll build a fire,” Jake offered.
    “Great. I’ll bring in the panniers.”
    “I’ll help.”
    Together, they stepped out into the still shrieking wind and rain. She un-lashed the packs and they each dragged one inside.
    Jake started a fire. “This’ll keep while we unsaddle the horses.”
    They went into the rain, un-tacked the geldings and turned them into a small, grassy corral. Surrounded on three sides by the red canyon walls with a small stream winding through the middle, it was a perfect pen for horses.
    “This is a nice place,” Jake commented.
    “Yes, the BLM uses it to trap the mustangs now.” Castaña led the way back inside. She moved to the fire, peeled off her gloves and held her hands toward the flames. “Um, good.”
    “How does Martin feel about the BLM using this place for that purpose?” Jake, too, warmed his palms over the heat. They stood side by side, and Jake’s nearness heated Castaña more than the fire. Her nipples pressed against her cotton T-shirt, and it was from more than the damp fabric.
    She thought about her brother’s reaction to the government using the cabin and pens. “It makes him crazy. He believed the canyon was once used by Apaches to pen their horses before the federal government took it over to trap mustangs. To him this is a sacred place, and the government is desecrating it.”
    “What do you think?”
    She could sense him studying her, but she kept her gaze toward the dancing fire. A lifetime of resentment bubbled up in her as she thought of all her father and brother had sacrificed for some scruffy, useless horses. “I think Martin should’ve paid more attention to the humans in his life than a bunch of worthless nags. Saving those horses took over my father’s life until it consumed him. And Martin is exactly the same.”
    Jake didn’t reply and she felt like she’d somehow failed a test. Tough. He had no idea how it felt to come second to a lost cause. She removed her coat and chaps and tossed them on the bottom bunk. As children, she and Martin had camped here many times. When had his sense of fun and adventure left him to be replaced by an all encompassing fire to right the things he found wrong in the world? She supposed she should admire his passion, but why had she been left behind in the process?
    “What do you make of Briar