by Meg Buchanan
That sounded reasonable. He watched Milly slow down, then steer Karim towards the next jump. The horse took it effortlessly and it looked like he landed well too.
Milly headed for the next one.
“Going well, Milly,” called her father.
Hastings rested his elbows on the rails. “That horse has been handled from six months and put through sales preparation, so he got used to everything from a young age and broken in early. He’s bombproof.”
Bombproof sounded good. Karim flew over that jump too, no stumbling as he landed.
Tom nodded. “If they’ve been brought through by a good trainer, they’ve seen the racetrack, they’ve seen the people and they’re used to travelling and new surroundings. It’s a good start. You end up with a three or four-year-old horse that’s had all this experience.” Tom stopped talking for a moment and watched Karim take the next jump. “Immaculate.” He turned to Hastings. “We’ll take this one.”
Hastings nodded. “But before you make the decision let Milly ride Tobias too. You’re right. He’s a purpose bred eventing horse, and he’s never been out in public. Nobody could call him bombproof, but he’s got real potential.”
“All right. She can have a go on him too. But I’m going to take some convincing.”
“You are just biased towards racehorses because that’s what you know. If you have a purpose-bred sport horse, and you do everything with it yourself, then the horse should have no reason to get upset.”
Tom still didn’t look convinced.
Milly made it around the course without coming off or knocking a fence down. When she finished, she rode over to them.
“Do you like him?” asked Tom.
“He’s lovely.”
Hastings led Tobias over.
“Now a different ride completely.”
Cole held Karim steady while she dismounted.
She seemed tired. With good reason considering last night.
Tom must have thought she seemed tired too. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Princess.”
Milly spent a few minutes gentling Tobias. “I’m fine.” She swung up.
18. Chapter Eighteen
Tobias had a bit more fire than Karim. He danced sideways, but Milly got him under control. She walked him to the entrance of the course and then cantered towards the first jump.
It all looked fine, but at the last moment the horse veered to the side. Milly reined him in. Took him in a wide circle and then headed for the jump again. This time the animal flew over it.
“That a boy,” said Hastings. He turned to Tom. “Of the two, Tobias is the better jumper.”
Tom nodded but concentrated on Milly.
The horse took the second and third jumps well. The fourth one, he clipped a rail but got over.
“He has a natural jump,” said Hastings. “But then he’s by a horse that won everything for years. Riding him is different to riding Karim who is bred to run.”
On the fifth jump the run up looked fine.
Cole saw the horse gather up ready to go over, then refuse at the last moment. Milly can’t have been ready because she flew over the horse’s head and landed on the ground. She lay there very still.
“Jesus.” Cole vaulted the fence and ran. He needed to get to her. By the time he got there, Milly was sitting up. She took her riding helmet off.
He helped her up. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “It was my fault. I got it wrong.” Her father ran up. Hastings arrived. He’d caught Tobias.
Milly leaned against Cole, still unsteady on her feet.
“We’ll take both horses,” she said to Hastings. “Karim is ready now and I can’t wait to see what Tobias will do with a bit more training.”
Cole couldn’t believe it. “But he just threw you.” And he couldn’t believe the way he felt when he saw her fall, and the panic and fear when he thought she might be hurt.
Milly moved closer to Tobias and stroked the horse’s nose.
“I told you, Cole. It was my fault.” She looked over at her father. “I want them both, Daddy.”
He couldn’t believe it, his heart was still pounding, and she stood there talking as if nothing had happened.
He watched Milly lead Tobias down the ramp of the horse truck. Milly was right, he was a beautiful horse, black and shiny like coal, with a coat that bounced the sunlight. But Tobias had thrown Milly, so as far as he was concerned Tobias couldn’t be trusted, ever. He’d be there watching any time Milly decided to ride him.
Once Milly had the horse on the ground, Cole went into the truck to lead Karim out. He preferred this horse. The silvery white of its coat wasn’t as spectacular as Tobias’s, but it didn’t toss its head and prance anytime anyone got near it either.
He led Karim down the ramp. He’d prefer a rocking horse if Milly was going to be riding it. He didn’t want to feel the way he felt when he saw her fall ever again.
“What are we doing with them?”
“I think we’ll put them in their boxes. Let them get used to being here.”
Milly twitched Tobias’s lead rope and the horse followed her over to the stables. “Tomorrow, after I’ve ridden them, we’ll put them in the house paddock.”
Tobias did a bit of prancing, but not too bad. Maybe the fall was just bad luck.
Gaisford came around to the back of the truck. “Cole, after you’ve cleaned the truck out, can you put it away for me?”
“No heavy vehicle licence still.”
“That’s right.” Gaisford scratched his head. “We’ll have to do something about that, but it won’t matter here, and you need to practice if you’re going to get your licence.” Gaisford walked with him. They followed Milly over to the stalls.
“Now, Cole, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Yeah.” He opened the stall door and led the horse in.
His boss leaned against the swinging door. “What are you doing when the holidays finish?”
Cole shrugged. “Get a job I guess.”
“Do you want to keep working for me?”
“Permanently?” That would be the dream. Working with the horses.
Gaisford nodded.
“Doing what?”
“Same as you do now. Help with anything I need you to do.”
“That’d be great.” Then he had a thought. He didn’t need to wait until the holidays finished. He should start this job now, do it full time instead of weekends and a few hours during the week. The money would solve a few problems. “Do you want me to start earlier?”
“It would be good for me. There’s plenty to do.”
“Dad got laid off.” Laid off dressed it up a bit. Sacked was more like it. But if he worked full-time at least they’d have money to buy food.
Tom nodded. “You need the job?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Start tomorrow if you want to. And move the truck when it’s cleaned out.” Tom went back to the house.
In the horse truck, Milly leaned on the divider.
“Do you want to stay for dinner, Cole? Mrs Bennett will have made enough.”
Bloody tempting. If he went home for dinner he’d be cooking it. Might even have to go into town first and buy something to cook if his dad and his mates had been raiding the fridge all weekend.
No. It had been a long weekend, and he felt tired. He’d go home and get some sleep, start fresh in the morning, a new job. Well, the old job, but more hours. Probably should have asked Tom what they were.
He shook his head. “No. I need to go home and check on Dad.” Milly would be up at dawn to start working with these two, and he wanted to be here to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t get hurt. He’d get here before daybreak.
Milly looked disappointed. “If you’re sure.”
He wandered over, leaned his arms each side of hers, and planted a kiss on her lips.
“Certain.” Her arms slid around his neck, kissed him properly, a
nd he felt his body stir. “Did you know your dad offered me a job?”
“Did he? He didn’t tell me. Are you going to take it?”
“Yeah. I’m starting tomorrow.”
“So, we’ll be working together?”
“Looks like it.”
“Good.” She had that half smile on her lips, head tilted to the side. “If you stayed, we could go for a walk after dinner.”
His body agreed with the idea. Even with a wooden wall between them he could feel the heat of her, but, Jesus, he’d feel guilty if he ate with Tom, then wandered off afterwards with his daughter to where ever Milly had in mind.
“I’m not sure how much walking I’m up to,” he murmured into her mouth.
“I thought you had more stamina than that.” Milly giggled.
“I need to go into training if I’m going to be walking with you.”
This time she laughed. “I’ll see you in the morning then?”
“Yeah. What time?”
“I’ll be up early.” Milly disentangled, picked up the broom she had been using. He grabbed the shovels and followed her out of the truck.
They put the gear away and then Milly wandered back to the looseboxes.
She went to Tobias. “We need to start work, don’t we boy?” She stroked his neck.
Cole watched Milly with the horse. She ran her hand over the horse’s back and down his leg. He could imagine how that would feel. Maybe he should stay for dinner.
No, too tired.
“What time will you be here?” she asked.
“Six?”
Milly bounced and hugged him.
“That would be wonderful. We can spend all day together.”
“I think your dad will want me to work.”
“You will be working. You’ll be helping me.”
“I’m not sure Tom will see it that way.”
“Of course, he will,” said Milly. “He always sees things my way.” She moved over to the next box to pat Karim. “The whole of tomorrow with my favourite things.”
He wasn’t sure she included him in that comment. He’d never come second to horses before.
He got home and as usual nothing had been done around the house. He’d picked up fish and chips on the way. Too tired to be bothered with cooking, he was pretty sure no one else would have bothered either. His father wandered out of the bedroom. He looked as different from Tom as possible for two men the same age to look. His father small, scruffy, withered and tired. Tom tall, well dressed, solid and full of ideas.
“Good you thought about tea, boy. Nothing to eat here.”
Cole cleared a space on the table and put the packet of fish and chips down. “You could have got off your ass and gone and bought something.” He went to get the bread, butter and tomato sauce. Nothing.
His father scratched the stubble on his chin. “Thought about it. Didn’t happen,” he said.
“Where’s the bread?”
His father shrugged, looked over at the bench. The empty bread bag and dirty butter dish were there. The tomato sauce bottle lay on its side beside them, empty too.
“For fuck’s sake.” He couldn’t be bothered dealing with any of this tonight. “Just sit down and eat. You can sort this out in the morning, I’ve got an early start and you’d better have this cleaned up and bought some food before I get home.”
His dad sat quietly and did as he was told. Cole felt guilty for snarling at him. But who was the parent around here? And there had better be milk in the fridge if they were down to porridge for breakfast tomorrow morning.
19. Chapter Nineteen
He made it to the stables just before six. Milly and Tom were already outside. All around them was the usual early morning bustle of exercise riders and stable hands with the racehorses all carrying on with their own work.
He could see a few galloping around the track in the mist. Looked like Milly and Tom were with Tobias and Karim. He grabbed his jacket out of the car and put it on. It was cold.
Fred led a horse past he hadn’t seen before.
“Hey, Fred,” he said to the old trainer. “Got a new one?”
“Yeah. The owner delivered him yesterday. The boss tells me you’re permanent now.”
“Yeah. You’re stuck with me.”
“You’ll do.” Fred nodded at Tobias and Karim. “And you’re helping with those two.”
“I am?” Milly had got her own way.
“Yep, sounds like it. I’ll have to find someone else to help me.” Fred wandered off with the horse.
Cole went over to the stalls. Milly was with Tobias. She looked beautiful in old jodhpurs and long black riding boots with the zips down the back, and about as appealing as he’d ever seen her.
“Good morning, Cole.” Tom led Karim out of the stall, the horse saddled and ready to go.
As usual, he’d managed to find time to shower and shave. The problem with working here was you got to see how other people lived.
His father had better haul himself out of bed and clean up around the house.
Milly came out of the stall, helmet dangling from one hand, leading Tobias, saddled too.
“Cole!” She might have trouble riding both horses at once. “Don’t they look wonderful?” She looked happy again, happier than she’d looked any time since the accident. “I thought we could take them for a quiet walk along the riverbank this morning. You don’t mind riding Karim for me, do you?”
“No.” Better the quieter one. He wasn’t the rider Milly was. “Now?”
Milly nodded. She shrugged into a jacket and then put her riding helmet on.
“Let’s get going.” She gathered the reins at Tobias’s neck, put her foot in the stirrup and swung herself onto the horse’s back. It danced sideways. “Gentle, boy.” It took a while, but she got the horse standing quietly.
He found the riding boots he used, pulled them on, then grabbed his helmet from the hook where it lived. He took Karim off Tom.
“Cole.” Tom looked serious. “While Milly’s getting used to these horses it’s your job to help her. Be with her any time I can’t be. And if you think Tobias is too much for her, you have to tell me.”
“Yes, sir.” He’d make sure Milly was safe and didn’t take any stupid risks. He swung up onto Karim and got ready to follow Milly out of the yards.
“Good luck, kids.” Tom wandered over to the cluster of staff and racehorses standing by the track.
They rode quietly across the paddock to the river. He kept Karim alongside Tobias, without getting too close.
“Why buy four-year olds?” he asked after a while. He hadn’t existed in her world for a while there. Milly had been concentrating on Tobias. “Why not buy something that has already been trained?”
“They won’t have picked up any bad habits. We can train them the way we want them to be. For the next few months most of their training will be in the dressage arena and it will be all about getting their shape right.”
Good to know she won’t be jumping again for a while. He didn’t want any repeat of yesterday.
“This ride isn’t doing dressage in the arena.”
Milly smiled again. “No. This is for fun. I wanted to be alone with you. But it’s good for the horses too. The more different things they experience, the less likely they are to go, oh, my God this is so strange, I don’t like this.”
“Seems reasonable.” And a very nice way to spend a morning and get paid for it.
Milly shrugged. “I shouldn’t have tried jumping them yesterday. You saw what can happen if they don’t expect to have to listen.”
“Yeah, I saw what happens. You come off and get hurt.”
“I didn’t get hurt.”
“Luck.” They came to the river bank and followed the pathway. He looked at the ferns under the trees where they kissed the first time they weren’t upset and it wasn’t for the bet. The first time he started to suspect Milly might really like him.
She leaned forward and patted Tobias. “
Or good management on my part.” The ripples on the water sparkled in the morning sun. The early still mist still hung over the river.
“Yeah. Do you think you’ll ever ride Hunter again?” He’d meant to check on him this morning but got side tracked.
Milly shrugged. “He’s still limping a bit. Even if he came right I’m not sure I’d trust him again.”
“What’s going to happen to him then?”
“I don’t know. It’s a problem.” She turned back and smiled at him.
Beautiful. He considered just saying, want a fuck? But didn’t think that was the approach to take with Milly yet.
Milly came to the pathway that led down to the river.
“Should we ride in the water?”
“You’re the boss.”
“I am, aren’t I?” She turned Tobias towards the river. Then looked back over her shoulder. “I like the idea I can tell you what to do.”
“Yeah. Boss me around,” he said, instead of what he wanted to say. “Like you did under the canopy.”
“Oh.” He saw Milly bite her lip. Maybe she didn’t want to be in charge that much.
He followed along behind her. She looked good this morning. He should have stayed last night when she asked him to.
They walked the horses along the river until they came to the path they’d used months ago to get back up on the bank again. The same big tree with ferns and grass and light and shadow.
She solved the problem and swivelled around in the saddle.
“I think we should stop here for a while and give the horses a rest.”
Maybe she wanted to make love as much as he did, and this was her way of telling him? Maybe she was one of those girls who just liked to do things. Didn’t like to talk about them?
“Really?” he teased, then leaned forward and patted Karim. “They don’t look tired to me. Could probably go on for hours yet.”
She looked up frowning a little. “Don’t tease me, Cole.”
Yeah, that was mean. He should make this easy for her. Especially after turning her down last night.
