The Impostor, A Love Story by Tiffany Carmouche Page A

taxi
pulled up.

Chapter Ten
     
    “Have you ever ridden a horse before?” Chris
asked, walking in the fenced-in area.
    “Yeah, back in Maryland,” I said
confidently.
    “Great, I’ll give you Misty.” His soft
dimples appeared. Chris’s tall and slender build seemed more
relaxed in the jeans and t-shirt he wore today than in the suits he
usually wore. He pulled a horse out of the stable with a chestnut
coat and a gorgeous black mane—so beautiful, and so, so, so
tall.
    Okay, I’m five feet . I scrutinized the
horse. How the hell am I going to get up there ? Chris could
see my anxiety and shook his head with a gleam in his eyes as I
practically did the splits to reach the stirrups.
    He brought Emily a striking white horse,
noble and magical like a unicorn. Emily appeared so tiny next to
this mammoth creature. Of course, her delicate frame made the
animal seem much bigger than it was. She held the reins for a
moment. It was a stunning picture. Emily stood there elegantly, her
light brown hair streaming past her shoulders. Her smile was
contagious.
    Her dimples, more pronounced than Chris’s,
made her face light up when she spoke. She stood, holding onto the
beautiful alabaster mare with the Alaskan mountains as her
backdrop. I couldn’t believe we didn’t have a camera.
    I waited for a moment to see her make a fool
of herself, too, but Chris saved her the humiliation. He chuckled
as he brought her horse over to the fence to help her get on.
    “This is how it’s done,” he instructed.
    “Okay, make me feel like a fool, why don’t
you?” I commented on my failed attempts at mounting the horse.
    “It was rather entertaining.” Chris
laughed.
    “Hey, you better be nice, or I’ll tell Emily
you are a serial killer and not to date you.”
    “How do you know that I’m not?” He laughed an
exaggerated evil laugh. Even though I knew he was joking, I
couldn’t help thinking for a moment about that guy that was out
there bringing girls to remote areas in the wilderness and hunting
them down. I looked at him again. This was kind of remote. My
thoughts were broken by Emily.
    “Nicole is a black belt. Why do you think I
bring her with me on all my dates? She’s my bodyguard,” Emily
joked.
    Truth is we were each other’s bodyguard. I
went with her everywhere, and she went with me everywhere. We were
in this strange new place where we were totally at the mercy of
others. Not that we were really much protection for each other. We
were both a little over one-hundred pounds, but it made us feel a
little safer that we were together.
    The black-belt thing was a lie. I couldn’t
hurt a fly.
    Climbing up the fence, I held on to the top
as I straddled the horse. Piece of cake . Chris opened the
doors to the barnyard. I focused on the mountain in front of
us.
    Chris kicked his horse and started toward the
mountain range. “Um, we are going out there?” I mumbled.
    The mountain was kind of big. No, we were in
Alaska. That sucker was huge. I have to admit, I was a little
intimidated by the vast wilderness we were about to disappear into,
especially since he made the “How do you know I’m not a serial
killer?”comment.
    Chris was one of the sweetest guys around. I
was sure he wouldn’t do anything that would put us in danger. At
least I hoped not. Maybe I shouldn’t have said I’d ridden
before—that had been an easy trail ride, not an Alaskan
adventure.
    “Come on,” Chris beckoned
us. Emily and I sat there . I felt mean
kicking a horse.
    “Kick it. Let’s head on
out,” he advised.
    I made a lame attempt at kicking her. It was
more like a love tap.
    “You’ve got to kick her harder.” He shook
his head. Finally, after multiple attempts, I got Misty going.
    I had never been in the
mountains on horseback. It felt almost freeing as I rode
through the fall foliage of the Alaskan
wilderness. The world seemed so different on her back. Peaceful. It
was as if I was on a drug. My senses were being