Gini Roberge

The Tagger Herd Gini Roberge

Nora Tagger ---- THREE HORSES AND A DREAM "How do you keep from changing who you are and becoming someone that other people want you to be?" Nora's summer is all about horses; eat, breathe, sleep, think, talk, walk. Horse shows, rodeos, ranch work, training; with cutting lessons and competitions thrown in. A perfect summer? Her new cutting coach is pressuring her to drop her royalty dreams, Arcturus isn't winning and she doesn't know why, Sadie is still having problems running barrels, and then there's Billy. That perfect summer isn't quite so perfect. Excerpt: Her head felt like it was moving through thick mud as she turned...forcing herself to turn to him. With every inch of the turn, her irritation with him increased. By the time she was looking at him she was scowling...unintentional, but it happened and his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. They glared at each other. "Talk to me." He said through gritted teeth. Nora felt her stomach tighten in anger...it should have been nerves for looking at him the way she was...but she was just MAD. "What do you want me to say?" She returned with a low tone of irritation. He might as well tell her what to say too. "That's enough, Nora," He fumed. "I have no idea why you're mad at me, so if you want to clear this up, you have to talk to me." She rolled her lips together and started to turn back to the pasture. "Don't you turn..." He sat up straighter. She forced her eyes back to him, her back muscles tightening and her jaw clenching to the point it began to hurt. "Spit...it...out." His voice was no longer calm...it was pissed. No good would come of her arguing with him so she remained silent. The backdoor started to open. "What is the problem, Nora?" He asked in rising frustration and anger. The back door closed. Whoever was coming out changed their mind quickly. Nora's stomach tightened, her blood felt like fire through her veins. She had never been this mad and it was at her dad!