Даниэла Стил - Royal

“I am,” she said, as they stopped at a coffee machine and he filled a mug and handed it to her. “I like the excitement and the speed,” she said, taking a sip of the strong brew. “But I like the calculation and the theory along with what you have to know about the horse you’re riding. There’s so much soul to great racehorses, maybe that’s what I love about it. They try so hard and they’re so brave. It’s not just about winning, it’s about how you get there. Everything about it appeals to me. And the combination of rider and horse is so important. I think jockeys lose races, not horses.” It was a fine point, something he always said himself. You could put some jockeys on a mule and they’d win a race, and give others the finest racehorses in the world and they’d lose every time.

“You’ll be a fine jockey one day if you think that way,” he said, getting to know her better. “Horses are a lot less complicated than people,” he commented, and she remembered that he had been married three times. “We have a new horse you might like to try. I’d be interested to hear what you think of him.” In theory, he was much too big for her, but instinct told him that she could manage almost any mount, her stepfather had said the same, and she liked a challenge. She was an amazing girl, and with her history, something of a dark horse herself. She had come from nowhere, and was suddenly the surprise of the hour. It was all about breeding and courage and bloodlines, and perseverance, and she had them all. The queen had said as much when she recommended her to him, and he trusted her judgment implicitly. And she had turned out to be a fine monarch.

He led Annie to the stall of the horse he was thinking of for her. He was a magnificent stallion, and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw him.

“I’m not sure he’ll ever win a race for us, but he’s an interesting ride. We’ve had him for about a month. I don’t know him well enough to tell. He doesn’t trust us yet. He has a slightly dodgy history, but fabulous bloodlines.” She could see it in the way he stood and moved, even in his stall. “You can take him out now if you like.” She finished her coffee, put the mug in a sink, and went to get a saddle. She walked into his stall with confidence, and led him out. His name was Flash, and she looked ridiculously small beside him, which didn’t occur to her at all. She had him saddled in a few minutes, led him to a mounting block, swung up easily, and let herself into one of the rings, as Lord Hatton watched. She had a light hand on the reins, and her legs were short but powerful. She was guiding him with her knees as much as her hands, and had a fluid grace that blended with the horse. She rode him around the ring to get a sense of him, changed directions several times, and then eased him into a gallop. The horse seemed to be enjoying it as much as she was. He balked at a sound nearby which didn’t faze her, and her confidence and poise calmed him, as Lord Hatton watched her, fascinated. She had all the instincts he looked for in a rider, and was unaware of them herself. She had the powerful horse in her full command, and he could tell that the stallion trusted her, which was half the battle.

“He’s a beautiful ride,” she said admiringly.

“Yes, he is. Inconsistent, though. He’s a moody guy. Everything has to line up just right for him. He threw one of our best riders the other day, and we couldn’t figure out why.” But he was as docile as a lamb with Annie astride him. She took him through his paces again and Lord Hatton left them and went to his office. He liked getting an early start, when everything was calm. Once he left, Annie rode Flash for an hour, and then dismounted and took him back to the barn. Both rider and mount were pleased with the time they’d spent together. After she’d removed his saddle, she put him back in his stall, and went to join the trainers she saw gathering outside the racing barn. They were handing out assignments for the week, and she was assigned to shadow one of the head trainers.

They were busy after that until lunchtime. There were a dozen assistant trainers, each with special skills that were suited to the functions they performed.

She didn’t see Anthony again until after lunch. He looked as though he had just gotten up, and had had a rough night. He’d been assigned to exercise one of the horses who had had a pulled tendon for several weeks, and was told to go easy on him. As soon as she saw him riding the horse around a ring, she saw that he had heavy hands. He had no instinct for the horse he was riding, just impeccable training, and an elegant style, but he wasn’t at one with the horse. She didn’t comment. She walked over to the rail, and he stopped to chat with her for a minute.

“I hear my father let you ride Flash this morning. Scary devil, isn’t he?”

“He was a gentleman with me,” she said noncommittally.

“Don’t count on his being like that again. He tried to kick me when I walked into his stall the other day, and bucked when I rode him.”

“A personality clash perhaps,” she suggested, smiling at him.

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? There’s an amusing pub nearby. It’s pretty quiet here at night.” She didn’t mind that, but she could sense easily that he did. She didn’t want to be rude, but she would have preferred having dinner in her room.

“That would be nice,” she said politely, and she had the feeling that he was as insensitive with women as he was with horses. It was all about getting them to do what he wanted, not figuring out who they were and what they needed.

She went back to the trainer she’d been assigned to then, and he had her exercise two of the horses. Flash was the high point of her day, and Anthony stopped by and told her he’d pick her up at seven.

She changed into slacks and a sweater before they left for dinner, and was surprised when he turned up still in his riding clothes with a rakish look. “You don’t mind, do you?” he asked as they got into the Ferrari she’d seen the night before. She had no experience with men like him, and far more with horses. Her romantic life had been nonexistent so far. She’d spent all of her time around stables and with her father, except for the boys she’d gone out with at university, but had never fallen in love with any of them. They just seemed young and foolish to her, and she didn’t flirt the way the other girls did, nor did she play games with them. She was simple and direct, and without artifice. She spoke to Anthony like one of the guys at the stables when they got to the pub, and he laughed after she talked about the racehorses she’d seen in the barn.

“Do you ever think of anything except horses?” he asked her after they ordered dinner and a bottle of wine.

“Not often,” she admitted with a smile. “I was a disaster in school. I rarely went to class at university. I begged to come home the entire time. All I ever wanted to do was train horses and work with my father. You don’t need a degree for that. I thought about vet school for a while, but it takes too many years. I’m basically lazy,” she said modestly, and he laughed.

“I doubt that. You’re just not an academic. Neither am I. My father studied physics and psychology at Oxford. I don’t know how he wound up in a horse barn. He can quote Shakespeare for hours. He says he wanted to be an actor. He’s a Renaissance man.”

“And what about you? What are you passionate about?” she asked. She had a feeling it wasn’t horses, although he had been around them all his life because of his father. But it wasn’t a love affair for him. It seemed more like something to do between parties.

“I just invested in a nightclub with a group of friends. It’s a lot of fun. I like people more than horses, and women in particular.” He gave her a look that was meant to melt her heart, or her knickers, but it didn’t. “I’d like to own a restaurant one day. Or a small hotel, maybe in the South of France. I lived in Paris for a year. It was a fantastic experience. I’d like to live there again one day.”