Desert Dancer Read Online Free Page B

back to Nevada seven months ago.
    Aunt Sue was a teacher, and now that it was school vacation for both of them, she would stay with Sam while Dad and Brynna honeymooned.
    â€œSue is helping your gram with the buffet,” Brynna said.
    Sam thought Brynna looked a little skeptical, as if she were about to say something else.
    Aunt Sue was short in height, but never short of opinions, and she did have a way of taking over.
    But Brynna only shook her head and smiled. “It’s really nice of her to let us use her apartment while she visits with you.”
    Sam knew Aunt Sue’s arrival was more than a visit, but she bit her tongue to keep from asking Brynna why Dad wouldn’t leave her alone. Even though she was thirteen years old, he couldn’t get over the idea she needed a baby-sitter.
    The sudden chords of the pipe organ surged through the room.
    â€œThat’s our cue,” Brynna said, drawing a deepbreath. “We’ve got half an hour before the ceremony. Plenty of time,” she said as she helped Sam into a special slip with a flounced petticoat. “Now, tell me what happened to make you late? I know it had to do with horses. Did you take another fall?”
    Another fall . Even Brynna had noticed. Sam felt a hot blush cover her face. For a minute, she wanted to confide in Brynna. But this was Brynna’s wedding day. It would be selfish to wonder aloud why she’d regressed into a lousy, fearful rider.
    Besides, she needed Brynna’s help with the mustangs.
    â€œMore like an emergency dismount,” Sam admitted, feeling better when Brynna laughed.
    â€œYou’re okay, right?” Brynna’s glance gave Sam a quick once-over.
    â€œI’m fine, but I’m worried. They stampeded, just because a noise startled them. The Phantom’s lead mare is missing and the herd is all confused.”
    â€œMissing?” Brynna shook her head with a little grimace. “Remind me what the mare looks like.”
    â€œA red dun with tiger stripes on her front legs and—”
    â€œRight.” Brynna nodded, and though she appeared to be watching Sam put on light makeup, Brynna’s eyes looked far away. “She’s the one that was scolding Moon when we saw the herd up in Lost Canyon. She didn’t look old or unhealthy,” Brynna mused.
    Sam’s spirits fell. She’d hoped Brynna would have a logical explanation for the dun’s absence. “Could the wranglers have brought her in?”
    â€œI doubt it,” Brynna said. “We did so many gathers in the late summer and early fall, because of the drought, we haven’t needed to do more.”
    That left injury or death as reasons for the mare’s disappearance. Sam’s chest felt heavy.
    â€œWhen was the last time you saw her?” Brynna asked. “There’s a slight chance she left the herd to foal, then got left behind. But that’s so unlikely, Sam. I wouldn’t want you to count on it.”
    â€œI saw her a couple weeks ago. She looked slim and fast,” Sam said. “She couldn’t have been carrying a foal.”
    â€œListen, I’ve been busy getting my Willow Springs work done, so Wyatt and I could get away,” Brynna sounded suddenly more upbeat. “If an injured or feral horse was brought in, I might not know about it. After the ceremony, I’ll put in a call to my substitute—” Brynna broke off with a wry smile. “You know who he is, don’t you?”
    â€œOh, my gosh.” Sam groaned. “Tell me it’s not Norman White.”
    â€œI could, but I’d be lying. Mr. White is covering for me this week.”
    Sam ignored Brynna’s gentle reprimand because, really, he didn’t deserve her respect. Once before Norman White had filled in for Brynna. The bossybureaucrat had tried to “tie up loose ends” by putting down mustangs he classified as “unadoptable.”
    Luckily, Mrs. Allen,