High-Riding Heroes by Joey Light

both can. It’ll take practice and patience, but you’ll do fine. Why are you taking a walk this late at night? Is anything wrong?” Laying the horse’s reins over his shoulder, Wes leaned sinewy forearms on the fence.
    She smiled. “I could ask you why you’re riding this late at night but I think I know. You needed to be alone with your thoughts and yourself. I guess I needed that, too.”
    “To be alone with my thoughts and me?” he teased.
    She was glad for the darkness and his inability to see that a warm rush of red came to her cheeks and that he was totally unaware of the way his closeness left her weak. The fence boards felt rough and splintery under her hands. The soft, almost nonexistent brush of his lips on hers was unexpected, startling, then warm and fiery and left her waiting for more.
    “Every woman should be kissed when she stands in the moonlight on a night like this,” he explained, his voice whispery and skidding along her ears.
    She was amazed for the second time that night. Excitement whirled its way from the pit of her stomach to fill her.
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    High-Riding Heroes
    His eyes, dark in the daylight, were only shadows…but she felt their intensity. She was inclined to press forward and kiss him, not the feathery contact but hard, full, and sound. She stepped back from it.
    “Why isn’t a beautiful woman like you married?”
    His question was so completely off the wall, she stepped back and tilted her head. “Why?”
    “Yes, why? I can’t imagine some man not scooping you up and taking you home with him. Forever.”
    His voice was low and coaxing. It rode along her senses and raised her pulse beat.
    Lulled by the night, amazed by his light kiss, surprised by Wes’s comfortable interest, Victoria sighed, letting her mind run backward. It was the first time she actually felt free to express her feelings. “Remember I was. Once upon a time.”
    He chuckled. “Tell me about it.”
    “His name is David. He’s quiet, sophisticated, and peaceful.” It was nice to be able to talk about David without having to be on the defensive. “I think I was always waiting for the superman I thought was inside him to break out. He’s handsome, charming, and loving. But he lacked something I needed. A spark, I guess. A thrill for being alive. He was a fiery lawyer in the courtroom, but a passionless man the rest of the time. He was content to watch TV. He was happy to read the Sunday paper on a beautiful bright morning that simply screamed for a long walk or a good game of tennis. He thought a ripping thunderstorm was good for the grass but never paid any attention to the power in the streaks of lightning or got a bang at the feel of thunder rumbling the earth. He could name every star in the sky but he could never simply look up and enjoy the majestic beauty of a brilliant night. Nothing excited him.”

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    Joey Light
    Looking up at Wes, she was glad not to see a frown of blame, a look of impatience, one of aversion. Her mother would have looked that way and did very often. “Everything to him was just okay.
    The bottom line was that I was afraid I would atrophy.”
    They were walking side by side with the fence in between, headed toward the gate.
    “He sounds like a real monster,” Wes bedeviled. And then thinking better of it, he asked, “How long have you been divorced?” He attempted to keep his amusement from dancing in his eyes. This lady had been suffering from a guilt put on her, and one she accepted. A little twist of anger for those who had done this to her tightened the muscles in his jaw.
    “A bit over a year. Even that was civil. When I told him, he merely stood up, put the paper aside, and held me. Now that I look back on it, I think two friends got married. And it wasn’t enough for either of us. Our families were happy with the wedding and furious with the divorce. Society had labeled us as perfect for each other. The families