Kidnapped Colt Read Online Free

were off again, this time with Tempest in retreat.
    Their joy was contagious. Across the ranch yard, the saddle herd began galloping around the ten-acre pasture, too.
    â€œLast year your dad said Hotspot’s foal might be ‘fast as a caged squirrel,’” Sam told Ryan.
    â€œHe does manage those long legs rather well.” Ryan sounded like a parent trying to be modest.
    Ryan looked so proud and so fond of Shy Boots, she decided not to mention that Linc had also said she could have the foal.
    Something in Shy Boots cut through Ryan’s cold reserve and made him happy. She wouldn’t think of holding Linc to his offer.
    The foals returned to their mothers and nursed so briefly, it seemed they were checking in, rather than seeking meals.
    Dark Sunshine rested her chin on Tempest’sback. Hotspot grazed and Shy Boots imitated her, spreading his front legs wide as he tried to nibble the sparse grass.
    â€œIs he eating solid food already?” Sam asked.
    â€œTrying,” Ryan said. “Each day he chews more and nurses less.”
    Dark Sunshine was more watchful of Tempest than Hotspot was of Shy Boots. As Sam and Ryan eased out of the pen, Sam saw Dallas and mentioned the difference between the two mares.
    â€œThat’s the way of it,” Dallas said. “While they’re little, filly foals are closer to their mamas. Once they’re yearlings, though, the moms show more attachment to the colts.”
    Sam mulled that over, trying to make sense of it. Since young mares and young stallions were both driven from the herds by their sires, what were the mares thinking?
    Tired out, Shy Boots flung himself down for a nap beside his grazing mother. As his tiny brown head scrubbed back and forth in the grass, trying to find a comfortable position, Sam decided his delicate bone structure showed no sign of his hammerhead father.
    Tempest watched her playmate doze, but when she turned to bite the area above her tail, scratching an itch, she did it loudly. Then she used a hind hoof to scratch behind her ear. Fighting for balance, Tempest squealed, then looked at Shy Boots to see if he’d noticed.
    The colt’s long eyelashes stayed closed.
    â€œShe’s doing everything she can to get his attention,” Sam said as Tempest bolted into another lap around the corral. “I wish he and Hotspot could stay.”
    â€œSo do I.” Ryan spoke up quickly, as if Sam’s words were the go-ahead he’d needed. “That’s what I intended to ask of you.”
    So this was why Jen had said she couldn’t give Ryan the permission he needed. Sam swallowed hard. There was no way in the universe Dad would allow more horses at the ranch.
    â€œThen, as I drove over here,” Ryan went on, “I realized my father would find them at River Bend.”
    â€œFind them?” Sam asked.
    Ryan drew a breath. His explanation was probably going to be a long one.
    â€œA few days ago, my father had Hotspot trailered over to Sterling Stables to be bred to Cloud Cap, a stallion of good bloodlines,” Ryan began.
    Sam nodded.
    â€œShy Boots went along, since he’s still nursing,” Ryan said. “And, according to everyone watching, that’s why, when Cloud Cap was loosed to Hotspot, she attacked him. She thought she needed to protect Shy Boots from the stallion.”
    She might have been right, Sam thought. In mustang herds, stallions sometimes killed foals that weren’t their own.
    â€œWhen Mr. Sterling opened the gate, Cloud Cap didn’t have to be coaxed away from Hotspot. He fled.” Ryan’s shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “Mr. Sterling suggested a second try after Shy Boots was weaned. He was polite about it, saying it happened now and then, but when my father returned home, he condemned Boots as a mongrel that had ruined everything.”
    â€œYou can’t let him think that way,” Sam warned Ryan. She’d seen Linc