Leaping Hearts (6 page)

“He’s not a demon!”

“Then your definition of the word and mine are different. One thing I do know is that buying that stallion is another example of your inability to think things through or see financial realities.”

“Financial realities! I’m talking about a champion. I’m
talking about winning. What we need at this stable are winners, not bean counters.”

“You paid way over market value for him.”

“He’s worth every penny.”

“He’s worth half what you paid.”

“How would you know?”

“Because that’s what I sold him for.”

A.J. looked at Garrett, stunned. “You can’t be serious about all this.”

“Peter is right,” he said with a pleading tone. “The horse is dangerous and you probably paid too much for him.”

“So you’re giving him the stables?”

“He would never abuse—”

“What would you call unilaterally deciding to sell a horse I have every intention of competing on?” She watched as her father fumbled through his pockets, looking for Rolaids. As he downed two and chewed desperately, she said, “This is ridiculous. It’s unnecessary.”

“Arlington, I’m worried about your safety.”

“I understand, but it takes risk to succeed.”

“Calculated risk,” Peter pointed out.

“I’ve made the calculations. I’m taking the risk.”

“But you’ve got to learn to accept authority,” Garrett said. “You can’t keep running around, acting on a whim and explaining later. This is a big business now. There are other people involved. It’s not just a family hobby anymore.”

With a stiff spine, she began to check Sabbath’s fastenings. “I know all that.”

“Don’t bother getting him out of the trailer,” Peter told her. “The new owner wants him delivered tonight.”

A.J. was about to take her stepbrother on when she remembered writing out all those zeros. What had started out as yet another impulsive move had just proved to be a stroke of genius.

When she faced them again, she was smiling. “You’re looking at his new owner.”

“Don’t be flippant,” Peter said, turning away. “Just leave him here in the trailer—”

“
I
own him, not the stables. So you can take your fancy new corporate title and stick it up your—”

“You’re lying.”

She pulled out the receipt. “Got the paperwork right here.”

Peter took the documents from her hand, lips tightening as he reviewed them: “Well, good for you. But you can’t board him here.”

“What do you mean?” A.J. looked over to her father for help.

“Now, Peter,” Garrett hedged, “we can’t just—”

“I’m in charge here and we’ve just run out of free stalls.”

A.J. snatched the papers back. “Fine, then get out of this trailer and I’ll move right along.”

The two men stared at her like she was crazy.

“What? You’ve made it perfectly clear that my horse and I aren’t welcome so we’re going elsewhere. I’ll pay the stable the going rate for use of the trailer and return it in the morning when I come back for my things.”

“Now, wait a minute—,” her father began.

“Where are you going to go?” Peter asked.

“None of your business.”

Besides, A.J. thought, I’m not sure myself.

“Darling, we’re a family,” Garrett said. “These stables are here for you.”

“But you didn’t make me an equal participant in their future, did you?”

“Come home and let’s talk about this some more,” her father begged.

“I’m not going home.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little rash?”

“Rash? Shouldn’t you be talking to your new president? He just tossed me out of my own stables. If you’ve got a problem with the way things are working out, make an appointment and speak with him.”

Peter shook his head. “This is exactly why you could never have made it in business. You’re too emotional.”

A.J. didn’t respond to the dig. She was through arguing and on to planning her next move. She had an animal the size of a bus with no place to put him, it was getting late and she now had nowhere to stay herself. She needed to think of a plan and fast. To do that, she had to get rid of
Peter and her father and find somewhere to gather her thoughts.

She could tell the two of them weren’t going to leave the trailer unless she did, so she went over to the door and leapt onto the ground. The men followed close behind. Before they could stop her, she shut the door and jumped into the cab. She was putting the engine into first gear when her father leapt in front.

“Where are you going?” Her father’s voice was panicked as he splayed his hands out wide, as if he were prepared to block and tackle the trailer. He looked absurd, wearing his tailored tweed suit and club tie, standing like that.

Peter was shaking his head, trying to drag her father out of the way. “Garrett, let her go. Better that she cool off somewhere else. She’ll be back in the morning.”

A.J. stuck her head out of the open window. “A change of scenery isn’t going to calm me down.”

With that, she put her foot on the gas and the mammoth trailer lurched forward. She didn’t know what she was going to do if her father didn’t move.

Peter yanked Garrett out of the way.

“You’ll be back!” her stepbrother yelled after her as she left.

Peter was wrong about that but, after driving around aimlessly for some time, A.J. was growing desperate. Feeling overwhelmed, she downshifted and brought the trailer to a rumbling halt in the parking lot of an all-night diner located at the side of a country road. Most of its customers were local farmers and A.J. was well-known as one of the regulars but she didn’t want to go inside, no matter how merry it looked. It would be hard to explain why she was out on her own with the trailer in the dark without letting on about the split with her family.

A.J. sat in the cab, staring into the glow of the dashboard and rubbing her solitaire back and forth. In the back of her mind, she’d been thinking for the past few years that it was time to make a life of her own. She just never figured she’d make a declaration of independence quite so flagrantly, and it was hard not to feel lonely and worried. No matter how constraining she’d found Peter and her father, they offered
her protection and security. Now, on her own, the choice she’d made and the responsibility she’d taken on seemed unsupportable.

It was the first time she’d felt that way. She’d always been impulsive and, if things hadn’t turned out exactly as she’d intended, she’d usually been able to string something together at the last minute. Now her well of ideas was dry. Nothing was coming to her as she sat in the driver’s seat with no place to go. The only thing she knew was that turning back wasn’t an option.

A.J. glanced down at the clock again and tried to focus. The other big stables would be closed at this hour but she reviewed the closest ones once more, one by one. It was fruitless. She hadn’t found a solution in the mental list before, and she didn’t now.

Stretching her neck, which was stiff from tension, she caught sight of her baseball cap. Picking it up, she was struck by a crazy idea. Enticing hazel eyes came to mind.

Did she dare?

A moment later, she was back on the road, heading in the direction she’d come from. Driving past Sutherland Stables and not going in felt all wrong, a disturbing combination of anger, guilt and homesickness. She kept going.

Down the road a few miles, on the left, she saw the diminutive sign she was looking for. Unlike the arching expanse that marked the Sutherland compound, this was a simple clapboard on a post. It read
MCCLOUD
.

A.J. eased the truck onto a dirt road, its surface wide and even, perfectly suited for horse trailers and farm equipment. Driving up the lane, she went through a wooded expanse that soon opened to a stretch of meadows that was intersected by dark rail fences. Moonlight washed over the landscape, giving it an otherworldly glow, like a dream.

Up ahead, buildings appeared. There were two stables, small compared to Sutherland’s, but she guessed they were able to hold at least six horses apiece. A jumping and schooling ring was to the left and there were several dirt paddocks to the right. Beyond, in the distance, she could see a farmhouse with a faint light in one of its windows.

Halting the trailer in front of a stable building, she took
a deep breath and stepped out of the cab. Without stopping to let herself think, she went back and checked on Sabbath. To her relief, he seemed content. His head was down and one of his back feet was turned up, resting on the tip of its hoof. He looked like he was asleep. A.J. checked his water, the fastenings on his halter and the lead that was anchored on the front of his stall. She didn’t like the idea of leaving him unattended but she knew she wasn’t going to be gone long. She was going to get one of two answers, and knowing Devlin McCloud, he wasn’t going to waste time letting her know which one it was.

She was about to step out of the side door when she paused, catching her reflection in the floor-length mirror the riders used to dress in front of at competitions. Her auburn hair was a frazzled mess. Her jeans carried dirt and hay on them, as if they’d never seen the inside of a washing machine, and the flannel shirt she wore was an untucked, floppy wreck. Her barn jacket didn’t help, looking like a big tan bag billowing around her.

She looked like a charity case. Something, she supposed, that wasn’t far from the truth.

But she didn’t want Devlin McCloud to see her like this. In all those fantasies she’d whipped up, she’d always looked halfway decent when they’d accidentally run into each other. In her daydreams, he’d had half a chance to see her as a woman, not just a stable hand, and, in her heart, for whatever asinine reason, she wanted him to find her beautiful. To see her as an object of mystery and desire. For her to be someone he wanted to touch and kiss and dive into with his body.

A.J. struck an alluring pose in the mirror, pouting her lips and leaning on one hip.

As if.

Trying not to feel defeated, she reached up and pulled her hair together, smoothing wayward wisps. Her hands brushed free as much debris as would let go of her pants and then she tucked in the shirt. Scrubbing off a smudge from her cheek, she took one last look at herself, thinking she’d be lucky if the man didn’t call the cops to haul her away.

Stepping out of the trailer, she took a deep breath, drawing in a heavenly scent of grass and soil. It was a crisp fall night, not too cold, and majestically clear. As she walked toward the white farmhouse, she looked up and saw the vast stretch of the Milky Way above her, waves of stars shimmering in a dark velvet sea.

When the heels of her leather boots hit a flagstone walkway, she slowed down, trying to approach the house as quietly as she could. It was a two-story antique home with cozy lines and a lot of four-pane windows in the front. The roof was black and pitched at soft angles, with several chimneys breaking through its peaks and valleys. Stretching out from the rear of the house was another wing, behind which there was a garden.

It had to be the original farmstead, A.J. marveled, noting that someone had taken great care to keep the place up. The house, like the rest of the stable grounds, was in meticulous condition, gleaming with fresh paint and the close attention of its owner.

Arriving at the front door, she saw no doorbell or door knocker. Trying not to take it as a sign, she rapped her knuckles on glossy wood. There was a long silence and then she heard an uneven footfall inside.

As the steps got closer, the enormity of everything she’d done broadsided her with terrible clarity. She’d blown her savings on an undisciplined horse, left her stables and her family and was about to throw herself on the mercy of a man who was widely known for having little for himself. And less for others.

When Devlin McCloud opened the door, A.J. felt his presence as a physical blow. The impact of seeing him again was something she wasn’t prepared for, daydreams to the contrary, and meeting his eyes was like getting pulled into a whirlpool and wanting to drown. Those hazel eyes alone would have been enough of a shock but then she noticed he was wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and nothing else.

It was impossible not to look.

Moonlight hit his chest and arms with a caress that further defined the muscles under his smooth skin. His body was sculpted and powerful, a perfect example of man in his
prime, from his imposing shoulders to his rippled stomach to the hint of his hip bones showing over the waistband of his pajamas. Mouth going dry, A.J. had to wonder what the lower half of him looked like.

She felt his eyes pass over her and, when she looked up, she saw something flicker in their depths, some kind of reaction that he hid quickly. She thought for sure he’d noticed how flushed she was becoming and fought the urge to put her hands up to her cheeks. She decided he was probably annoyed with her ogling his body, and was searching for something intelligent to say, when he spoke first.

“I knew this wasn’t someone selling Girl Scout cookies but you are a surprise.”

Wait until you see what I have in the trailer, she thought.

Before she lost her nerve, she blurted out, “I need your help.”

Instantly, his face grew tight. “I gave you my answer this afternoon. And as much as I appreciate your tenacity, I’m not going to reprise the conversation. Especially standing in this doorway, in the middle of the night, wearing only my pajamas.”

She had a passing thought that he really didn’t have to remind her he was half-naked. “But I—”

“I’m not going to train you. Now, go back to Sutherland Stables and resume the high life. I need to get some sleep.”

He turned to go.

“I can’t.”

Her soft words stopped him and he looked back at her. “What do you mean, you can’t?”

“I’m no longer affiliated with Sutherland Stables.”

His brows came down over those hazel eyes. “You renounce your birthright or something?”

“Essentially.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Let’s just say management and I had a falling-out.”

“Over Sabbath.”

“Looks like he and I are both orphans now.”