Clouds and Rain

returned with a large truck and a small trailer containing two horses of his own. While his wrangler unloaded them, Gable and Hunter talked about how they were going to round up Hunter‟s purchases.
    Flynn could see them from afar and couldn‟t help noticing that Gable seemed nicer to Hunter than he had been that morning. The feeling continued when Gable broke away from Hunter and his wrangler to approach him.
    “Think you can ride with us this afternoon?” Gable asked. “With the four of us together, it should be easy to round up the horses Hunter wants and put them in the front paddock. From there we can load them in the truck.”
    “Sure thing, boss,” Flynn answered, unable to hide a smile. Hell, if he‟d know that one kiss would have made such a difference, he would have kissed Gable the first day he got there. Then again, it might not have had the same impact as this kiss had, since this one was initiated by Gable himself. Flynn rubbed the back of his head to remind himself of the bump, which still hurt a bit. “I‟ll saddle Brenner and T.C.”
    Despite the earlier thunderstorm, the weather that afternoon was nothing short of glorious. The sky was blue as far as the eye could see, with the occasional small white cloud but nothing so big it would block the sun, and it was hot enough to ride out in just a T-shirt and jeans. As Gable had predicted, it took them less than an hour to round up a sizeable group of horses, but Flynn knew that the biggest part of the job was only just starting. Hunter would want to see each horse individually, so he could judge how easy they would be to handle, but 24

    Clouds and Rain

    he‟d also have to assess the animal‟s general build and constitution.
    Flynn knew they had nothing to worry about. He knew the herd well enough to be confident they didn‟t have any weak horses among those old enough to be sold, and the ones they‟d rounded up this afternoon were all suitable to be turned into good working horses. He was sure Hunter would see that too.
    On their way back to the stables, after a final ride around the herd, Flynn steered T.C. next to Brenner, so he could talk to Gable without the other two men hearing.
    “Why don‟t you talk money with Hunter and I‟ll show the horses?” Once the words had left his mouth, he knew they sounded a bit audacious, even though this way of working was the logical way.
    He probably should have phrased it differently, but then again, Gable wasn‟t much of a talker, and Flynn preferred to know where he stood before they arrived back. To his surprise, Gable smiled at him for a moment before nodding and urging Brenner to trot a little faster.
    Flynn stayed behind, telling his body to behave. Damn, he felt like a schoolgirl on a first date! There was no way he could expect anything more to happen today, but that kiss this morning and now that smile made his heart race and he couldn‟t help wondering how the evening would play out once it was just the two of them again. He knew he had to get with it now, though. They had work to do first, but Flynn couldn‟t help wanting it to be dinnertime already.

    AS FLYNN had predicted, Hunter was very pleased with the horses.
    While he and Gable sat on the fence overlooking the round corral that was also used for training, Flynn led one horse after another into it and let it walk, then trot, and finally canter. Tim, Hunter‟s wrangler, would sometimes test to see how skittish they were or would lift a leg and check out a hoof, but other than that, most of the horses seemed to meet with Hunter‟s approval. After the last horse had been shown, Hunter and his wrangler got the truck ready to load their animals, leaving Gable and Flynn alone together.

    25

    Zahra Owens

    “That went well,” Flynn remarked in a bid to start a conversation between them. “So is he going to take all of the horses we mustered?” Gable just nodded.
    “You don‟t seem happy about it?”
    Gable shrugged, so Flynn forced himself into Gable‟s field of vision. “It‟s good,” Gable eventually conceded, none too enthusiastically. “He‟s coming back tomorrow to load the rest, since he can‟t take all of them at once.” And then a bit more quietly, “He certainly made my year.”
    Flynn smiled at no one in particular. It was good to see Gable a little more relaxed; he hoped it would continue. It had been a long day, though, and he was glad it was over. Seeing Gable crawl down from his perch, carefully