Wild Fire by Linda I. Shands Page A

tongue to tell him just what Lily could handle, when she caught the glint of laughter in his eyes. Her bad mood suddenly lifted. “I can handle any trail you can, Colin Jones. I’ll be there in a minute.”
    She checked to be sure Ryan was helping Anne, then ran to her room and pulled on her boots.
    She had Lily almost saddled when Ryan came into the barn. The mare was still fidgety from the night before, and Kara had to stop twice to calm her.
    â€œI’m going too,” Ryan demanded. “Saddle Star for me, Colin. Dad said.”
    Kara could tell Ryan was lying by the way he kept his eyes on the ground. She caught Colin’s questioning glance and shook her head. She wanted to swat the little pest but kept her tone casual. “When did Dad tell you that?”
    â€œJust now.”
    Colin feigned a sudden interest in the cobweb-choked rafters.
    Greg wouldn’t look at her either. They all knew Dad had gone up to check the water purifier. The tanks were two miles away, and he hadn’t been back.
    Lily danced sideways and Kara yanked on the lead rope. “HO!” She realized how angry she sounded and lowered her voice.
    â€œDon’t lie to me, Ryan Sheridan. You know Dad didn’t say you could go. It’s too long of a ride and Star wouldn’t be able to keep up. Besides, we might run into that bear, and the slowest one would be lunch!”
    She knew it was a mean thing to say, but she felt mean. Ryan had deliberately lied to her.
    â€œLying erodes trust,” Mom had often said. “When you lose someone’s trust, it’s hard to gain it back.”
    She steeled herself against the tears puddling in her little brother’s eyes. “You go back to Anne. Now. We’ll talk about this when I get home.”
    Ryan ran sobbing from the barn.
    Colin busied himself with his gelding’s saddle, and Kara caught Greg looking at her, a half smile on his face.
    â€œWhat?” she snapped.
    Greg shrugged. “At least you didn’t say, ‘Just wait until your father gets home.’”
    Colin laughed, “Oh, yeah. I used to hate that line.”
    Kara felt her face turn red. “Well, what was I supposed to do, let him come?”
    Greg looked away, but Colin laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, lighten up. All kids do that kind of stuff. He’ll get over it.”
    If he meant to cheer her up, it wasn’t working. In spite of Lily’s energy and the challenging trail, the episode with Ryan left her feeling guilty, like the whole thing was her fault.

T HE TRAIL CROSSED THE WOODEN bridge and wound its way along the far side of the river, dipping into hollows and rising to heights far above the raging water .
    They had lost the bear tracks long before they reached the bridge. Kara suspected the ride had just been an excuse for a few hours of freedom before Greg headed back to Lariat and the guests claimed Colin’s time for the summer.
    She wouldn’t have much free time either. Determined to enjoy what was left of the morning, she urged Lily forward, passing Colin in one of the few open spaces and racing up the trail.
    She heard Colin yell, and Dakota thundered along behind her. She almost gave Lily another nudge, but they were already going a little too fast for the terrain.
    She had just eased the mare into a slow canter, when Dakota moved in alongside and Colin grabbed Lily’s right rein. Lily threw her head and sidestepped, nearly unseating her.
    Kara pulled the horse to a halt and spun around in the saddle to face Colin. “Don’t you ever do that again!” She heard her voice echo across the canyon, but right now she didn’t care. “I can control my own horse. You could have gotten me killed!”
    Colin backed off, but his face was red with anger. “You nearly killed yourself. There’s an S-curve in the trail up ahead. At that speed you’d have galloped right into a tree.”
    Kara took a