Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel (26 page)

He wondered whether he was losing his mind. One minute he’d been kissing Jade as though he couldn’t get enough of her, but now all he could think of was how much he missed Becky and what they’d had together. He’d buried Becky five years ago; right now was one of those times when it felt as if the dirt covering her grave were fresh.

Irrational as it was, a part of him still linked Jade with Becky’s death. He knew it wasn’t fair, his mother’s lecture about not blaming Jade for a cruel twist of fate unnecessary. But when missing Becky cut like broken glass, he lost his ability to be fair.

“Yeah, Becky was special. She was incredible.”

Jade’s ears had recovered from the blare of the car alarm, and it was easy to catch Rob’s quiet reply.

More than his words, it was the bleak emotion in them that sent her own spirits plummeting.
Great
. Not only was she attracted to a totally unsuitable man, but said unsuitable man was obviously still in love with his dead wife.

Suddenly all Jade wanted was to crawl into bed—alone—draw the covers up and make the world go away.

For some absurd reason she also wanted to bawl like a baby. Indeed, the tears were welling up in her eyes. “Gosh, it’s late,” she said, determined to leave before a single tear betrayed her. “Thanks a bunch for the police escort, but I think I can make it safely from here.” Careful to press the correct button this time, she unlocked her car. Hurriedly, she opened the door and slipped into the bucket seat.

Only when she was several blocks away did she regain her composure. One thing was abundantly clear. She was going to have to take serious evasive tactics when it came to Rob Cooper. Like his patrol car, the man should come equipped with flashing lights to warn of danger.

R
IDING HELPED
restore Jade’s equilibrium. There’d been very few times when it hadn’t, the exception being the pitch-dark days of her adolescence, days filled with death, betrayal, and self-loathing. Luckily, her world was a lot brighter now, and having four ponies to ready for her lesson program, three horses to train, and the additional tasks she helped with at Rosewood—whether riding or longeing an extra horse or two or helping Ned with one of the yearlings—left her with little downtime to worry about anything else in her life, including Rob Cooper.

She spent Sunday working with the new ponies herself, putting them through their paces to keep them alert and well schooled. Since having them relaxed and mellow was as important as ensuring they were well schooled, she rode them early so they’d have plenty of time to graze, romp, and roll in one of the pastures as well. She wanted happy ponies to greet the kids when lessons began.

Then she moved on to the equines that stood taller than 14.1 hands. Owen and she had devised a schedule for his gelding’s training. Jade worked with Cosmo every other day, with Owen taking the remaining days, riding him while Ned, Travis, or she coached him. Cosmo was a great horse, big and playful and athletic. He was smart too. At age five, he already understood that once he’d blown off a little steam, he had to settle down and pay attention.

And when she coached Owen on him, Jade could tell that Ned had pulled off a brilliant match when he’d encouraged Owen to buy him. Owen had made enormous strides as a rider in learning how to ride a green horse. He was already as proud as he could be of Cosmo. Their bond would only strengthen over the years. Considering that before coming to Rosewood, Owen had never even ridden, it was pretty cool that they’d made a convert to their horse-mad equestrian community.

She wasn’t a Luddite; she loved her iPod and iPhone and booted up her computer every day. But she’d rather spend her day with her butt in a saddle than splayed in a chair staring at a computer screen. Knowing that at Rosewood she and her sisters were helping to keep the connection between horse and man alive and strong was incredibly rewarding. No modern technological gadget could touch that.

In much the same way that she enjoyed teaching children because they were fun and open to learning, she enjoyed the challenge of training young horses like Valentine and Carmen, the two mares Travis had assigned her along with Cosmo. Like the gelding, they’d just turned five and had an abundance of talent. For this reason, Travis and Margot had decided to bring them along in their training. Selling a horse that had already won in the show ring or had its jumping skills brought to the next level could only boost the farm’s reputation as a source for exceptional prospects.

A full Thoroughbred, Carmen had enough rocket fuel to take her rider roaring across the countryside and soaring over every fence they came across. The only hitch was that three-day eventers also had to perform basic dressage maneuvers, movements that involved control and precision.

Jade’s job was to fine-tune Carmen’s jumping skills and develop her confidence in executing the dressage
movements required at the first level in three-day eventing: yielding to the rider’s leg (which demonstrated a horse’s suppleness), circling, coming to a halt, shortening and lengthening the stride at the trot and canter, and changing the length of the rein at the trot and canter.

Of all the exercises, this last was where Carmen had the most difficulty. Being a “hot” horse who liked speed and lots of it, she viewed a relaxed hold on the reins as license to fly. Getting the mare to maintain the same pace throughout when all she wanted to do was move like a high wind whipping over the plains required all of Jade’s skill and patience.

That afternoon when she jumped Carmen, she concentrated on the approaches to fences and keeping her rounded as they galloped between them. In addition, she practiced another exercise that involved pacing: half halts. Half halts were used to collect a horse several strides before the takeoff for a fence and were an essential technique for show jumping, where jump courses often were designed with tight corners and tricky approaches.

Travis, who’d come down to the outdoor ring to watch her jump, had set up a small course of four fences for her: two set at four strides apart and the other pair at a distance of five strides.

The goal of the day was to get Carmen to add or eliminate strides as she negotiated her approach. A big jumper, Carmen had no problem eliminating strides between the fences. She responded beautifully when asked to pick up steam quickly, moving into a full gallop between the sets of jumps. The half halts Jade asked for were more problematic. Carmen initially resisted, straining at the bit.

“Okay, what am I doing wrong?” she asked, bringing Carmen back to a trot.

“You held her back a fraction too long on that last
go-around. It allowed her to think about the bit too much,” Travis said.

Jade nodded and, picking up the canter, tried again, concentrating on releasing the reins more quickly after the initial check. The second attempt was markedly better.

She glanced over to the middle of the ring, where Travis was leaning against a wall jump.

He nodded in satisfaction. “That was good. Your hands were clean and fast, and she listened to you. This time around, let’s have her put it all together. Take the first fence at a trot again and remember to sit deep in the saddle to maintain the vertical, so she really gets back on her haunches. I’d like to see her take off from right here,” he said, and walked over to the fence he’d selected. With the heel of his field boot, he drew a line in the sand about three feet in front of the fence.

“When she lands, bring her up to full speed in as few strides as you can manage. Once she’s there, give her a half halt and bring her down a notch to take the last two fences.”

Before gathering her reins, Jade took a minute to empty her mind of everything except what she planned to ask Carmen to do and where. This was the last set they’d jump today, and she wanted to end it on a positive note for the young mare.

The reason Travis and Ned had such hopes for Carmen’s future as an eventer was that, in addition to her speed, stamina, and huge jumping ability, she was as bright as a newly minted penny.

When they took the small-jump course again, Carmen was ready and willing to give the changes in pace Jade asked for, and she took the jumps with her usual confidence.

As Jade brought Carmen back down to a walk, she patted her sweat-coated black neck enthusiastically and then moved her hand up to scratch the mare just above
her withers, a spot Carmen loved to have tickled. Jade was still patting and praising the mare when Ned entered the ring with Valentine.

“You about ready for this sweetheart, Miss Jade?”

“Your timing’s perfect, Ned.”

“How’d Carmen go?”

“Jade had her going real well,” Travis answered for her.

“Tuesday will be a lot tougher, when we start to work on leg yields with her,” Jade said. The session would be a short one so Carmen’s brain didn’t fry from overtraining.

“Nah,” Ned replied, shaking his head. “She’s starting to get the hang of it. I bet she’ll do it just fine at the walk, maybe even at the trot—not that there’s any rush. Most important thing is not to get her scared about tripping over herself as she crosses her legs to move sideways. We’ll take as long as we need until she figures it out.” He pulled out a white fleece saddle pad that he’d carried tucked under his left arm. “Want to hop off her so we can put your saddle on Valentine?”

“Sure thing.” Jade dropped her stirrup and let her boots hang, enjoying the stretch to her hamstrings and calves. “Thanks for bringing Valentine down, Ned.”

“No problem. Tito’s got Night Watch tacked for you, Travis. And Margot said she’s going to ride Brown Betty in the indoor ring so Betty doesn’t get distracted.” Brown Betty, a striking liver chestnut, was one of their best four-year-olds and, as Mystique was her dam, a favorite of Margot’s. Jade had a hunch Margot was going to keep the young mare at Rosewood no matter how many offers she received. And that was fine, Jade thought. Once she was sure her dual career as schoolteacher and riding instructor was a reality, she planned to someday fall in love with one of their horses and claim it for her own.

It was far better to fall in love with a horse than with a man, she told herself a tad defiantly, for just then Rob
Cooper appeared in her mind’s eye, all lean, muscled body and piercing blue gaze.

For Pete’s sake, she thought with a snort. This was ridiculous. Rob did not belong in her brain. She was busy.

“Did you say something, Jade?” Travis asked.

“Nope.” She put a fist to her mouth and pretended to cough. “Got a bit of dust in my throat.” Bringing Carmen to a halt, she bent at the waist and swung her right leg over the saddle to dismount.

Landing lightly on the ground, she lifted her saddle flap, unbuckled the girth, and pulled the saddle off Carmen’s steaming back.

At least Rob hadn’t stormed her consciousness while she was negotiating fences astride Carmen, she thought. But that was small comfort. She’d always been so good at ignoring guys before.

The specter of Rob Cooper had always loomed too large in her life. Unfortunately, now she had to deal with the effects of the flesh-and-blood man, a man who knew how to make her own flesh quiver and her blood sing.

Monday morning found her sitting in Ted Guerra’s office with a large coffee from Braverman’s perched in her lap.

“Sorry I missed talking to you on parents’ night, Jade. I was waylaid by several parents. How’d it go?”

She suppressed a shudder at the thought of what would have happened if Ted Guerra had interrupted Rob and her in mid-kiss. “Parents’ night? It was kind of daunting, to tell the truth.”

He nodded sympathetically. “The first time can be pretty intimidating. And I don’t think it ever becomes anything one looks forward to, but a number of parents came up to me and told me how impressed they were by your enthusiasm. So you should be proud of yourself.” Reaching for his own cup of coffee, he took a sip, swallowed,
and cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, there was some criticism.…”

Ted paused before continuing, and in that fraction of time, Jade was abruptly glad she’d had the sense to forgo her favorite pumpkin muffin that morning. The cream cheese would have curdled in her stomach.

“Parents’ complaints aren’t uncommon, Jade. I usually don’t bother to bring them up with my staff, but the Harrisons are a … well, a vocal family. I don’t want you to be blindsided by anything you hear.”

Ted rose several rungs in Jade’s estimation. It was a nice feeling to realize that he was the kind of principal who looked out for his teachers—even his lowly substitutes.

“The Harrisons? Did they ask to switch Eugene out of the class?”

“Yes.” His face revealed his surprise that she’d guessed what they would do. She decided not to share her old history with other members of the Harrison clan and that she’d already been a target of their very vocal disdain. “So I told Eugene and Christy once again that I have a policy of not moving students—”

“Again?” Wow, they’d certainly been busy, Jade thought.

Ted inclined his head. “It’s clear the Harrisons have a bee in their bonnet about you teaching their son, so I’d like you to go the extra mile in providing little Eugene with lots of opportunities beyond the assignments.”