Read The Bridal Path: Sara for Free Online

need you to teach me to stay on a bronco.”
    The old man’s mouth gaped comically. Then he started to chuckle. The chuckle blossomed into a gut-deep laugh. He laughed so hard his eyes watered. He whipped off his hat and slapped his knee with it.
    Sara was delighted he was having so much enjoyment at her expense. Maybe since she had brightened his day so, he would look on her request more favorably.
    “I’m serious,” she insisted, when he’d calmed down.
    “And I’m the bloody Queen of England.” He shook his head. “You on a bronc. If that don’t beat all. Jake put you up to this, didn’t he? Wanted to give me the best laugh I’ve had in a month of Sundays, I’ll bet. You go on back and tell him it worked.”
    He settled his hat back on his head and turned away, chuckling once more as he headed back into the paddock.
    “Mr. Laramie?”
    He kept right on walking. He didn’t even glance back. “Go on. You can git now,” he said. “You’ve had your fun.”
    “Mr. Laramie!” Sara repeated more emphatically. “I’ll pay you a thousand dollars for the lessons.”
    That snagged his attention. Money usually talked, sometimes even more effectively than reason, she’d found to her disappointment.
    He turned slowly and stared at her. “I’m too old to be foolin’ with this kinda nonsense. You want lessons, get Jake to teach you. I taught him everything he knows.”
    Sara shook her head. “That won’t work.”
    “Why the hell not? He’s right there under your nose.”
    “True, but my bet’s with him.”
    Zeke’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “You made some kinda fool bet with Jake?”
    He sounded vaguely intrigued by that, so Sara decided to take full advantage of his fascination. She winked.
    “Just between you and me?” she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
    “You see anybody else around?” he grumbled.
    “Okay, here’s the deal,” she said, confident his attention was riveted on her. “I suppose you could say I bet the farm on my beating Jake in a bronc riding contest.”
    Zeke just stared. “You’re serious? You bet Three-Stars?”
    “Every acre of it.”
    “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said, clearly awestruck. “And Jake agreed to this?”
    She grinned. “He took a little persuading, since he already considers the ranch to be all but his.”
    “His? How’d that come about?”
    Sara gestured dismissively. “Oh, he made some sort of arrangement with my father. I stepped in before they signed and made Jake an offer of my own.”
    “Must have been quite an offer.”
    “One he couldn’t resist,” she said cheerfully. “That’s when he sent me to you. He figured you were the only one around who could keep me from getting killed. His words, by the way.”
    “Probably am,” Zeke agreed. “How much time do I have?”
    “A few weeks,” Sara said, sensing victory in this battle at least. “Will you do it?”
    “I will,” he said solemnly. “And you can keep your thousand bucks. I’ll do it just to see the look on Jake’s face when you win.”
    Impulsively, Sara threw her arms around him. “You think I can do it? You think I can win?”
    Zeke blushed fiery red with embarrassment and hurriedly stepped out of her embrace. “Would I be risking my reputation, if I didn’t?” He regarded her slyly. “Besides, it’s about time some woman came along and stirred that boy into a tizzy. He’s been alone too danged long. Something tells me you’ve got just the right mix of gumption and daring to be a good match for him.”
    The comment alerted Sara that Zeke just might be misinterpreting the nature of her bet. “This isn’t personal between Jake and me,” she insisted.
    “Girl, a bet is always personal, especially when a man’s pride or his land is at stake.”
    Sara suddenly swallowed hard. Even though she’d thrown the possibility of humiliation right back into Jake’s face the night before, she hadn’t really considered what it would mean for him to lose.