Ride a Dark Horse

by Laura Moore

Cassie laughed. “Maybe. That would be nice. Now, tell me what’s up with you.”

  “Same old stuff, but I closed a big deal yesterday that’s been dragging on for months. All of the sudden, my schedule’s opened up. I was wondering whether I could talk the twins and Thompson into coming for a visit next week. They could fly in on Monday and stay through the weekend.” The line went silent once again until Alex said softly “I really miss them, Cass.”

  This was as big an admission as she’d ever get from her older brother. She didn’t hesitate an instant. If her brother was hurting, missing his family even a fraction as much as they were missing him, the twins could skip at least a few days of school. It wasn’t as if they were going to flunk kindergarten.

  “They’re going to be out of control, jumping up and down all week with excitement, Alex. I just wish I could come, too. When will I get to see you?”

  “I promise I’ll try to get down there soon, Cass. But I’ve got some good news on that front. I think I’ve got it all arranged to take a few days off to see you ride in the Classic. I called Great-aunt Grace this week. She still seems to have all her marbles ’cause she knew who I was and insisted that I stay with her. She even wanted Jamie and Sophie to come along.”

  “Gosh, she really remembered you? She must be ninety if she’s a day.”

  “Actually, I think she’s older. But I’ve kept in touch, you know. After all, I was named after Great-uncle Alex.” “Well, that’s great news. And Diana? She’ll be staying there, too?”

  “Oh, I don’t think I’ll impose on Aunt Grace that much. Diana can always stay with some friends. She’s got her pick of homes in the Hamptons. But as you can imagine, with Diana there’s always a price. I promised to reserve an entire table at the Grand Prix tent. You know how she is.”

  “Yeah,” she replied dryly. “Nothing like spending several thousand dollars and change to cheer her up. Well, at least she’ll be smiling for all those society photographers milling about.”

  Alex laughed. “She’s got some good points, Cass.”

  Cassie rolled her eyes. Sure, she thought, they were located just south of her shoulders. Personally, she considered Diana a first-class witch who’d managed to snag Alex and was hanging on for dear life. It was amazing how unperturbed he seemed by Diana’s blatant devotion to wealth and ostentation. Didn’t he ever wonder if Diana loved him for himself or for his wealth? Cassie sincerely hoped her tenure as Alex’s lover didn’t last long. But Cassie knew better than to stick her nose into Alex’s affairs. It wasn’t as if her handsome brother hadn’t plenty of experience handling women.

  They chatted a while more, Alex telling her he’d arrange the airplane reservations and get back in touch with her tomorrow with the flight information. Cassie hung up the phone and reached to turn off the light.

  As she was drifting off to sleep, the thought came to her that now she had no excuse to back out of the trip to U. Penn with Caleb.

  “Tod? Hey it’s Caleb.”

  “Caleb. Good to hear from you. How’s that mare you were telling me about? You still bringing her?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was calling about. I was wondering if early next week was okay with you.”

  “Give me a minute to check . . . how does Tuesday sound? My calendar’s free and I know Delia and I aren’t doing anything that evening.”

  “Tuesday’s fine. How’s Delia doing, by the way?”

  “She’s just great. Complaining a bit that she doesn’t know which is more swollen, her ankles or her belly. But you know I really like the look on her.”

  Caleb laughed. “I can’t wait to see her and the kids.”

  “You’ll stay with us for the night before you head back.”

  “That’s a lot to ask, Tod, with Delia pregnant and all. And I’m going to be bringing someone with me.”

  “Yeah? Who?”

  Caleb heard the sharpened interest in his friend’s voice. Delia and Tod were always trying to hook him up with women. Ever since Pamela.

  “Her name’s Cassie Miller. She owns the mare. She’s also Five Oaks’s new rider and trainer. Got her showing Orion.”

  Tod’s whistle came long and clear over the connection. “Must be a good rider.”

  “They won their first Grand Prix last weekend.”

  “Congratulations, buddy.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So what’s she like?”

  “Cassie?”

  “No, Esther Williams. Come on, Caleb, give.”

  “She’s . . . well, she’s different.”

  “What, she got three eyes?”

  “Get outta here. She’s beautiful enough to make you sweat. No, I mean she’s different. I thought she was going to be one way and she turned out to be . . . more. I didn’t expect it somehow.”

  “Oh. Now I get you. So, we get one bedroom ready or two?”

  The seconds ticked as Tod waited for his friend’s response.

  Caleb leaned back in the padded leather chair behind his desk. Cassie had found him early this morning, just as he was heading off to pick up the morning paper. Marched right up to him, doing a fair imitation of a marine cadet. She’d halted, a foot away but hadn’t been able to bring her eyes any higher than the third button on his comfortably worn polo shirt.

  “I can come to Pennsylvania when you drop off Hot Lips at the clinic.” She’d muttered the words, acting like the prospect held as much pleasure as facing a firing squad.

  Before he’d even had time to reply to her abrupt announcement, she’d fled the field. Yeah, she’d hightailed it back to the house before he could even get a good morning out of her.

  “Hello, Wells, you still there? Look, if you need some more time to think this through, you can call me back in an hour or so. Don’t want to rush you.” Tod’s voice was gleeful, relishing Caleb’s unexpected hesitancy.

  Caleb sighed. “Better make that two bedrooms, Tod.”

  He knew that if he told Tod to set up one bedroom, he could finesse the situation so that Cassie would feel too embarrassed and awkward to raise a fuss in front of their host and hostess.

  Hell, from the way she’d acted this morning, it was pretty clear she’d convinced herself that by agreeing to go with him she was letting him take one giant step closer to her bed.

  Otherwise she wouldn’t have been as nervous as a cat trapped in a room full of rocking chairs.

  If he forced the issue, he might get the sex, but then she’d be gone in a flash. So he’d wait. He’d wait for her to come willingly eager for the pleasure she’d find in his arms.

  Tod’s voice spoke in his ear. “Hold on just a minute, I think there’s something wrong with the connection. Did I hear you, Caleb Wells, the Casanova of Virginia, the heartthrob of Pennsylvania, say two bedrooms?”

  “Funny Harper, very funny. Maybe I should repeat it, in case you’ve gone deaf as well as stupid. Two bedrooms.”

  “No shit. Jesus, I can’t wait to meet this paragon.”

  When Thompson learned of Alex’s plan to fly the twins and her to New York for a visit, she’d tamped down hard on the whoop of joy that surged up inside her.

  Hallelujah!

  For the past two weeks, she’d been trying to figure out a way to get Cassie and Caleb alone, without the constant threat of someone barging in and interrupting. She’d racked her brains, considering and discarding everything, from bomb threats to telephone calls from long-lost relatives. After witnessing Alex’s barely veiled hostility toward Caleb, she’d certainly never thought she’d get any assistance from that corner.

  Alex must really be missing those kids something fierce.

  Well, it would do everyone a world of good, she thought. The twins needed to see their uncle as much as he needed to see them. And Cassie needed some time alone, enough time to step back a moment and take a good long look at all the wonderful things she was letting pass her by. And all she could have if she didn’t throw the chance away.

  She whistled as her quick hand
s folded Sophie and Jamie’s clothes into two neat towers, her mind busily checking off items on the list she’d compiled of things to do before leaving next Monday.

  A large, wet nose brushed against her hip, almost causing Thompson heart failure. Finnegan! My God, she had to talk to Caleb and Francis and make sure the dog would be taken care of. She wondered if he might be healed enough now to manage stairs. If not, she’d just insist that Francis come and sleep here on the night Cassie was in Pennsylvania. She knew Cassie too well not to realize she’d seize any fool excuse not to go to Pennsylvania with Caleb—babysitting a boxer, for instance—and stick to it, ruining what Thompson considered a golden opportunity. That girl could be so stubborn.

  The thought of Finnegan gone from the house gave her a moment’s pause. She’d come to enjoy those visits from Francis O’Mally quite a bit. Well, she thought philosophically, this would reveal Francis’ true feelings. If he continued his visits to the house even after Finnegan was gone, that would be a good indication that he found her at least as appealing as a drooling boxer.

  Cassie struggled through the week. She succeeded only by closing her mind to everything except Sophie, Jamie, and the horses she was riding in preparation for this coming weekend’s show. It was the only way to prevent herself from turning into a babbling bundle of nerves. She avoided Caleb at all costs. Just seeing him at a distance had bubbles of hysteria rising up inside her. This stupid trip to Pennsylvania was taking on gargantuan proportions in her fevered imagination. For her peace of mind alone, she should have had the good sense to refuse.

  While the kids were at school in the mornings, she rode. Her training with Orion from now through the rest of the show season was focused on smoothing out rough spots they encountered during the weekend competitions. Cassie and Hank were careful to devise workouts that didn’t overtax or fatigue the stallion. The stress and physical demands of showing alone were enough to injure a horse. The keys to a successful season were guarding against injury, overtraining, and the very real risk of burnout.

  By early afternoons she was ready for Jamie and Sophie. With the warm spring weather, Cassie found, to her dismay, that even after their daily riding lessons, the twins were still raring to go. Recently, Jamie had developed a passion for baseball. So Cassie had obligingly driven them into town one afternoon and outfitted both Jamie and his sister with miniature mitts, wide-barrel plastic bats, tennis balls, and a T-ball stand.

  Baseball practice became an instant success. On a couple of afternoons, Cassie and the twins managed to coax Thompson out of the house and convince her to cover third base. Everyone batted, the twins shouting encouragement whenever Thompson hit a homer and had to tear around the bases.

  Near the end of that week, Caleb came home while a particularly energetic game was in progress. Jamie’s excited shrieks met him as he climbed out of his truck, watching as Cassie and Thompson tried to tag the little boy in a squeeze play.

  Jamie made a desperate dive for the dishtowel that was third base.

  “Safe! I’m safe,” he yelled triumphantly, hopping up and down on the towel. “Now it’s Mommy’s turn. Bring me home, ’kay Mommy!”

  “I’ll try my best, but Sophie’s a mean first baseman. It’s tough getting past her.”

  Cassie picked up the bat and walked to the batter’s box. The T was set so low her swing resembled a golf swing as much as anything. With a hard thwack, Cassie sent the bright yellow tennis ball zooming, a line drive up second. From their respective positions on first and shortstop, Sophie and Thompson both went chasing after the ball, shouting frantic encouragement to each other as they ran. Jamie, his short legs moving like little pistons, flew toward home and, in a grand, but wholly unnecessary gesture, slid into home plate.

  The scene unfolded like a marvelous panorama, Caleb’s eyes riveted to the running, laughing figure of Cassie. Barefoot, in blue jeans, and a lavender tank top, her feet skimmed the ground, her long wavy hair streaming behind her, a glorious golden banner.

  It was almost imperceptible, the way she slowed down as she approached second base, Sophie running toward her with all her might, her small hand clutching the tennis ball. She timed it perfectly, so that Sophie had the thrill, the glory, of tagging her mother out inches away from the base.

  “Oooh, you got me, you little stinker! Just wait ’til you get up to bat. No mercy.” Laughing, Cassie lifted Sophie high in the air and tumbled to the ground with her, the two of them laughing and rolling together in the green grass of his parents’ lawn.

  Jamie, unable to resist the fun, threw himself down and a new game began: A tickling contest with Jamie and Sophie teaming up to pin Cassie to the ground. There she was, lying on the ground, tears of laughter streaming down her face, shouting uncle and enough as the twins swarmed over her, busy as ants, their fingers tickling away.

  It hit him then with the force of a sledgehammer to the solar plexus. The blow left him stunned, reeling.

  He loved her.

  He loved her with an intensity, a wholeness, a completeness he’d never even begun to feel for anyone else before.

  He loved her for who she was, what she was trying to do with her life, and how damned hard she was striving to make it work.

  He stood, incapable of action, as the words I love her sent shock waves through his system. They pummeled his brain, his vitals, his heart. Had he been able to escape, he would have seized the chance, but Thompson’s cheerful cry of, “Look, it’s Caleb,” rendered the possibility tenuous at best.

  With the typical fickleness of five-year-olds, Jamie and Sophie left their mother lying on the ground in favor of this new source of entertainment. Scrambling to their feet, they rushed him, flinging their arms around his legs.

  “Caleb, Caleb. We’re playing baseball. Wanna play too?”

  He cleared his throat, unsure of words, speech, sound. His voice came out rusty, as if unused for decades. “The strangest baseball game I’ve ever seen. You sure you weren’t playing rugby?”

  “No, silly.”

  Then, “What’s rugby?” Sophie and Jamie inquired simultaneously.

  “A game you two are already experts at,” Cassie replied, dusting off bits of grass from the seat of her jeans. “I’ve got some stuff to organize in the house. Sophie and Jamie, you have a half hour before it’s bath and supper time.”

  He was happy to let her go. Glad that he didn’t have to deal with her presence right now, when his emotions were so new and volatile within him.

  Instead, he turned his attention back to the children, to their faces so open, so eager for the fun to begin again. This he could handle.

  “Right, seems to me, you guys are good enough to take this game to a higher level. What we need to do, is to work on your pitching technique. That’s it, Sophie, you and your brother grab some of those balls on the ground there. Okay now, let me see your windup.”

  Hank truly couldn’t figure out what to make of all this. Here they were, on what had been in Hank’s opinion a pretty successful Saturday, with both Orion and Limelight going well for Cassie, and what were they doing? Standing around like dumb clucks, acting like they’d been dragged here against their wills. At least Cassie had ridden fine. Without a doubt, the competition had been more intense than the previous week’s. This was a significantly larger show. But she’d pulled off a fifth place with Orion in the jumping class and a second with Limelight in the prejumpers.

  Then, she’d done just great in the Grand Prix with only eight faults. The two poles they’d nicked Hank was convinced were ready to tumble anyway. It was just bad luck that several other riders had ridden clear.

  That was how it went sometimes in show jumping. Both Caleb and Cassie knew that. So what in blazes was wrong with them?

  He shrugged his shoulders as he supervised Tony loading first Limelight and then Orion into the van for the drive back to Five Oaks. At this point, he was almost glad that Caleb and Cassie were leaving early on Tuesday. Good riddance. He was losing all patience
with this kind of foolishness.

  Cassie accepted Melissa’s invitation to dinner at their house that Monday night as a drowning man would a buoy tossed to him. Earlier she’d driven Thompson and the twins to the airport, overriding Thompson’s objections, and she dreaded the moment when she’d have to return to the house and be left all alone to worry about tomorrow.

  Caleb didn’t join them. He’d spent the entire day at the Animal Hospital, so that he could take both Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday off for the trip to Pennsylvania. She refused to wonder what he might be doing tonight.

  It was a lovely dinner. Melissa and Hank welcomed her with the casualness befitting a family member, serving a delicious vegetable lasagna out on the porch with the cheerful glow of citronella candles to light their dinner. They entertained her with stories of the early days at Five Oaks, when they were just starting out in the business. Cassie was truly sorry when the evening came to an end.

  She nearly jumped a foot when his voice called out to her in the darkness. The moon, not quite full, illuminated the path before her. A sprinkling of stars were out, but the house before her stood silent and dark. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind to turn on any lights when she’d left earlier in the day.

  “Sorry if I scared you.”

  “Of course you scared me,” she retorted angrily. Her heart was still racing, but for a different reason now. “It’s pitch-black out. What were you doing, skulking around in the bushes?”

  “Actually, I only returned a few minutes ago, myself. Your lights were off, your car wasn’t around. As your well-being is my highest priority, I was debating whether I should go and turn your porch light on, or let you stumble around in the dark, when you happened to drive up.” His words dripped sarcasm, his voice as hostile as Cassie’s had been. Clearly he was more than ready to pick a fight. For some absurd reason, that put her at ease.

  “Oh. Well, I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. Good night.” She heard him move off in the darkness and stood for a minute, surprised that he hadn’t even made a move to kiss her, or anything.