Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 128313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
My shirt became wet with her tears, but in this moment, I didn’t give a fuck. “Ssh,” I soothed, kissing her hair. “He’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll have only the best vets working on him.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I just . . .” Hallie backed away and ran her hand down Huxley’s neck again. “I just feel so guilty.” She shook her head. “I must have approached the fence wrong or pushed him too hard.”
“It was far from your fault,” I said sternly. “I was watching. In this sport, these things happen.”
Hallie laid her cheek against Huxley’s neck again. “I’ll miss him.”
I stepped back when Mila came back into the stable. With a nod at her groom, I left Hallie with Huxley and went to Leon and Mike, who were talking in the yard.
“No suspicion of foul play, right?” I said to Mike. I’d like to say Mike looked shocked by my question, but after the past few years and McGowen’s father’s stunts, plus the sordid history of this sport, none of us were. The sad truth was, it was rife in our industry.
But Mike shook his head. “No, I just rewatched his landing online. It is genuine. No foul play.”
I exhaled in relief. “Thank God.”
“I’ll just give him the medication, then we can see if the swelling goes down. From there we can discuss him traveling back to Golden Oaks.” I nodded again, then Leon came to stand beside me.
Sage had gone in the stable with Hallie to keep her company. Atticus was brushing down Barnaby, giving them some space. I’d check in with him later.
“Marjorie is the best option,” Leon said, and showed me Danielle’s text confirming that. I stared back at Hallie, and the devastation on her face—it cut me where I stood. When the person you loved was hurting, the pain you felt for them was debilitating.
“Actually, Leon,” I said, taking his elbow and pulling him far from anyone else. “I need to run something by you.”
Chapter Nineteen
Hallie
I slumped down in the scalding water of my bath and tried not to let the cavernous feelings of disappointment fill me. Huxley would be flying back to England tomorrow night, and we were moving on to Saint-Tropez. Atticus told me it looked like I would be riding Lady Marjorie until Huxley was healed. Leon had left the yard with Jasper to sort it. Maybe I would have her for the rest of the season. She was an amazing mare, one I’d had the privilege to ride at Golden Oaks. She was beautifully natured and nowhere as crazy as Fefe. But . . .
She wasn’t Huxley.
Together, my gentle stallion and I had formed an unstoppable team, and I adored him. I inhaled, the scent of sandalwood filling my nose, which only reminded me of Jasper. I had no choice but to carry on. This was my career, and things like this happened all the time.
The clicking of the bathroom door opening had me jumping up in shock. I held my hand over my racing heart, only to see Jasper walk through. “Jasper,” I said, breathlessly. “You scared the hell out of me!”
I sank back into the water, and Jasper sat down on the ledge. He ran his hand down my cheek, so affectionately it brought butterflies to my chest. But the careful touch also made my sadness barrel back. “I’m okay,” I said honestly. “Just sad.” I frowned. “How do you always get a key to my hotel rooms?”
Jasper smiled wide and my heart skipped a beat at how handsome it made him look. “I have my ways.”
For the first time since Huxley was injured, I laughed. “You mean you just asked the girl at the front desk to have it, and so affected by your stunning good looks, she handed it straight over, no questions asked.”
“Something like that,” he said. I stared at him a little longer. “Joking! It’s my name on the booking so it wasn’t hard.” I laughed again. It took me a second to absorb how he was dressed, in a Knighton Equestrian black base layer top, matching breeches, and . . . his riding boots? I blinked and blinked again.
It made me realize that apart from the night I caught him jumping Henry in the family barn, I hadn’t seen him in riding gear at all.
“Why are you dressed like that?” I asked, and sat up. I could smell the scent of horse on him too.
Where had he been?
Jasper got to his feet and grabbed my towel from the heated rack. He held it out to me. “I’ve come to take you somewhere.”
My pulse kicked into a sprint. “Where?”
“It’s a surprise.” Jasper cast me a flicker of a smirk, and I decided right then that I loved this playful side of Jasper. I checked my watch. “It’s ten o’clock at night. And it’s dark,” I said.