Mountain Moonlight Read Online Free Page A

arranged for a pack horse. Loaded with their gear, the pack horse followed Bram's Fremont, then came Nate with Davis.
    She and Susie Q brought up the rear.
    Good, she thought. If I make mistakes Bram won't be so likely to notice them.
    Davis had told her to lean slightly forward and move with the horse but she soon discovered that was easier said than done. Still, she wasn't too uncomfortable until they passed through the gates of the horse ranch and Bram increased Fremont's pace from a walk to what she thought might be a trot. Obediently, the other horses matched the leader's gait.
    No matter what she tried to do, she kept bouncing up and down in the saddle rather than moving with Susie Q. Though jarring, it didn't bother her too much. At first.
    The morning was cool enough to be coat weather, in her case a lined denim jacket. In addition she wore a broad- brimmed hat, jeans, and a pair of riding boots comfortable enough to hike in, boots that Bram had suggested she buy. Davis wore a similar outfit. Bram, she'd noticed, looked like a real honest-to-goodness cowboy.
    The horses followed a trail toward Superstition Mountain, passing between clumps of ocotillo--which she seemed to recall was a shrub, not a cactus, never mind that it looked like cactus--and various large round cacti that were all leaning toward the southwest. Beyond the vegetation close to the trail were various other unfriendly-looking plants whose wicked spines and spikes made her want to grab hold of the saddle horn just in case Susie Q took a notion to buck and send her flying head over teakettle. She resisted the temptation, reminding herself that the mare was not only a tried and true trail horse but seemed to have a placid disposition as well.
    The Superstitions loomed ahead, far more rugged- looking at close range than from the highway. Near the topmost peaks, the sun glinted off a broad white streak running across the otherwise reddish brown rocks making up the mountain. Unlike New York's Catskills, Superstition Mountain had no foothills, it rose straight up. Daunted and awed by the forbidding crags facing her, she realized how foolish she'd been to even think of tackling this mountain without a guide.
    By the time the horses entered the mountains via a cobble-strewn wash and began to pick their way up a steep ridge, Vala's muscles were aching from the jouncing. Surely Bram would halt soon for a rest, she told herself. As the trail grew steeper, she realized that, even if they did stop, she wouldn't have enough room to dismount and ease her aches and pains. There was no choice but to grin and bear it--or at least bear it, grinning being a bit beyond her right now. The rocky, tumbled terrain around them seemed as confusing as a maze. The only consistent feature was a vast stone pillar rising in the distance--Weaver's Needle. In addition to the stands of prickly-pear cactus and the grayish jojoba shrubs, green-barked palo verde trees were strewn at random among the rocks, making her wonder how they found enough dirt to grow.
    After a while she stopped noticing what was around her because she hurt too much to pay attention to anything but her own discomfort. When Susie Q finally quit moving, it took Vala a moment or two to realize they'd stopped on a small plateau. Bram and Davis had already dismounted and both were looking expectantly at her. Unfortunately, though she remembered Davis had told her to get off a horse the same way she got on, only in reverse, she was in too much pain to be able to recall how she'd mounted. And even if she did remember, she wasn't sure her aching muscles would obey her. Bram ambled toward her. "Thought we'd take a rest here," he said, obviously waiting for her to dismount.
    I can simply fall off, she told herself, or I can admit to the truth. Taking a deep breath, which hurt, she let it out slowly and admitted the truth. "I can't get off unless you help me."
    His eyebrows rose and he shook his head. "Stubborn," he muttered.