for Ladyfingers if you'd like to have a lesson today," Sara offered good-naturedly, already picking up a saddle and carrying it to the quiet horse. She efficiently blanketed and saddled the mount, lightly fastening the girth, always gently stroking and talking to the mare.
Robin stood by feeling very impressed by the young girl before her. A daredevil she might be, and a silly schoolgirl in love, but when it came to handling horses, Sara had the gifted touch. She was a born natural.
Robin looked over to the impatiently waiting Devil across the stable, angrily pawing at the ground before him. Sara would have to be a miracle worker, Robin thought, to manage such a horse.
When the accident happened, it came about so quickly that Robin could scarcely believe it. When the horse was saddled, Sara had moved to step out of the stall, gently knocking against the wooden partition. She jarred it only slightly, Robin was sure, but immediately there was an ear-shattering crash that shook the whole stable. Without a slight hesitation, an enormous beam came plummeting from the high ceiling, right into the stall that held Ladyfingers and the unfortunate Sara.
"Oh," groaned Sara. "What happened?"
"Thank heaven you're all right," screamed Robin. "Can you move?"
The beam had fallen on an angle, and now was supported at one end by the pile of debris that had been the wall of the stall only minutes before. With a pained glance, Robin could see the horse laying motionless on her side. The mare had been killed, struck by the massive beam as it fell. The sight made her heart heavy.
Sara was wedged under the beam.
"My foot," she said quietly. "I think I've broken my foot." Her face was very pale, and her enormous eyes kept straying to the stilled beast who lay only a few feet from her.
Robin bent closer to her. She saw Sara's eyes were filled with tears.
"Why did this have to happen? Poor Ladyfingers!" said Sara.
Robin's throat felt very tight. In all the shock and pain she had just gone through, Sara was more concerned with the death of the horse than with her own predicament. Robin found she couldn't budge Sara from beneath the beam, but she bent and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"You're a very remarkable person, Sara. Take it easy now . I'm going to have to go get your dad and some of the men. There's no way I could move this without endangering you any more. Promise me you won't try to move until I get back."
Sara numbly nodded her head.
Robin said a silent prayer and slipped lightly over to the stall where the wild horse. Devil, was still standing. The men were miles from the stable, and Sara needed medical attention quickly. Robin had no choice. She'd have to ride the fearful horse and hope she wouldn't end up being thrown to the ground. She gave Sara a smile and a wave that looked more assured than she felt, and lifted herself to the waiting saddle.
The pair started across the land at a quick pace, while Robin's mind did somersaults. What if the beam had not fallen on an angle but had come plummeting straight down from the ceiling? Not only the horse would have died, but Sara as well. And what if she had been saddling the horse herself? Robin remembered Alex's red face as he had given her the news about the jeep's tampered brakes. Was this, too, not an accident?
It had been a while since she had brought up the death of Laura Ridley, a while since she had been foolhardy enough to talk about the past where it was not wanted. Why would anyone plan such a thing?
And though Ladyfingers was not really her own horse, Robin was the only person that who had ridden her since her arrival at the ranch But who could have known she would ride today? She didn't even know herself until she had taken up Sara's offer. Sara? The thought dashed across her mind. But Sara couldn't engineer such a feat. Besides, she had been the one who had been trapped. No, the young girl she had left with tears running down her cheeks for a dead horse could not
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