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Charles? What is wrong?" That rueful little smile still in place, he bent his head, looking down as though he could see the beautiful animal whose broad forehead was pressed to his chest, and whose ears were only a few inches from his nose. "I cannot ride him," he said softly, with one of his long, slow, blinks that lent him an air of studied sadness. "As much as he means to me, as much as I've missed him, he is nothing more to me than a pet, now —" He never finished the sentence. As though he'd taken violent offense at his master's words, the stallion flung up his head, the blow catching Charles squarely beneath the jaw, snapping his head back and sending him reeling backwards into Amy's arms. She staggered under his weight. "Will, help me!" Her brother rushed forward, and together they eased the captain down onto his back in the straw. He lay unmoving, his lashes still against his cheeks. Blood gushed from his nose. "Charles!" Amy slid a hand beneath his nape and lifted his head just as his eyes fluttered open. "Oh-h-h-h," he moaned, covering his nose with one hand and trying to stop the bleeding. "Damn." "Will, get some cold water, quick!" Amy urged. As her brother ran out of the barn toward the well, Amy helped Charles to sit up. Cradling him against her body and tipping his head back over her arm, she tore off her neckerchief and pressed it to his nose. "You silly man," she said, in gentle admonishment. "I would've thought you knew your horse well enough to realize he doesn't take kindly to insults, either to himself or to his master." "I didn't insult him. " His voice sounded nasally and thick. "You insulted yourself." "I did not." "You did. You said you couldn't ride him." "I damn well can't." "You damn well will. My brother didn't go to all the trouble of bringing him back just so you could do nothing more than groom and feed him." "My dear Amy, please be realistic. I cannot ride him." "Why not?" "Because I can't see." "So you can't. But there's nothing wrong with your legs —" she blushed hotly, remembering the feel of them hard and strong against her own — "or your balance, or anything else about you. You simply can't see where you're going. But Contender can." "I shall not be able to guide him where I wish to go, pull him up when he needs pulling up, anticipate possible dangers to both himself and I." "Then you can go out riding with Mira and me, and we'll anticipate those things for you." "But I shall look the fool, up there on his back." "You shall look splendid." "Amy," he said in a patient, controlled voice, "you do not understand. If something cannot be done the proper way, it should not be done at all. Since I cannot ride him the proper way, I should not —" "No, Charles, you don't understand. Sometimes there is no right way to do something, but a whole parcel of varying ways. So you can't ride him the way you used to. You find a different way." "But —" "You're doing it again," she scolded. "Doing what?" "Trying to be perfect. And taking yourself far too seriously. Stop it." He began to protest, then grinned and gave her a half-hearted salute. "Yes, ma'm." At
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