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)
The idea of seeing my father for just one more minute made my soul ache. I’d give anything to have him back. Alexis acted like she didn’t even care if Richard had lived or died.
I pulled to a stop at the cluster of fenced-off fields holding the foals. I could hear voices in the near distance and knew if I followed the path around the small wood, I would see the photoshoot taking place down below.
Hearing voices, Alexis turned in that direction too. But I led her to the field before she could take a nosey. “Four foals. All Dutch Warmbloods. Strong lineage, fine form, will make excellent eventers and/or jumpers.”
“Fine, I’ll take them,” Alexis said, barely glancing their way. She hadn’t been interested in seeing the foals up close, of course; she never was. She only ever came here to fucking torture me, to prove that although I’d withdrawn from public life, she still had access to me.
Voices raised behind us again, and Alexis walked toward them.
“What’s happening down there?” she asked, but didn’t wait for me. Instead, she walked through the short path in the wood until she reached the other side. I followed, wanting nothing more than to send her on her way. I had to play the game, though. I couldn’t stand the woman, but I liked her father and would uphold our working relationship for his sake.
Alexis stood and watched the arena below us like a hawk. From up here we had a perfect view of the arena where Atticus, Sage, and Hallie were shooting the outdoor shots. My eyes immediately tracked the arena and the people around it for Hallie. She was sat on Huxley’s back outside of the arena, talking to Mila and Horatio.
Sage was in the ring. My eyes strayed back to Hallie. Even from my vantage point, I could see she looked incredible in her competition wear.
“Knighton Equestrian apparel?” Alexis asked.
“The new season’s collection,” I said, nodding, and tried to focus on anything but the American cowgirl I couldn’t rinse from my brain. But her face was too fresh in my mind—I’d come this morning just imagining her insane curves and turquoise eyes, so I wasn’t succeeding too well right now.
Sage cleared a jump for Steve’s camera, and Alexis snorted. “Of course!” she said dryly. “These are your new Americans—barring Atticus, of course.” The shitty tone of her voice had my muscles tensing. “Sage Miller and Hallie Oakley.” I turned to look at her with a raised brow. She smirked. “There’s not a person on the circuit, new or old, that I don’t know about, Jasper,” she said.
What she really meant was there wasn’t a person she wasn’t trying to get gossip on. The equestrian world was renowned for its toxicity, and people like Alexis Hobbs were the reason why. She liked to have something on everyone in our industry. Although she hadn’t tried it on me yet, I’d heard rumors of Alexis using blackmail to get whatever she wanted.
Sage left the arena on Seraphina, pulling my attention, and Hallie was called in next by Marco. Hallie walked Huxley into the arena, breaking straight into a trot. I was transfixed as I watched her rising trot, only for that admiration to be interrupted by Alexis’s snort. “Here she is,” Alexis said, rolling her eyes. “Little Orphan Annie.” Instant fire infused my every cell as those words left her poisonous mouth. Alexis nudged me like I was a close pal. “Tell me, does she parade around here in her cowboy boots and hat like she does when she’s competing?” Alexis huffed out a degrading laugh. “She’s lauded as the next big thing, the poor little cowgirl that could,” she added, then shrugged. “Everyone falls at her feet because of her pathetic childhood tragedy, but she looks completely average to me. There’s nothing outstanding about her at all.”
Something inside of me exploded, completely burst into flames, and I had to hold myself back from insulting Alexis where she stood. Instead, I reined myself in and simply said, “Hallie Oakley is the best rider I’ve ever seen walk through these gates.” Just at that moment, Hallie soared over an oxer with perfect form and precision, easily clearing the fence. It was as though she was proving my point. “And anyone with an ounce of equestrian knowledge would see that a mile off.”
A rush of warmth swept through me as Hallie turned to Marco, who was giving her a thumbs-up. Her responding smile was wide and absolutely breathtaking.
“Oh, no,” Alexis said from beside me, yanking me from my admiration. Alexis was wearing a smug expression on her face as she looked from me to Hallie and back again.
“What?” I snapped, perhaps too aggressively. Though it didn’t seem to have affected Alexis in the slightest.
“Jasper Knighton,” Alexis said, turning her body to face me head-on. “Mr. ‘I Keep Things Professional’ wants to fuck his newest rider. His employee.”