by Donna and Toni

Armed with a rough map, and a song in his heart, Patrick Harper headed out from the fort to the estate where he had been told that he might find some horses. The men at the fort were in desperate need of them, and as one of the better horsemen in residence, Harper had been given the mission to go help Farmer Grey round up and train as many as they could, and as quickly as possible.

When he got to Farmer Grey's house, he got a surprise; for sitting there talking to the other man, was a very pretty woman....in form fitting riding pants! Trying not to keep from staring, he extended his hand to the woman and said, "Patrick Harper, ma'am; I'm here to help Farmer Grey with horses, so I am."

"Glad to have you here," she said, in a soft Texas drawl. "My name is Charity. Charity Lee Collins. I just got here myself."

"I know the feeling. If it might not be too nosy, what would you be doing here? Are you helping with some of the animals as well?" He loved watching and listening to her, so whatever she said would be fine.

She nodded. "I’ve been working with horses since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Sam and I have started breaking some of the three year olds to ride, but the main thing we need to do is to catch some more." She glanced up at Harper, measuring his height and weight mentally. He was well over six foot in height, and most likely weighed 200 or more pounds. "Most of the youngsters would be too small for you, but we do have one big mare that took amazingly well to the saddle already. She doesn't know much, but once you convince her that you are in charge, at least she doesn't fight you every step of the way like some of the others. Want to join us? We were about to head out."

The big man grinned, and told her, "That's what I was sent here for, so it was! Let's get going, before all the new people arriving here start claiming them for their own!" He stepped to the rear of the little group; he wouldn't mind following this lovely lass on their journey at all!

He was given a saddle and bridle, and the mare in question was pointed out to him. Pat had a feeling this was a test of some sort, but he didn't mind. The mare, who looked like she had a good strong dose of draft in her somewhere, wasn't easy to corner, but he managed. She was still half wild, and tried to take a bite out of his arm when he was haltering her, but he disciplined her firmly. She stood quietly from then on, but from the rather sullen look in her eyes, he knew she was more than a little pissed at him. And when he swung up into the saddle, he found out exactly just how much.

The horse tried to shake him off from the very beginning; she reared and plunged, but the human on her back held on. Sometimes just barely, but he held on; he had a good seat and was used to unruly horses. His dah had used him to break them back home in Ireland because of his big size, he always figured he'd be too much to throw off. He spoke to the horse in soothing tones, trying to get her to calm down, until finally, she slowed her rejection attempt, and a little bit after that, he had her standing calmly, if tired, with a smile of triumph on his face as he patted her neck and told her what a good girl she was.

Already he had decided that she would be his if at all possible. Looking up to see if the others were ready, he saw Farmer Grey standing beside his black stallion, Beauty, nodding his head in approval. Suddenly his mare called out a loud welcome to the horse Charity was leading out of the barn. Pat could see why too. The stallion that the girl was fixing to mount up was incredible! He was even bigger than the mare he was straddling!

The big beast was a dark mahogany brown in color, with black legs, mane and tail. The stallion was in its prime, and his coat shone like the sun. He snorted and pawed the ground, and the Rifleman prayed she would not be thrown, as his horse had attempted to do to him.

Charity checked him with the reins to stop him from moving forward, and told him firmly to stand. He put all four feet on the ground, and stood quietly while she mounted and adjusted her reins and stirrups. "Come on Bony," she chuckled. "Let's go get some more girl friends for you and Beauty."

Grinning at Pat, she suggested that he position his mare between the two stallions. He did as she advised, and found that it did indeed make things easier all the way around, even though it seemed that his big mare couldn’t make up her mind which one of the good looking stallions she wanted to flirt with the most.

"Looks like she is coming into season," Charity chuckled. "Sam and I decided that she would be a good one to bred to Bonaparte here."

The big man thought a moment; then a devilish gleam came into his eyes, and he grinned, "Well, then, the only thing to name her, is Josephine! Besides being Boney's wife, I remember hearing she was quite the flirt, so I did! And this one certainly seems to be of that nature."

Charity and Farmer Grey both laughed, and the three of them chatted about horses as they rode out into the wilds where Sam had said he had seen signs of a fair amount of horses.

Even though the newly named Josie was starting to behave like a bit of a tart, Bonaparte and Beauty were too well trained to let her distract them while being ridden, even thought they both were keenly aware of the big mare between them. With the horses situated in a line like that, they were able to spread out in their effort to find some more horses.

It was Beauty who saw the first bunch, off to his right. It was a small group of five mares, and about half a dozen youngsters, ranging from just born to around three years of age. The three riders circled around them, and started to slowly maneuver them back towards the farm. Once they were safely penned, they went out again. Six hours later, they had captured a total of 22 mares, and almost 40 youngsters, of which 18 were young males.

The two men chased Charity into the house, telling her she could have first crack at a bath while they got all the feeding and watering done. The plan was to separate the horses the next day and then to get some more of them started on their training while Pat was there to help them out. It was dark when they got finished. At the last minute, they had to go ahead and separate a few of them because some of the older colts were fighting.

When the two exhausted men came into the house, it was to the welcome smell of dinner. Charity had fixed a hearty stew and a pan of biscuits. The latter were unevenly browned, because she had never cooked with a wooden stove before. Both of the men praised her efforts though, saying that as long as it wasn’t burnt to a crisp, they would most certainly eat it!

She thought they were just being kind in saying so, but the fact that there were no leftovers proved they were telling the truth! Harper stayed with them a couple of days, helping to train the new horses; when they were done, there was not a disobedient one among them! He certainly did know his stuff when it came to them.

Even Josie was happy. After she had literally sat on the fence so she could go visit one of the *boys*, she had been formally introduced to Bonaparte. Afterwards, Pat swore his mare had a rather smug look on her face.

On the third day, he saddled up Josie, so that he could ride her back. Charity and Sam were holding the lead ropes of the four other horses he was going to take back with him. "I'm going to miss you," Charity said with a smile as she handed him the ropes of the ones she was holding.

"I'll miss you too; but there's nothing that says you can't come and visit us at the fort, now is there? We can always use another pretty face over there; in fact, it would help things very much, so it would!" His green eyes looked into hers; he hadn't seen a woman this lovely in a while.

Sam Grey frowned a little. He had really appreciated the big Irishman's help with the horses, but he didn't like the competition when it came to Charity. "You were a big help," he said sincerely. "We should have a few more ready next week. Will you be coming back to get them, or do you want us to deliver them to the fort?"

"Oh, I can come back out here any time you need me. I'm sure the Major and the Colonel would give me permission. After all, I am supposed to be helping with the horses. I guess you could say I'm your horse liaison, so you could!" He laughed softly at that idea.

Squeezing with his legs, he cued Josie forward. The four young horses followed obediently after her as Pat Harper made his way back to the fort with the first batch of horses for the growing army!