‘Yes. They’re totally delighted and said to send you their love.’
‘I wish I could remember them, but I’m bound to love them back if they’re like you.’
‘You’ll love them.’ There was no doubt in his voice. ‘I’ve booked our accommodation in Jersey and we’ll fly there in the jet I part-own with Luca and Nick. We’re all set to leave the day after tomorrow.’
‘Do you think I could make a quick trip to London tomorrow to buy something to wear?’
‘Yes, or I could arrange for a selection of dresses to be sent here.’
Of course. She kept forgetting how wealthy they both were. With influence as well as wealth, Max would probably only have to snap his fingers and a rocket would be launched to bring her a piece of moon rock. ‘Having someone come here would be better. I still get a bit tired by the afternoon.’ It’d probably be safer as well. ‘I also want to buy you a wedding band.’
‘Okay. I’ll get some boutique names sent through and you can have a look and pick a selection on line so they can bring the dresses with them.’ Max led her out through a side door and to a farm buggy. ‘Before we head to the stream, let’s visit the stud. You haven’t seen it yet.’
‘So much to see.’ She got into the buggy realising she was very interested to see the stud considering her horse stud made more money for her than the horse training work she did.
Max started the engine. ‘Maree and Bob will most likely be there working. They’re the scientists who are in charge of collecting and freezing the horse semen, and selecting the mares to inseminate for your breeding program.’
‘Funnily enough, although I don’t remember them, I remember the process and I remember that some stallions are much fussier than others when it comes to mounting the breeding phantom.’
‘Good to hear there are other discerning stallions around,’ he teased.
A few people waved to them as they travelled along the internal road of the estate. He pointed out a huge building and told her it housed a training arena, therapy bays and an equine pool and treadmills. ‘This is the end of the original Herlstone Park property border. Now we’re entering into the adjoining property you bought with the express purpose of forming the horse stud.’
It didn’t take long to get to the main stable at the stud. Again, there were several people working around the stable and yards. They acknowledged Jenna. Evidently, they knew to keep their distance and not to expect anything more than a wave or a quick hello in return, because they didn’t try to engage in a conversation with her.
Looking at Max’s handsome profile as he parked the buggy, she asked quietly, ‘How many of these people are my original employees and how many have been planted here by you as part of security?’
‘To be honest, I don’t know.’ He got out of the buggy and walked around to help her out. ‘I left those details to the head of security.’
‘How on earth did you manage to get them employed here? Was I in the middle of a recruiting drive or something?’
‘As I said, I left the details to him.’
His answer was a bit vague, but she supposed he was used to giving orders and having them followed up without needing any details of how they were carried out. Maybe her estate manager had been approached by the head of security to employ some more staff. After all, everyone had known about the attempt on her life—everyone except her.
Jenna held Max’s hand as they walked towards the very grand looking stable block. She felt relaxed until the cool air of the stables hit her and she breathed in the mixture of sweet hay and horses. It was then her spine tingled all the way from her lower back to the vertebrae at the nape of her neck.
The sense of danger flared through her and she was as jittery as a highly strung filly.
Walking more slowly, she looked around her at the beautifully kept wood-clad stalls. In an attempt to calm herself, she read the names of the horses on the plaques of each stall door.
‘These are all my stud horses, I take it?’
‘They are. You have a mix of horses you breed, but you’ve concentrated on polo ponies. You’ve never ventured into breeding race horses.’
‘No.’ A strong distaste filled her mouth and there was a bitter note of disapproval in her voice. ‘There have been too many accidents—too many instances where trainers push the horse past its limits and won’t withdraw them from the gates, even when they shouldn’t be running. I won’t train horses for hurdle or steeplechase events either. I’ve lost count of the number of horses that have suffered injuries in those areas and have had to be destroyed.’
‘More memories surfacing,’ he commented as he put his arm around her middle and his lips brushed a barely-there kiss on her cheek. ‘Now, this fine lad is—’
‘Midnight Blue.’ Jenna pulled away from Max and went forward to the stall door to pat the magnificent stallion. She didn’t need to read the name on his stable plaque. She knew this horse. He had a fine pedigree and plenty of his progeny had won championships in the show and dressage rings.
The stallion jerked his head up and down and whinnied enthusiastically as though he was greeting an old friend.
Something about him niggled at the back of her brain.
Midnight Blue.
Think.
There was something important she had to remember. Something about this horse …
Max’s deep voice cut across her thoughts. ‘You’re frowning.’
Turning back to him, she saw he watched her closely.
She rubbed the heel of her right hand across her forehead and narrowed her eyes. ‘There’s something I’m trying to remember. Something important I feel I need to remember about this horse.’
He was thoughtful for a moment. ‘You remember I told you the duke has exclusive breeding rights to this stallion?’
Her body jerked and her shoulders stiffened as pain shot from one temple to the next.
An aching tattoo pounded through her brain and she cried out and used her hands to grip Max’s forearms and keep herself upright. He brought her quickly against his chest and supported her with his arms as her legs weakened underneath her.
‘Let’s sit you down.’ He steered her shaking form over to a tack table and helped her to perch on the edge of it.
Jenna closed her eyes against the vision of the stables rotating giddily around her.
How long she sat on the table in the comfort and security of Max’s embrace, she wasn’t certain. Gradually the pain in her head receded and instead of the ache throbbing through to her ears, she became aware of the steady thud of Max’s heartbeat.
‘Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.’
‘Do I need to call a doctor?’
She started to shake her head, then winced a little as the movement stirred up the remnants of pain still lurking behind her eyes. ‘It’s all in my head. It’s like a memory wanting to burst its way through from where it’s been buried in my subconscious.’
The palm of one of his hands ran soothingly over her head. He used his fingertips to shape and massage her skull gently. Jenna wanted to close her eyes and let the comforting sensations flow over her because every second of his touch lessened her pain.
His breath was warm at her temple as he spoke. ‘Do you think you tried too hard to remember?’
‘Yes.’ Without thinking, she rubbed her stomach in a slow, circular action. ‘This has happened before. The pain flashes through like a laser beam wanting to illuminate a memory, but it only lasts a split second—hardly giving me enough time to see through the dark. Sometimes I get a glimpse but it’s gone too quickly to make sense of anything.’
‘When memories come naturally to you, you don’t experience any pain, do you?’
‘No. You’re right. The pain is always when I’m trying to remember and getting frustrated because I can’t.’
Max’s lips compressed and a frown marred his brow.
She raised one eyebrow at him in question, wondering what made him look so ind
ecisive when usually he appeared to be completely in charge of every situation.
‘I have a theory about what I think you’re trying to remember,’ he told her after looking as though he wasn’t sure whether to speak or remain silent. ‘I don’t want to share it with you because I’m afraid of planting a thought in your head that might not be true.’
‘I see.’ That made sense. He didn’t want her to build memories around an illusion.
He used one hand to rub her arm. ‘Do you need to go back and take things easy, or shall we keep heading to the stream?’
She wasn’t really certain what to do, although a nagging sensation in her gut told her to leave this building and head outside back to the buggy.
I have to get out. I have to run for the car.
Another burst of pain shot through her and her hands flew again to her head.
‘Jen?’
‘I think it was a memory … Nothing concrete, just a thought replaying that I needed to get out of here and run for the car.’
‘You did say you’d run from the stud stables to your car.’
‘I did, didn’t I? That was a vision of me running through the dark with two men chasing me, but this is a feeling of being inside here—not exactly where we’re standing, but somewhere inside this building. I’m reliving an urgent need to flee to safety.’
‘You’re not in danger here, but should we head back to the house so you can rest?’
Although he gave her the choice, she sensed it was only because he didn’t want to push her beyond her limits. She guessed he was keen for her to proceed with their original plans.
Did his theory about her attack have something to do with the stream?
‘Let’s keep going,’ she offered. ‘We can always head back at any point.’
‘Say the word and we’ll return immediately.’
She eased herself off the table and his arm shot forward and wrapped around her. ‘At least my legs have found their strength again,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’m sure I was as wobbly as a newborn foal before.’
‘Like you said, it’s possible some memory is trying to break through to the fore.’
Before they walked towards the general direction of the entrance, Jenna turned back to Midnight Blue’s stall and gave the stallion one last pat. ‘See you soon, boy. Next time I’ll have a carrot.’ Then, she asked Max, ‘Do I have much involvement in the stud?’
‘You had the idea of breeding the polo ponies, but Maree and Bob do the hands on work. They obtain the semen to be frozen and shipped away. They also carry out the artificial insemination where it’s deemed likely to be more successful than the stallion covering the mare naturally.’
She arched an eyebrow at him. ‘You’re very well informed.’
‘Only because you gave me a tour of the facilities months ago and explained everything very passionately.’ He steered her away from the entrance to the stables. ‘Although, I have to add, you were a little flushed in the cheeks after you’d told me about the whole process.’
She thumped him. ‘Don’t make fun of me.’
‘I found your shyness very endearing,’ he told her with a grin before he lowered his voice and said, ‘I also enjoy the type of confidence you displayed this morning.’
Any moment now and her cheeks would be red all over again.
‘We’re not going to the stream now?’ She really wanted to be out in the fresh air and sunlight again. Somehow, the longer she remained in the stables, the more the walls seemed to press in on her.
‘We may as well say hello to Maree and Bob while we’re here. Dr Gerber said it was okay to introduce you to people slowly.’
If she’d had brakes she would’ve applied them hard and fast. As it was, she probably left marks on the floor from where she came to a sudden halt when Max would’ve kept walking.
‘What’s through there?’ Her voice emerged as a high pitched squeak through a suddenly strained vocal tract.
‘The laboratory and the semen collecting room.’
Her heart stuttered.
Her pulse went haywire.
She stared at the handle on the door as if it was a viper about to strike her.
‘I have a bad vibe about what I’m going to find behind this door,’ she told him shakily.
‘I’m here, Jen. Charlotte and Jonas are both within earshot and at least three other members of the security team knew I planned to bring you here at some point today. They’ve already been inside to make sure it’s safe. Now, they’re in place outside the building. There’s no unseen menace. Nothing to fear.’
It took effort to swallow past the lump of anxiety that’d settled like a stone in her throat and threatened to choke her. Very grudgingly she took the few steps required to reach the door, and placed her hand on the handle.
The pain that hit when she opened the door and looked beyond wasn’t anywhere near as severe as it had been earlier, but this time, the memory that’d been suppressed found its way to light.
‘Oh.’ She looked around her at the empty room. It was how she’d visualised it.
Two horse stalls—one for the stallion and one for the mare in estrus. The whole process flooded back to her mind. The mare would be released from the stall in sight of the stallion. They could see and smell each other but the stall barrier would prevent them from getting to each other. The mare would urinate in the vicinity of the phantom breeding mare, then be removed. The stallion would be led out of his stall encouraged on to phantom mare, and the team would be ready with the artificial sleeve for collection of the all-important semen. She’d seen it done plenty of times, but her mind held a memory of something sinister about the now vacant room.
‘I was here,’ she told Max with sudden clarity. ‘I was in this room the night of the crash.’
He nodded as if he’d already figured it out. ‘Go on.’
Breaking contact with him, Jenna began to pace back and forward. Trying to piece together the events of the evening of the crash, she voiced each memory as it filtered through her mind. ‘I was coming to see you in London, but I wanted to check on one of the stud horses first. The horse I was worried about, Moses, had been bloated that morning and I was worried he might have a twisted bowel.’ One of her hands moved through the air as she brushed her concern for Moses to one side. ‘The vet had been to see him and said it was a simple case of overeating, but I wanted to be sure Moses was okay before I headed to … Yes, I was definitely on my way to London to see you.’
For a second another memory tried to surface and she frowned. She already knew she’d been heading to see Max, however something pushed in on her telling her she hadn’t been in a celebratory mood. She’d felt as if she was angry—as if she was intent on driving to London to have some sort of showdown. A confrontation about … a betrayal?
Max had given her the impression everything had been wonderful in their relationship the night of her crash. Why was she besieged with the notion that perhaps everything hadn’t been as rosy as he’d made out?
She stopped her pacing and looked directly at him. ‘Max, was I angry with you the night of the crash? Had we had a fight?’
For a split second, he looked away from her and her pulse leapt in alarm.
Was it her imagination, or did he look uncomfortable?
Unease licked through her.
When his eyes met hers, he angled his head and raised his eyebrows in a look that said, Really? I can’t believe you’re asking me that.
‘We definitely hadn’t been fighting.’
Instantly she regretted having voiced her thoughts.
I’m imagining things, she told herself. It’s being in this room. I’m seeing monsters in the shadows.
‘Jenna, we’d become engaged the night before and were planning a romantic weekend away together in Paris.’ He dismissed her question before he pressed, ‘I was at home waiting for you and had set a very romantic scene because I was going to present you with your engagement ring.’
‘Okay. I just … Forget I asked.’ He’d hardly be planning a romantic night if there’d been tension between them. She stopped searching for the thought that’d seemed so close to making itself known to her.
‘Try to concentrate on this room. What happened when you came here that night?’
His question closed the door on her disturbing doubts.
All her fears were baseless. She loved Max and, as she looked into his eyes, there was no doubt in her heart that her love was reciprocated. Moreover, she trusted Max.
‘Can you put yourself back here on the night of the crash, sweetheart?’
She closed her eyes and, after only seconds, saw everything as though she’d been shot backwards in time.
This hadn’t been an empty room.
Fear chilled her, making her raise her hands to her upper arms so she could give them a rub.
‘There were two men. I didn’t recognise either of them and knew they shouldn’t be here. One held Midnight Blue. The other had my mare Trixie. Trixie was in estrus.’ Eyelids flying apart, Jenna remembered her shock—her anger.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ She’d railed at them, even though she knew damned well what they were doing and knew they were doing it without any authorisation.
‘Max! They were preparing Midnight Blue to mount the phantom mare. They were going to collect his semen.’ Oh good grief, she’d walked in on a burglary. ‘If I hadn’t seen the light on back here when I came to check up on Moses—if I hadn’t noticed Midnight Blue’s stall was empty, I would never have known.’
‘And you would never have been a target,’ he said half under his breath.
Every beat of her heart was a siren screaming. ‘Don’t you get it? He’s my most valuable stallion and they must be making a fortune selling his semen on the black market. I witnessed their crime. That’s why they came after me.’
His mouth set in a grim line.
‘I thought initially that you may have interrupted a burglary, but I dismissed it when I realised you don’t have any priceless objects of art in your home.’
‘It was a burglary. I caught them red-handed. I should’ve thought of it earlier.’
Seduced by the Stranger (Billionaires & Babies, #2) Page 20
