Warrior Spirit (The King of Ireland Book 1)

by Jean Carroll

  They were excited about the upcoming show. Blackie felt that both he and the horses were as ready as they could get. Mr. Mallory had arranged for stalls for the horses and lovely hotel rooms for all of them. Bobby Stahl had a room on the same floor and Meg hoped he would stay out of their way. Blackie didn’t have any use for him and tried to avoid him as much as possible.

  They were staying in DC for three days. The first day Blackie just had a preliminary round for the President’s Cup jumping competition. He came in third. The top ten horses went on to the final jump-off on the last night of the show. Blackie was in a very expansive mood the first evening and took everyone to dinner at an expensive DC restaurant. Keary asked Bobby to go with them, which irritated Blackie enough to keep him quiet during dinner.

  “Are you okay, honey?” Meg asked him.

  “I just can’t stand that guy. He pisses me off. Don’t worry about it, I can deal with it,” he said leaning over and kissing her. When she sat back, Bobby was watching them, with an odd look on his face. It gave her the creeps. Blackie saw the look on her face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Bobby was just watching you kiss me and I don’t like it,” she told him. He swiveled quickly and looked at Bobby who looked away.

  “He better watch it,” Blackie growled. “You stay away from him. I don’t like the way he looks at you. If he bothers you in anyway, I want you to tell me. If he comes near you, he and I are going to get into it.”

  “Okay, but don’t start anything. He’ll be gone after the show.”

  “I know but until then I want you to stick close to me. I don’t want you wandering around alone.”

  “Honey, I can take care of myself.”

  “Meg, I mean it. I want you to listen to me. If you’re not with me, I want you with Sean or Keary, please.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  Just then, Duncan Mallory came over to say hello to Blackie who stood and shook hands then introduced Meg.

  “Hey, Duncan, it’s good to see you. This is my fiancée, Meg Connors.” He said putting his arm around her.

  “Fiancée! Well, it’s good to see that you’re finally settling down. How’re the horses? Bobby said you could have done better in the preliminary round.” Duncan said giving Blackie a questioning look.

  “I don’t believe in using a horse up just to get into the final round. He’s jumping great. Torsk is up tomorrow night and I expect to do well with him.”

  “Okay, sounds good to me. I’ll see you at breakfast in the morning. It’s nice meeting you, Meg.”

  “Same here, Sir,” she said politely and watched Duncan Mallory walk away to join another group of diners.

  “Son of a bitch!” Blackie exclaimed. “That bastard told Duncan I didn’t do well. I don’t

  believe him. He better stay away from me.”

  “Calm down. He’s trying to get in your head so maybe you’ll mess up. Just focus on what you need to do and forget him.”

  “You’re right. He’s just an asshole. I’ll get him off my mind. Mmm, you could help me with that,” he said nuzzling her neck.

  He made love to her that night and she told him afterwards how much she appreciated the fact that he was a great athlete. He thought that was funny.

  Meg thought he’d be worn out in the morning, but she awoke early to the shower going full blast.

  He came out, jumped on her, reaching under the covers to tickle her.

  “Come on, sleepy head, time to get up. We have a big day.” He jumped off the bed and started getting dressed. She could tell he had a big adrenalin rush going on. She knew he got excited about the shows they went to but this was different. It was bigger. It was a race! Now she realized what Sean meant about how competitive he is. The anticipation was shining brightly in his eyes. His energy was almost palpable in the room. Meg dragged herself out of bed, got a shower and dressed.

  They went down to the breakfast buffet the hotel was putting out for the horse show guests. Keary and the others were at a table and waved. As the two of them walked in, Blackie had his hand on her waist guiding her through the tables in front of him. He stopped to say something to Duncan and she kept going. She knew he’d catch up to her.

  She was halfway through the line when she felt his hand on her back again. He let it trail down and linger on her butt. She turned to ask him what Duncan said and was shocked to come face to face with Bobby.

  “Well, good morning little lady. How are you this fine morning?” Bobby said with a leer.

  Meg just looked at him and was getting ready to haul off and slap him, when Blackie moved between them and got in Bobby’s face.

  “Don’t ever touch her again,” Blackie said through his teeth. “Do you understand? She’s mine and you keep your hands off.”

  Bobby laughed nervously and side-stepped slightly.

  “I was just saying good morning. Anyway, I don’t see a ring on her finger.” he said, insolently. Blackie side-stepped so he was in his face again and this time, closer.

  “Don’t fuck with me, Bobby. Don’t touch her again,” he said with clenched fists.

  Luckily Keary came over and grabbed Blackie’s arm to break the tension. Keary pulled him away as Bobby walked off with a smirk on his face.

  Meg thought how easily Blackie’s adrenalin rush could have turned to violence. Even though it ruffled her feathers sometimes, right then she was glad Blackie was possessive. Bobby made her skin crawl.

  “Blackie, forget him, he’s an asshole. Focus on what you have to do today.” Keary told him.

  “Did you see him? He had his hand on her ass. I could kill him.”

  “You have to keep your energy focused. Don’t burn it out over that jerk. Come on, get some breakfast. You two come on over to our table.”

  “Okay,” Blackie said, picking up a plate, but she could see he was having trouble re-focusing on the food.

  “Look, French toast, it looks yummy.” Meg said.

  He sort of snapped out of it and filled his plate, getting coffee on the way to the table.

  “Hey, how’re you doing?” Keary said when he sat down.

  “Okay, that guy just makes me so mad. I gotta get my mind off him.” Blackie took a couple deep breaths and started on his food.

  “Just think about the competition. I’ll help you beat the shit out of him later,” Sean said clapping Blackie on the back.

  He nodded agreement with a mouthful of food.

  “You know there’s a ton of Olympic riders here,” Blackie said after a few minutes.

  “Does that intimidate you at all?” Keary asked him.

  “No, not really. I’m just used to the racing scene, not the show circuit.”

  “Does it make a difference?” Sean asked.

  “No, riding’s riding. I’m an outsider here, though. I don’t know if the judges will be biased because of Olympic reputations or not. I have no reputation here.”

  “So you’ll kick some Olympic ass,” Sean said.

  Blackie laughed, “I hope so.” But Meg could tell it was bothering him.

  “Look you had a great reputation as a winner at the track, but you still had to get your horse home first,” Sean said.

  “You’re right. Fuck-em! All I can do is my best,” Blackie said and she sensed the adrenalin starting to pump back in.

  “I have to work Torsk in the training arena for awhile. What are you guys going to do?” he said.

  “Can we come and watch?” Katie asked.

  “Sure, there are other classes going on in the main hall if you want to watch any of those.”

  “I think we’d like to watch you for a bit. Are you free to watch any classes yourself?” Jill asked him.

  “I am, yes, once I’m done warming him up, I’ll have a couple hours to kill before I ride. I’ll have to change clothes before my class.” So they trailed after him to the stall area. He found Torsk’s stall and the gelding was ready, no Bobby in sight. Blackie led the horse out and down a coup
le aisles to the training area. It was filled with other horses and riders warming up, mostly for hunter classes.

  “It’s a bit crowded, isn’t it?” Blackie said frowning. “Dressage isn’t exactly a group sport. I’ll just mess around with him a little and maybe some of them will leave. You guys go up and sit in the stands,” he said walking Torsk into the ring.

  They found seats in the already crowded stands. There were mostly other riders in their show outfits and their trainers. There was a lot of talk about how their competitors were doing in the warm-up.

  Torsk started dancing sideways as soon as he saw the other horses. Blackie got him to calm down and the two of them just moseyed around the ring for a while. Finally, Blackie started a slow very, collected trot that he was sitting to. Torsk had a very elegant, precise way of moving that was so beautiful to watch. Many of the people in the ring slowed down to watch them. Blackie moved the horse into a beautiful, collected canter.

  Meg heard one of the trainers ask another man, “Who the hell is that? That’s Duncan’s horse but not his usual rider.”

  “I don’t know. Never saw him before.”

  “He’s good, very good,” the other man said.

  Meg wanted to yell, “That’s my guy, Blackie O’Brien and he’s fabulous!”

  Jill leaned over and said, “Why are you smiling, Meg?” she asked with a grin. Meg just rolled her eyes. More people were stopping and moving out of his way. He did a half-pass across the ring at the canter and it was breath taking. He slowed to a medium trot and went by where they were sitting. Two young women in riding attire in front of them were talking and when Blackie rode by, one of them said to the other,

  “Who’s the hunk on that bay? Is he new on the circuit? We’ll have to find out and see if he’s a player.” Then they giggled. Meg instantly wanted to scratch their eyes out.

  The first man looked at his program, “His name is Blackie O’Brien. There used to be a steeplechase jock with the same name but I heard he got killed on the track.”

  “I don’t know. Never heard of him, but he’s pretty damn good, whoever he is.” The other man commented.

  One of the women leaned over and asked the man, “Who did you say he was?”

  “Name’s Blackie O’Brien. I don’t know anything about him.”

  “I think I need to find out,” she said and Meg gave Jill a wide-eyed expression that made Jill laugh.

  “Get used to it. You can’t keep him hidden on the farm forever,” she said still laughing.

  “Is he actually in this competition? He’s in jeans and a sweatshirt. Maybe that’s not this

  O’Brien person; maybe that’s the groom,” the other girl said cattily.

  “A groom that rides like that? I don’t think so,” one of the men said.

  Blackie was still working Torsk in a clear arena now. Everyone had left or stopped to watch.

  He was doing incredible stuff – perfect half turns on the haunches, on the forehand, shoulder-ins, half-passes at the trot and canter, serpentines down the center. He stopped in the center and did an amazing piaffe. He didn’t even have spurs on, just his old riding boots. Then he finished with an exquisite passage around the ring.

  Duncan Mallory plopped down next to Meg.

  “How do you like our boy? This is the first time I’ve seen him ride Torsk. He’s fantastic! The horse has never looked better.”

  Meg liked Duncan. He was a down-to-earth kind of guy. Very pleasant.

  “Hey, Duncan, who’s the new kid?” The trainer asked.

  “He used to ride jump races. Now he’s switched to dressage. He’s riding my jumper too tomorrow night too. Isn’t he great?”

  The one girl turned around and said, “Hey, Duncan, is he single?” Duncan laughed, patting Meg on the arm. “Not for long. This little gal here is his bride to be.”

  She turned and gave Meg an appraising look and Meg gave her the sweetest “In your face, bitch!” smile she could manage.

  The girl rolled her eyes and turned to the other girl and whispered something catty.

  Jill nudged Meg, “Down girl,” she said and Katie looked over and gave her a fist pump. Then the three women laughed.

  “Jesus, I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of that,” Sean said to Keary.

  “Poor Blackie,” Keary said shaking his head.

  In a few more minutes, Blackie finished the workout, walked Torsk on a loose rein and kicked his feet out of the stirrups.

  Everyone applauded. Blackie looked up, startled, blushed and gave a shy little wave.

  “He doesn’t have a clue, does he?” Katie said.

  “Nope, never did. There’s not a conceited bone in his body. It’s his job, he loves it and he does the best he can,” Keary said.

  “He wasn’t arrogant even when he was winning all those Grand Nationals. Always had a problem with women though. I guess I shouldn’t say that around you,” Duncan said smiling at Meg.

  “That’s fine, I already know all about it.” Meg said ruefully. She looked at Blackie and he motioned for her to go with him and she excused herself.

  “I’m going to see what he wants and we’ll meet you guys here or come back to the stalls.”

  “Okay, we’ll see you later,” they said.

  * * *

  When she got to him, he had dismounted and was talking to some man. When he saw her, he excused himself and walked towards her.

  “Hi, honey, I have to cool him off and I wanted you to walk with me,” he said putting his arm around her and kissing her. She could see Torsk was fairly lathered up, so they led him along together through the aisles and made a big circuit around the stalls.

  “That was great. You were wonderful!”

  “Really? He had a few rocky transitions, but all in all he went pretty smooth.”

  “There was a lot of buzz about who you were and how well you rode. Duncan joined us and was totally impressed.”

  “Oh, I didn’t see him. Good, I’m glad he liked it.”

  A beautiful blonde leading a horse the opposite way, stopped in front of them. She looked at Blackie with a hand on her hip.

  “Blackie O’Brien! As I live and breathe,” she said smiling.

  Blackie looked at her and frowned. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”

  “Samantha Rodgers.”

  “Ah … okay. I’m sorry, I’m still not sure.

  “You were riding for Tommy Marsh and I was doing the exercising. I can’t believe you don’t remember. It hasn’t been that long, Blackie,” she said with a smirk.

  “Yes, I remember riding for Tom but ... ah, Samantha, huh,” he said perspiration beading on his forehead.

  “You used to call me Sam I Am, remember?”

  “Oh, yes, Sam,” he said recognition coming to his eyes and he instantly blushed.

  “Uh ... You’ve grown up. How are you? It’s been a long time. You look uh ... good. Oh this is my fiancée, Meg Connors,” he said, looking like a caged animal.

  “Fiancée? Wow! I can’t believe some gal roped and hog-tied you,” she said giving Meg an appraising smile.

  “It was more like me begging and pleading for her to marry me,” he said and gave Meg a

  Let’s get the hell out of here look.

  “Are you riding in this?” she asked.

  “I am, yes. Dressage and the Presidents Cup. Anyway, I need to cool off my horse. Good seeing you,” he said as they moved off.

  “I’ll be watching,” she said suggestively.

  “For chrissakes, what a pain in the ass,” he said as they walked on.

  “Please tell me you didn’t have sex with her,” Meg said.

  He gave her a look. “Okay, Meg, I didn’t have sex with her,” he said puffing out a sigh.

  “Oh my God, you did!”

  “I told you never to ask me, damn it.”

  “Calm down, I’m not mad. I understand. How did that happen with her?”

  “I went back to the barn, the night before a race to check on
a horse that had a hot ankle. She was there and came in the stall with me. I turned around and she had her shirt off.” He gave her a crooked smile, “It’s a wonder we didn’t get trampled.”

  “You did it right there in the stall with the horse!”

  “Yeah, yeah. Look, Meg, I have to focus on what I’m doing. I can’t deal with this right now and make you happy about it,” he said stuffing his hands in his pockets.

  “Calm down, I’m okay with it. I know what all went on. It’s just a little disconcerting when I hear about the sex at the drop of a hat or shirt, as the case may be.”

  “Really? You’re incredible, honey. That’s why I love you. You actually get me.”

  “I know.”

  “You realize I had a terrible reputation as being easy. If I was a girl, I would have been

  called a slut,” he looked at her apologetically.

  “Well you’re my slut now, but you weren’t exactly easy for me at first.”

  “I changed all that.”

  “Now you’re pretty easy though,” she said giving him a sly smile.

  “You’re right. I can’t resist you at all anymore.” He said grabbing her and giving her a big sloppy kiss. “You know what else I love about you?”

  “What, tell me?”She said.

  “You let me be my old stupid, goofy self. I don’t have to pretend with you.”

  “What! You’re not stupid or goofy. Why do you say stuff like that?”

  “That’s the way I feel a lot of the time, I guess.”

  “You know what else you do that I think is cute?” Meg asked him.

  “Oh, God, I don’t think I want to know this,” he said.

  “You blush.”

  “What the fuck! I don’t!” he stopped and looked at her in disbelief.

  “You just now blushed big time when you remembered who Sam was.”