And You Will Find Love

Finally, Chet broke the silence. "I suppose Gail's told you I'm kind of a playboy."

"She said you were a 'player.' I didn't think she meant the piano."

"Are you a player too, with men?" He took his eyes off the road and looked at her mockingly.

"I don't think so. Anyway, I'm pretty busy. I haven't done much dating because I'm either studying or working." She said it as another jab to him being one of the idle rich, but her words seemed to roll off him like water off a duck's back.

They sparred some more and finally reached the stables where they had parted the previous afternoon.

Barbara wanted to ride the gelding she had been on the day before, but Chet told a stable hand to saddle a white stallion he said he thought she would like. She knew about stallions, that they could be more challenging to ride, but did not object. He chose a black stallion for himself.

Chet rode ahead of Barbara and she quickly could see that he either did not know much about horses or didn't care about them. She thought he kept his mount's head too high most of the time. Several times, she heard him grumble at his horse. Once she thought she heard him say, "Move, you bag of bones!" Barbara figured Chet almost insisted on the stallion for her because he hoped he would be too much horse for her. She showed him he wasn't by riding him ably and confidently.

"Race you to that big oak ahead," Chet challenged.

Barbara wondered how much liquor he had drunk before he called for her. Would it be a good idea for him to race? Before she could suggest they not race, he slapped her horse on the rear and it charged forward.

Chet then stood in the stirrups and kicked his boots into his mount's flanks. The horse snorted and leaped forward in such fright that he took off like the wind. Unable to rein his stallion in, Chet was taken on a wild ride.

Barbara raced her mount for the oak tree, unaware that Chet was not behind her. When she reached the tree, she turned in the saddle and saw Chet's stallion running wild, taking him down a wooded slope to the left of the trail, far behind her.

She urged her horse into a gallop and rode after Chet. Shortly after, she saw him whipping his horse. Then the stallion threw him. Chet fell hard to the ground and his horse kept on going.