She stared at him as though he’d sprouted a shaggy mane and plaited tail. “What is... ‘not with my horses?’”
Stiff upper lip. He smiled as if the question had been in jest.
“Well?” She crossed her arms. “Go and put on your riding clothes.”
What is... riding clothes?
“I thought I would observe today,” he said. “There’s no reason to rush matters.”
No reason except ten short days to win Miss Harper’s approval.
“Very well.” She dipped her hand into a bucket and withdrew a handful of carrots. “Follow me.”
God help him. So it began.
Horses were her heaven and his hell, but Miss Harper was clearly upholding her half of the ten-day bargain. Eli’s thoughts on the validity of the bargain notwithstanding.
He filled his pockets with carrot bits and followed her out into the cold.
Everything was covered with a fine layer of snow. The only hints of color were the hills of evergreens, sparkling as the sun made their frost-tipped needles glisten.
It was a far cry from Eli’s usual days spent in Chelsea Physic Garden and the lush surrounding nurseries. Cressmouth in the dead of winter was not where a botanist would choose to take a holiday.
Frozen blades of grass crackled beneath their boots as they set a path toward the stables.
Normally, Eli’s heart would be pounding alarmingly—and it was—but, this time, not solely due to his increasing proximity to horseflesh.
Miss Harper’s curves were not the least bit hidden in her soft, supple buckskins. Her tall form and muscular legs were displayed to full advantage. The swing of her hips made the effect very feminine indeed.
It almost made him forget where they were headed.
Eli swallowed hard. He had bigger imminent concerns than whether he’d eventually win Miss Harper’s approval.
First came Duke.
Duke was not just a champion stud horse. He was the horse. Everyone wanted him. No one but Miss Harper could even get close.
On this topic, Duke and Eli were of one mind.
Eli preferred not to get close to any horses. The old familiar terror infused his muscles with torpor, whilst his heart fluttered fast enough to take flight.
Duke was not in the stables.
The stallion was standing just on the other side of a very ordinary, very jumpable fence. Although he would not be kept with other stallions, three intimidating geldings stood in a loose huddle behind him.
Duke was the tallest by three hands and weighed several stone more.
Miss Harper’s eyes shone. “Beautiful, isn’t he?”
“Glorious.” The word cracked in Eli’s too-dry throat. The stallion looked like danger personified.
She wouldn’t lead him out here to be trampled to death, he assured himself. Miss Harper hated him, but she didn’t want him dead.
Probably.
He hoped.
“Well?” she prompted. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”
“Someone else should introduce us,” he muttered. “Duke outranks me.”
She smirked. “All horses do.”
Very well. Eli could see he was going to have to do something.
Keeping a safe distance, he chucked a bit of carrot over the fence and into the midst of the horses.
The three smaller horses looked down at the piece of carrot, then back at Eli.
Duke never took his gaze from Eli for a second.
With a sigh, Miss Harper strode forward, and vaulted the log fence. She caressed Duke’s cheek before offering him a large, unbroken carrot.
He nibbled it from the palm of her hand.
“This handsome fellow is the famous Duke.” She gave him an extra carrot, then fed another treat to each of the following horses in turn. “These other dashing bucks are Rudolph, Mr. Edward, and Charley. They’re gentle as lambs. The local children love to ride them.”
Eli took a hesitant step forward.
All four horses took several steps back.
“I’m impressed,” said Miss Harper. “I expected Duke not to like you, but you seem to actively repel all of my horses.”
Eli took another tiny step forward.
Mr. Edward and Charley took off running across the snow-covered field and vanished off behind the stables.
Miss Harper burst out laughing, one gloved hand held up high to cover her face.
Eli flinched.
Her instinct to hide her smile was at least partly his fault. He’d hoped that was in the past. The thought that one deplorable moment had eroded her confidence for the rest of her life twisted his stomach into a hard little knot.
She caught him looking and dropped her hand.
The smile was long gone.
“What are the top five winter footing issues to avoid when tending horse hooves in below freezing weather?” she demanded.
“Top… five?” he echoed faintly. He could think of three, at best.
She rattled off detailed answers and fired new questions faster than he could retrieve long forgotten equine trivia from the recesses of his mind.
The more his answers disappointed, the faster and more obscure the questions became. She had clever, practical solutions for every situation.
If Miss Harper thought her superior knowledge would snuff out his interest in her, she had misread him entirely.
Nothing was more attractive than a clever mind.
She let out an aggrieved huff. “I see I cannot leave you alone with horses. You’re a danger to them and to yourself. That is, if you manage to get close to one.”
That was... an accurate representation of the facts.
Harsh, but true.
Not for the first time, Eli wished he were the equine savant his father had hoped he would be.
How lovely it might be if their situations were reversed! If Miss Harper were the timid young lady seeking Eli’s help on her first ride. He would be forced to place his hands on her midsection, and help her up into the saddle...
She needed no help.
Miss Harper coaxed Duke to the topmost log of the fence, which she used as a stepping-stool to launch herself atop the enormous stallion.
Before Eli’s disbelieving eyes, she pranced Duke about like a prized pony, making intricate patterns in the snow as they danced this way and that.
He had never seen a better horsewoman than Olive Harper.
Woman, full stop.
Horseman, full stop.
Eli didn’t have words to describe the ease with which she led Duke through his paces, showing off to magnificent effect. They were not horse and rider, but rather an all-powerful Centaur, sent to Earth by the gods as a trick to play on mere mortals.
The man who married Olive Harper would be a lucky devil indeed.
As the gossips were fond of saying, there was no hope of “taming” Miss Harper, which in Eli’s opinion was the best part. She was wild and free and reckless and capable. She didn’t need anyone to rescue her. She was the adventure.
She waved her gloved fingers at him, then took off over the snow-covered field, a brown blur flying over hills of white until she disappeared behind a thicket of trees.
Eli grinned to himself. Ten days suddenly didn’t seem long enough. Perhaps he would enjoy parts of this.
While he waited for her to return, he idly tossed bits of carrot at the lone remaining horse from a safe distance.
Rudolph gazed at him suspiciously, nudging each cube of orange carrot with his nose without taking a single bite.