Read Online Galloping Gold by Terri Farley - Free Book Online Page B

both deduced from Ann’s eyes that she’d been crying.
    Had something else gone wrong? What was that book tucked under her arm? This wasn’t the time to ask, so Darby just squeezed Ann’s hand.
    Sugarfoot stopped a few feet from the fence and waited for Ann to call him closer.
    His dark eyes were confused. He didn’t know why Ann wasn’t coaxing and sweet-talking him. His ears cupped toward Ann as he waited for a sign that she cared.
    â€œThis is not an aggressive horse,” Jonah said.
    Ramona agreed. “I don’t know how much Ed told you, but the man who used to own him had a stallion station, horses of all breeds, and he told us he bought this pinto for his color, conformation, and fire.”
    Jonah nodded, encouraging her to go on, and Darby wondered why.
    Her grandfather had told Ed that he wanted to figure out the puzzle of this horse on his own. Maybe Ann’s distress made him less inclined to treat the horse’s problem as a game.
    â€œYou know how some people show off pit bulls, Rottweilers, and other dogs with bad reputations? They showed him off as a fierce stallion.”
    â€œI brought this out to show you.” Ann handed Jonah the book she’d had tucked under her arm. Itwas a small photo album filled with pictures of Sugarfoot. “These are the ones I thought you’d want to see.”
    Jonah, Darby, and Patrick looked as Ann indicated a business card imprinted with the words OLOWALU STALLION STATION over a background photo of Sugarfoot rearing. There was a magazine article featuring Olowalu Stallion Station, too. In it, Sugarfoot was shown racing head-on toward the camera.
    â€œWho wants to breed to a ferocious, angry horse?” Jonah asked.
    â€œBut he’s not!” Ann insisted.
    â€œI can tell that,” Jonah said gently.
    â€œStill, a groom was injured while making him perform,” Ramona pointed out.
    â€œSugarfoot just didn’t know when to stop. He was only four years old, just a baby,” Ann said. “But they gelded him and put him up for sale. I saw the ad in the Honolulu Horseman , and—”
    â€œOnce we saw him, we had to have him,” Ramona said. “I’ve always wanted a Morab, and—well, does it sound show-offy to say Ed and I had never encountered a horse we couldn’t work around to our way of thinking?”
    â€œNah,” Jonah told her. The corners of his eyes crinkled in a genuine smile. “It sounds like a couple of experienced horsemen. Or horsewomen.”
    At the ringing sound of an old-fashioned dinner triangle, they all hurried toward the house.
    â€œHe’s an easy keeper,” Ramona said as they walked.“He’s never sick, only threw a shoe once, and really, he’s never cost us an extra dime. Until…” Ramona noticed Patrick was hanging back, still looking at Sugarfoot. “Patrick, dear, do you need any help?”
    Something in Patrick’s rapt study of Sugarfoot made Darby nervous, and she was glad when Ramona waited for him to catch up.
    Ann and Jonah walked in step. Her friend talked while her grandfather listened. Watching them, Darby felt a bounce of optimism.
    â€œHe’s sweet, but we can’t use him as a therapy horse because he’s a chaser,” Ann confessed. Then she repeated what she’d told Darby when they’d camped near the Two Sisters volcanoes. “I think you don’t hear much about the vice of ‘chasing’ because people are ashamed to admit they’re afraid of their own horses.”
    They’d just reached the open front door of the Potters’ house when Ann tilted her head, looked intently at Jonah, and asked, “What do you think?”
    Just then Ed appeared in the doorway and shook Jonah’s hand.
    Jonah looked at the Potters, not Ann, and said, “Got one smart girl, here, and five or six empty stomachs, is what I think.”
    â€œY’all come on in and grease