Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) (5 page)

Laura could certainly see the quality
of the school. There were two large areas that had been fenced off; one with
jumps set up, the other with simple flat grass that had been trampled down to
mud in many places by the horses. There was a class going on in each of the
areas.

She decided to watch the class that
weren’t jumping, thinking she might get some pointers before attempting to ride
herself later on. She could see about seven horses with riders of various ages
riding in a circle. In the middle was a young man around two or three years
older than herself, at a guess. He was calling out instructions to the riders
in a crisp English accent, circling slowly with them as he watched their
movements.

He cut quite a dashing figure in his
tight riding trousers, shirt and knee high boots. His hair was sandy brown and
he had a thin moustache which reminded her of a musketeer, but she couldn’t
tell what colour his eyes were from the distance. He was very at ease with himself
and held a charming smile on his lips, flashing dimples the entire time he was
instructing his riders.

Laura couldn’t help but smile to
herself as she climbed up onto the fence to sit and watch the class. Three
young women in the group were all working very hard to gain the attention of
the handsome riding instructor. The man was quite obviously enjoying the
competition, blatantly spreading himself around the three in a way that was
fascinating to behold. He bestowed his easy smile in one direction, then
another with compliments flowing free and fast. The women preened under his
flattering and then glared daggers at each other when he was looking in a
different direction.

The man glanced over to the fence and
saw Laura. He sent her one of his huge dimple filled smiles, his eyes gleaming
in interest. He gave a small nod in her direction, which she returned. The
class came to an end and the group made their way out of the paddock, taking
the hot sweaty horses back to the stable for grooming. The instructor made his
way over to Laura.

“Hi,” he called out to her as he
approached, flashing his dimples at her again. “I’ve not seen you around here
before. Are you a guest in one of the cabins?” He strode up to the fence and
casually draped his arm around the post next to Laura’s leg. His dark eyes ran
over her form, the admiration in them making her flush, but he didn’t make her
heart flip over the way a certain dark haired, blue eyed man did.

“Actually, I’m staying with Jake and
Kerry,” she replied, smiling down at him from her vantage point on the fence.
“I just got here yesterday for a visit.”

“Ah, how wonderful to hear the sound
of home. A fellow countrywoman if I am not mistaken?” She nodded to confirm his
query. “It is always so lovely to meet up with people from home. I have been
here in the US for several years now, working as a riding instructor for various
ranches and still sometimes I get homesick. I’m Walter Nobel by the way.”

“I’m Laura Hamilton,” she replied,
with a small laugh. The man was a real charmer. She could see why the women
took to him. He had an easy smile and a naughty twinkle in his eyes. “Have you
family back in England, Mr Nobel?”

“Please, call me Walter or Walt. Mr
Nobel makes me look around for my father.” He gave an exaggerated shudder. “I
left him back in England along with the rest of my family and I certainly don’t
miss them. They are the reason I left, actually.” He gave her a cheeky wink,
making her laugh. “Have you known the Carters long?” he asked, propping his
boot up on the fence near her foot and leaning closer.

“A while,” she replied evasively.
Somehow she didn’t think Jake would appreciate anyone else knowing the
circumstances of her arrival here. She quickly changed the subject. “Do you
enjoy working here?”

“I love it. How many people can say
they get to earn money doing something they truly love all day long?” He cocked
his head to one side as he regarded her with a deep intense look. “What about
you Laura? Do you do what you love for work?”

“Not yet, but I hope to one day,” she
sighed wistfully. “One of the reasons I came here was to see if I can settle
into a new life in the States. Maybe I can be as lucky as you and find my
perfect job here too.”

“So, you may be sticking around here
permanently?” Walter asked, his voice dropping to an intimately low caress. “We
must take the time to get to know each other better. Being fellow countryman
and all, we should stick together.” He gave her a naughty flirtatious smile.

“It would be lovely to be friends.”
She stressed the word in the hopes that Walter would take the hint and not keep
flirting with her. She thought him nice enough, but he didn’t set her pulse to
racing or her heart pounding. The last thing she wanted to do was give him the
false impression that she was interested in him. From what she’d seen, Walter
was interested in all women. She had no desire to become one of his conquests
whose name he probably forgot in moments or maybe never even knew.

“Do you ride?” he asked,  running his
eyes all over her in a caressing sweep she assumed was meant to make her weak
at the knees, but didn’t. Unfortunately, her hint seemed to have fallen on deaf
ears or he was deliberately ignoring it.

“No, but it is something I want to
learn,” she replied to his question. “Actually, Bill is giving me a lesson
later today.”

“Why bother him? I’d be happy to
teach you. I’m always available for a little……private tutoring.” He gave her a
lopsided grin, his eyes full of an invitation she had no intention of taking
him up on.

“That’s very kind of you, Walter but
I really don’t think I could take a member of the Carters workforce away from
his regular duties.” Laura decided a more direct turndown might be in order.
“I’m more than happy to learn with Bill.” She began to climb back over the
fence, when Walter snagged her arm, sliding his hand down her arm and gently
rubbing his thumb along the sensitive flesh of her inner wrist.

“It would be no trouble at all, I
assure you, lovely Laura. Jake would probably be happy for me to teach you. He
relies on Bill heavily, especially when there are horses near foaling. We’d be
doing him a favour.” He smiled persuasively at her, tugging on her arm. “We
could start now if you want? My next class isn’t for an hour.” His eyes took on
a heavy gleam of desire as he looked her over again. Boy, this man had the hide
of a rhino serous. What did it take to get him to quit? Laura was about to
firmly pull her arm out of Walters grip, when a hand clamped down onto his wrist
and yanked it off for her.

Jake stood over Walter, looking
furious. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Nobel?” he demanded. Laura
thought he’d looked angry yesterday, but it was nothing to how he looked now.

“Calm down, Carter. What is your
problem? I was only offering a riding lesson to your lovely guest. Thought I’d
save Bill the job.” Walter calmly rubbed his wrist where Jake had gripped him,
looking remarkably unruffled by Jakes anger.

“I know exactly what kind of riding
lesson you were offering and I doubt it was the one Laura was after. I’ll thank
you to treat our guest with respect. While we’re on the subject, I don’t like
the way you push yourself at our female clients. Rein it in or I’ll be speaking
to Kerry about finding a new instructor. Got it?” Jake’s voice was deadly, his
expression hard.

Walter shrugged, laughing softly but
it didn’t quite reach his eyes. The charming air dropped away and his face took
on a harder edge. “I never push myself on women, Jake. Quite the opposite if
you must know. Can I help it if women love me?” he asked, spreading his hands
wide with an innocent expression. “Come on, Carter,” he continued in a friendly
voice, winking at Jake in a conspiratorial way. “You knew what that was like
once, didn’t you. Before….” He gestured to the left side of his face.

Jake froze at the implication of
Walter’s statement. Rage boiled in his veins and his fists balled at his sides.
He was on the verge of punching Walter Nobel’s overly pretty face, the desire
to break his perfect nose overriding his better judgement, when a small hand clamped
down on his arm. He looked down to see Laura standing next to him. She shook
her head slightly as she twinned her arms through his, effectively stopping him
from his murderous intentions.

“Jake, did you come to get me for
that tour you promised?” she asked, smiling sweetly at him. “Please excuse us,
Walter. I’m sure I’ve kept you from your work long enough.”

“I have enjoyed our chat immensely,
lovely Laura. Meeting you has been the highlight of my dreary day.” Walter
declared dramatically, clasping a hand to his chest. “By the way, that offer
for a riding lesson is always open to you. Just say the word.” He gave her a
suggestive wink, grinning widely. Laura felt Jake tense up beside her, waves of
anger rolling off him. She gripped his arm tighter.

Shaking her head at Walter’s
nonsense, which she was sure was just to get up Jakes nose, she sighed hoping
Jake wouldn’t attempt to hit him again. “That’s very kind, Walter but I’m sure
I’ll be fine with Bill.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh of
despair. “Another time then, fair Laura,” he replied, executing a small bow in
her direction, he threw an insolent salute to Jake before he swept off towards
the stables.

Jake growled low in his throat. “I
wanted to punch his stupid fake smile right off his arrogant face,” he hissed
out in a low voice.

“I know and if it wouldn’t land you
in jail with a huge law suit round your neck, I might have let you,” Laura told
him. “He shouldn’t have said what he did. It was wrong of him. I can’t believe
he would speak to his boss that way. Isn’t he worried you’ll fire him?”

“No, because he is one of best at
what he does or so Kerry says. She hired him. I don’t really get involved with
that side of the business. I avoid him usually. I can’t stand him and as you
noticed, he can’t stand me either.” Jake gritted his teeth, unaware his hands
were twisting together as if he had Walter’s neck between them.

“I can see that,” Laura said, letting
go of his arm and stepping back from him. She felt the loss immediately, but
didn’t want him to feel she was being too familiar with him. “Really, you
shouldn’t let him get to you. Surely you could see he was just trying to wind
you up on purpose. His opinion of you shouldn’t matter.”

He couldn’t admit to her that
normally he was never bothered by Walter’s pathetic pursuits of women. If they
were too stupid to realise the man was a Casanova that was their problem. It
had, to his complete annoyance, bothered him to see Walter pursuing her. When
Jake had seen the two of them together in what looked like such a cosy
position, he’d felt like someone had hit him in his guts. He’d flashed right
back to Victoria and every feeling of betrayal had come rushing to the surface.

He’d had to remind himself that this
was Laura. She wasn’t his. If she was interested in Walter, it was none of his
business. But his feet had taken him over to them anyway. He’d wanted to rip
Walters arm off for touching her. It was totally irrational, but he felt like
Laura belonged to him as if they were connected somehow. He tried to keep rejecting
the emotions, but they kept springing up. She drew him to her like a moth to a
flame. His mind had been on nothing but her all morning; to then see her
smiling and chatting, apparently having a wonderful time with that stupid
arrogant jerk had been too much. She obviously didn’t feel a thing for him and
he’d rather die than let her know Walter’s interest in her had got to him.

“It’s not just his opinion,” he
corrected. “He is simply saying what everyone else thinks. I’ve heard the
whispers. They all say what a shame it is, what a waste.” He turned bitter eyes
to Laura. “He just had the guts to say it to my face.”

They fell into an awkward silence,
each staring at the other. Laura wanted to reach out to him, the hurt she’d
seen on his face when Walter had made reference to his scar had cut into her
heart like a knife. She wanted to be able to hold him close and soothe that
pain away, but she didn’t have that right. She wished she could tell him it
didn’t take anything away from his handsome face, but that was too personal.
She was too afraid to reveal what he did to her and how he made her feel. They
barely knew each other, after all.

Instead she swallowed hard, trying to
dislodge the lump in her throat. The last thing he needed from her was pity.
“Not everyone holds that narrow view,” she finally said. “There are people who
think what’s on the inside is far more important than what is on the outside.”

“What happens when what’s on the
inside is broken?” he asked quietly.

Her heart bled for him. She touched
his arm gently. “I believe all things can be healed; given time,” she said
sincerely.

“I don’t.” His soft reply cut her
deeply. Whatever had happened to him had left a scar far deeper than the one on
his face. She wondered if any woman could touch it. She doubted that she was
special enough to even try. Unsure what to say, she decided to change the
subject completely, but he was already turning away from her.

“If you don’t mind, I need to get
back to work,” he told her abruptly.

“Of course.” Laura wished she could
keep him with her, but she could see him shutting down in front of her eyes.
“Will you be having lunch with us?” Her foolish heart hoped he’d say yes. But
he shook his head.