Happily Ever Afters Guaranteed (14 page)

“You haven't seen the way he looks at you
when you aren't watching.”

Ella stood up from her crouch, holding the
red ball triumphantly above her head. “He does?”

I shook my head, vehemence clenching my teeth
together. Anna’s eyes danced anyway.

“Your sister is making that up.” And even if
she wasn’t, it didn’t matter to me. So far, I hadn’t told anyone of
my plans to show up Andrew. I didn’t even really have a plan yet,
just a fierce desire to best him at something and break his
arrogant spirit.

Ella shrugged and prepared to throw the ball
to her sister again. “We shall find out for sure at mother’s ball.
Andrew hates dancing. If he is indifferent, he won’t dance with
you. If he does…”

Anna nearly squealed. Oooh, brother. The
upcoming dance seemed to be the only thing she wanted to talk
about. “I cannot believe we've only a fortnight until it is
here!”

This was her third ball, and she was
convinced that a certain Mr. Wentworth, of a neighboring town,
liked her. She was sure that he would ask her to dance at least
twice.

She gave the ball a hearty whack, and it
veered to my right. To avoid the gushing conversation that I knew
was about to begin, I walked briskly away to fetch it.

As I scanned the grass for the red object, a
shouted “hah!” carried on the wind and perked my ears. I looked up
to see a rider galloping across the moor, his jacket flapping open
behind him.

Andrew. His silhouette gave him away. He rode
the gelding in an all out run. Faulty shoe, indeed. His horse
seemed to be doing exceedingly well, considering that it led
several lengths ahead of a black horse and its rider. I didn’t
think Tristan rode the other horse, judging by the width of the man
or his hair color.

Anna joined me in watching the two men race
across the green landscape. Each horse kicked up chunks of rich
brown earth. My breath caught in my throat as they jumped one of
the stone fences that crisscrossed the green land, then another.
Finally, they pulled up where the moor and horizon met, near a
church with its spire pointing toward the sky.

“Andrew trounced him.” Anna’s voice rang with
satisfaction at my elbow.

“Hmm.” A thought leapt to the forefront of my
mind, unbidden. I almost didn’t hear Anna when she went on.

“He’s never been beaten. I dare say he is as
fast now as he was at fifteen, though he’s not quite so skinny any
more.”

A tingling shiver swept through me. I’d been
on the rodeo circuit during my high school days. I’d been blessed
to win the barrel race every single time I’d entered. Aunt Donna
used to say God had gifted me with speed. “Your brother has never
lost a race?”

Anna’s eyes were shining. “Never. What are
you thinking? Oh, your face is glowing so.”

I shook my head, afraid to say anything. For
the moment. I linked my arm through hers and dismissed any
lingering thoughts of the missing ball and our brief conversation
about Andrew’s indifference or lack thereof. “I have a sudden urge
to visit the stables.”

Ella, tired of being out-of-doors, didn’t
accompany us. Anna was a gracious hostess and obviously knew her
way around. After a cursory walk through, I felt my heart sinking.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good plan after all.

Of the many horses in the Howarths’ stable,
there was only one – a chestnut mare – that looked as if she could
outrun Andrew’s gelding. But she was nearly bursting at the seams
with a foal that should be coming soon. She was Andrew’s pride,
Anna informed me. The foal’s sire was a horse that had won several
sweepstakes and Gold Cup races.

Sigh.

My only other chance stood with a
well-proportioned dapple gray stallion. He was shorter than
Andrew’s gelding by several hands, but there was fire in his eyes.
I didn’t prefer stallions, with their extra feistiness. In this
case, it looked like my only choice.

“He’s never seated a woman,” Anna told me,
her face earnest.

“Well, you never know until you try,
right?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it, miss,” said the
groom when Anna informed him that I wanted to ride. I insisted. It
was the only way I stood a chance of challenging Andrew.

I had severe second thoughts when the groom
brought out my stallion wearing a funky saddle with only one
stirrup and a pommel unlike any I’d seen before. “What is that?” I
hissed in Anna’s ear. I pretended to adjust my bonnet and hoped the
groom hadn’t heard me.

“A saddle, Miss Mattie.” Her dancing eyes and
quivering lips said it all.

“No, I’ve ridden on English saddles before
and they don’t have pommels like that.”

Anna’s brow wrinkled. “What is a pommel?”

Before I could open my mouth to put my foot
further in it, Andrew and his companion rode around the side of the
stable, their horses dark with perspiration. Our eyes connected and
I felt the familiar jolt of awareness zing through me, quivering my
stomach. I broke the contact first, but then my eyes fell on the
weird saddle and I knew this was going to end badly.

“What is going on?”

Could their be any more derision in his
voice?

“Miss Mattie is going for a ride.” Anna
seemed to take pleasure in announcing my intentions. Now I had to
ride or be humiliated.

“On Belvidere?”

I shot him a glare that I hoped said to leave
us alone. It didn’t work.

He rode his gelding closer, almost blocking
me from the stallion. “I must insist you choose another mount, Miss
Briggs.”

“Why?” I challenged, raising my chin. If he
thought I would change my mind just because he said so, he had
another thing coming. I didn’t look at him directly in the eye,
knowing if I did, he would have some kind of power over me.
Instead, over his shoulder, I met the gaze of his friend, who
seemed to be enjoying the fact that I’d challenged Andrew. Sharing
a glance with the stranger gave me the courage to smile at Andrew
and walk around him, to the stallion.

Andrew's perpetual frown deepened into a
scowl. “I can assure you he will be too much for you to
handle.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
I turned my cheek away, so I wouldn't have Andrew in my peripheral
vision. I would ignore anything else he had to say to rebuff
me.

I whispered to the groom to help me get in
the saddle. He boosted me up and Anna, the scamp, slipped to the
opposite side of the horse from her brother. She quickly motioned
me how to adjust my leg and skirt.

Oh. A sidesaddle.

The posture it required was more than
awkward. I probably wouldn’t be able to stand the slight twist in
my back for long, but I was on the horse. For now. Even though the
groom held on to the bridle, the horse shifted uneasily beneath
me.

“At least you’re wearing your worst dress,”
Anna said cheerfully from below me. “When you fall, it won’t matter
if you get dirty.”

Her words had the affect she must have
intended, because I found my balance and grinned at her. “I won’t
fall.”

The groom released his hold and the stallion
skittered to the side, nearly unseating me. I gripped him with my
one knee as best I could. Apparently he thought that meant go,
because he bolted. My bonnet flew off the back of my head and
nearly choked me with its tie. I shook my head, and felt my hair
flow out behind me.

The stallion galloped past the house, but I
gained the upper hand before we escaped to the moor. I slowed him
to a walk when thundering hoofbeats announced that Andrew followed
us. From the storm brewing in his face, he wasn’t happy that I’d
gotten my way. Or maybe just that I’d calmed the stallion
myself.

I smiled sweetly at him, batting my lashes
just a bit. “Yes? Did I forget something?”

He stared at me, his almost transparent blue
eyes unreadable. A muscle jumped along his jawline. I told myself
that it was the adrenaline and not his eyes that made my pulse
thunder in my ears. He wheeled his horse and left without another
word. I pretended not to care. But my traitorous hands still ached
to run through his dark locks.

Instead, I nudged the stallion into a trot,
then a canter and didn’t look back.

###

A half hour later, my temper cooled by the
crisp afternoon air, I wished for home. For Oklahoma.

Sure, the moors were beautiful. Raw, even.
But a big part of me longed for the flat plains of my hometown,
where a person could see into the next county.

Minnie would be furious if I skipped dinner,
so I talked myself into returning. Before I got very far, I came
upon a small boy crouching over something on the ground. He looked
up with a tearstained face when I came close.

My first instinct was to hug the poor thing.
Dirt and tears smeared his face his clothes were old, stained. He
couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, if his height and size
were any indication.

“What’s wrong?”

“M-my dog. He’s 'urt.”

I dismounted and knelt beside the boy. A
little red and white dog, a spaniel from the looks of it, stood
with head hung low, one of its back legs dragging the ground
unnaturally. I ran a hand along the dog’s spine first. It looked up
at me with those pitiful spaniel eyes and I knew I wouldn’t make it
back to Howarth Park in time for dinner.

“When did this happen?” I asked, keeping my
voice calm in hopes the boy would stay that way, too.

“Just a bit ago.” He sniffled.

A little more probing with my fingers
confirmed that the dog’s hip was dislocated. I resisted the urge to
sigh, knowing it would probably upset the boy. A hip like this
could probably be popped right back in if I had another adult with
me.

“I tried to carry him to Howarth Park, but ’m
not strong enough.” Now I took a longer look at the boy. He was so
pale and thin that I wondered when he’d had his last meal.

“Don’t worry.” I touched the boy’s shoulder.
“I know just what to do. We’ll have him fixed in no time.”
Hopefully.

It took some doing, but I managed to fashion
a sort of sling with my jacket. With the dog tucked inside it, I
was ready to get on the stallion again. I breathed a prayer that he
would let me on without any tricks. And he did, though it took me
two tries with the skirt, sidesaddle and my bundle conspiring
against me.

I reached down and hooked my arm with the
boy’s. With a heave, I swung him up behind me. His stick-thin arms
clutched me around the middle, cutting of part of my air supply. I
didn’t tell him to loosen his hold.

I held the stallion to a trot, afraid I’d
bounce the boy off if we went any faster. We’d just crossed the
lawn and pulled up to the stable when a tall figure stepped out of
the darkened doorway.

Andrew.

Chapter 6

The set of Andrew’s jaw told me he was still
angry. And worried, judging by the lines in his forehead. The first
thing he noticed was the boy.

“Simon. What’s the matter?”

The boy sniffled and began to cry again.
Andrew reached for him, at the same time looking to me, concern
written in his eyes.

“His dog is hurt.” I kept one arm
protectively around the bundle I carried. Andrew set the boy down
and reached up for me.

His wide hands at my waist lifted me down
easily and steadied me on my feet. I prayed that he couldn’t feel
how I trembled, or that he would think it was from cold. I’d given
up my jacket to wrap the dog, after all. He released me and the
connection between us faded. I couldn’t take my eyes off of his
face, thinking I could read in his eyes that he felt it too.

He motioned to the bundle I clutched against
my stomach. “What is wrong with the dog?”

Shadows filled the stable. This was no place
to work. “Is there somewhere we can go that would have better
light?” I asked, loath to move away from Andrew and his warmth.

“The kitchen.” He ushered me forward and led
the boy with a hand on his shoulder. Inside, the kitchen smelled of
bread and cooked meat. Its warmth sent a shiver down my back. My
stomach grumbled, but I ignored it.

I unwrapped the dog and laid a gentle hand
against its shaking shoulders. When I looked up at Andrew, I found
an expression on his face that I’d never seen before – could it be
respect? Whatever it was, it made my insides tremble.

“Do you have anything we could use as a
painkiller?” He looked at me blankly. “To numb his leg?” I wracked
my brain, trying to remember my classes on the history of medicine.
“Opium?”

Finally, his face lit with recognition.
“Laudanum.”

He left and returned a moment later with a
small bottle. “How much?”

I hid my surprise at his helpfulness. “How
much would you give a small boy like this?” I motioned to Simon.
“Now half that, and then half again.”

Carefully, we administered the laudanum. The
dog didn’t go completely under, and that was just fine with me. I
worried that if we gave him too much, he would die. But I also
needed his muscles to be relaxed enough to pop that leg back
in.

Softly, I explained to Andrew what we needed
to do, while the boy looked on with earnest fear. “Simon, I’m going
to need your help. I want you to hold on to my waist – here—” I
positioned him behind me, where he wouldn’t be able to see what
Andrew and I were doing. “Hold on tightly.”

I caught my breath when he took me literally.
His face pressed into my back. “Now wait until I tell you, then
we’ll pull together.”

I met Andrew’s eyes and dared to wink. In
response, his eyes crinkled at the corners.

With the dog between us, I took his large
hands in mine and linked them beneath the animal’s thigh. It was
hard to keep my focus with his nearness distracting me. The smell
of horses clung to us, but I could also smell his scent, something
spicy. I didn’t look up into his face again.