David went down too. Emily was shocked! The horse got up quickly but David laid there for a moment, dazed not only by the fall but because his horse had brushed his head with one of his sharp hooves as he scrambled to his feet. Emily left the gate to run to David, but she was only part way there when Target got up and trotted over to her. She grabbed Target’s reins out of instinct and continued running over to David.
He was standing up, laughing ruefully, and he looked fine. He met her eyes and a spark seemed to flow between them. She ignored Target as she gently reached out a hand to the cut on David’s forehead.
“Are you all right?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice.
“I’m fine.” David smiled into Emily’s eyes.
“You really had me worried.” She looked up at him.
David looked down at the worry in her eyes and felt a slight tightening in his gut.
“I’m okay.” He slid his arms around her waist in a quick hug.
Emily reveled in the brief, warm strength of his arms, hardly aware of the soft rubbing on her shoulder.
“Emily,” David said with a laugh in his voice, “you caught Target!”
“Actually, he caught me. He just came over to me.” She stroked the horse’s nose unconsciously and said, “So I brought him back to you.”
“Still, I think you’re not nearly as afraid of horses as you think you are.” He seemed to be fighting a laugh.
“What?” Emily gradually realized that both of David’s hands were on her waist. The rubbing on her shoulder was Target.
“What’s he doing?” she asked, with her eyes going wide.
“Using you as a scratching post,” David told her.
“Why is he doing that?”
“Two reasons: He likes you,” Emily smiled softly at that news, “and he has an itch he wants scratched. Just slap his nose and say NO if he’s bothering you.”
“I kind of like it.” She turned and scratched the velvet nose gently but firmly.
David made no move to take the horse’s reins from her, instead he gently said, “Hold him still for a moment, would you Emily?”
He bent down and ran his hands over each of the horse’s legs in turn, feeling for any sign of injury or tenderness.
Then he straightened and looked at Emily. “Emily, do me a favor. Walk him straight away from me, about thirty feet or so. Then bring him back. I want to watch him walk to see if he’s limping. I want to make sure he’s okay.”
She led the big horse away, with David watching for any sign of lameness.
When she led the horse back, David said, “Now jog with him the same way.”
She took off at a trot, surprised to realize that Target was jogging right beside her. She turned and came back.
“Is he all right?” she asked with concern in her voice. “Is he limping? And how are you?”
“No, it looks like he’s fine. He just slipped.” David grinned then continued, “And I’m fine, now that you ask, but I might have a bruise in a real interesting spot and I’ll probably be a little stiff in the morning.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I’m okay, Emily, the dirt’s soft and Target managed to avoid stepping on me,” David replied softly. “Although the big lug managed to scrape my head with one of his hooves as he got up.”
They both walked towards the arena gate. David took the horse when they got outside the arena and left Emily to her duties while he walked Target around for a long time. This time, he skipped the awards ceremony altogether and walked over to Emily.
“Come on, you can join me for lunch. They have a thirty minute lunch break that usually lasts about an hour or so, and I have lots of food in the motor home.”
“How can a thirty minute break last an hour?” Emily quizzed.
“I don’t know, it’s just one of those things, like missing one sock out of every load in the dryer,” he told her.
“Or the fact that the pen closest to the phone is always out of ink?” Emily asked.
“You got it.” David grinned. “Come on, let’s eat. Believe me you don’t want to eat the food they fix at the cook stand. I think the losing competitors wind up in the burgers.”
“You’re kidding!” Emily shrieked, laughing.
“You’d better believe it.” David laughed at her expression, earning himself a playful punch on the arm. “These folks love their horses.”
They walked over to where David had parked his small RV with the horse trailer. David pulled the bridle off Target and hung it on the saddle horn, then he hooked the left stirrup on the horn and loosened the cinch. He slipped a halter on Target. There was a big net filled with hay for him to munch on.
“Don’t you tie him up?” Emily asked.
“Nope. As long as he has some hay, he’ll stay put.” David grinned. “I wouldn’t recommend this with most of these horses, though.”
“How is he?” She asked with concern. “Did the fall injure him?”
“He’s walking fine.” David knelt and felt the horse’s legs, finding no heat, swelling or tenderness in them. “And I can’t find anything wrong with his legs. I’ll see how he is after lunch. Let’s eat.”
David offered Target some water from a bucket and fed him a handful of grain and a carrot. Then he gave the big horse a pat and held open the RV door for Emily.
“Why did you leave the stirrup up?” Emily asked as she followed him into the motor home.
“So I remember to tighten the cinch up again before I remount. It’s one of my old habits.” He dug into the refrigerator. “You can wash up in there, through the bedroom.” David pointed. “Would you like another beer or some iced tea with your lunch?”
“I’ll take a beer.” Emily followed the direction David pointed.
The bathroom was large for an RV, and the counter was filled with cosmetics. There was a large, well-lit mirror above the counter with a swivel chair in front of it.
Emily caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed as she began to wash her face.
How could any man spend time talking to her, she wondered. Her self-doubt doubled as she looked around the motor home and saw a small framed picture sitting on the dresser. It was a picture of a woman, a woman with uncommon beauty. She realized it was Nicole without the dust and dirt. Still, she seemed strangely familiar. No way she could compete with that, she thought.
Emily jolted with surprise. When had she stopped thinking of this as a pleasant interlude and started thinking
