A couple of the other horses came to check the cowboy out as he hung the bucket up on the fence. Bark neighed shrilly at him then whirled around, kicking and prancing, trying to engage the wolfdog in a game of play. Wayne only grinned and shook his head before the chestnut colt was nipped by Tupelo, already practicing for the foal growing in her brown and white belly. The antics continued anyway, but the young man was able to ignore them as his gaze turned back to Hadley, who was interacting sweetly with the large mare.
All of a sudden, however, the new member jerked toward the trough to fill it up, casting a decidedly nervous look at the Rispetto as if expecting to be beaten for not carrying out the task more quickly. Once again, he was troubled by this, conflicted as to whether Hadley was intimidated by him in particular or if he was just easily intimidated. He frowned as he stepped toward him, but he halted at Fern’s shoulder and ran his fingers through her flaxen mane.
“Would you want to tell me who captured you and why?” Wayne asked, speaking softly and carefully. He wanted to get to the bottom of the other’s actions, and he supposed that letting the man speak on his own time wasn’t going to work—at least, he wouldn’t be sharing this information anytime soon without a little prompting. But the cowboy still didn’t want to cause him pain, and he wouldn’t press if the subject was especially hard to talk about. He simply wanted to know.
“Listen,” he said after a moment, his hand falling from the horse’s mane. She burred and stepped toward Hadley again, her eyes fond. Seeing her gentle temperament made him feel guilty all over again. “You ain’t gotta worry about me. You can—you can do whatever ya want here. Thought you might get a kick outta helpin’ with the horses.” He grunted and folded his arms, averting his gaze somewhat awkwardly as he revealed the ulterior motive. “You can leave now, if ya want,” he added, not that he especially wanted to drive him off. He simply wanted Hadley to know that he was free to do what he wished, whether it was to help here or somewhere else or just relax and enjoy the winter scenery.
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