“I guess maybe I—”
“Yes!” He grabbed her into a hug, lifting her off her feet. “Thank you!”
“Jake,” she laughed. “Put me down!”
He gave her a big smacking kiss on her cheek and put her back onto the ground, but he didn’t let go.
She stared up into his eyes for a moment, and she saw his face soften. “Noni,” he said huskily, “I—”
“Daddy! Noni! The moat is done! Come help me!” Max’s clear, sweet voice carried over to them.
Jake laughed and dropped his arms, stepping away from her and striding back toward his son. “Okay, buddy, here I come! We can do a quick sandcastle, but then we’ve got a change of plans…”
Noni stood where he left her, watching the two of them as they started piling sand in the middle of the moat. She felt excited, thinking about having Max all to herself for two whole weeks. It was more than she could have asked for, really. But at the same time, she felt a cold finger of fear slipping up her spine. Why should Jacob trust her? Who was she to take care of this child? What if something happened again?
“Come on, Noni!” called Jacob. “Come help!”
She blinked and shook her head, pushing her doubt away as she hurried over to join them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Enzo watched the four players as they raced across the field. Mark Stone hadn’t been kidding when he said that Raj Khan and Lachlan Walker were pros. The big, bearded Indian, Raj, rode with the grace and agility of a much smaller man, and the sandy-haired Australian, Lachlan, played with an impressive intensity; he had no mercy on the pitch. They would give the Del Campo brothers a run for their money.
Mark had taken his advice and hired David Jefferson, the young groom from the Wellington stables. Enzo watched the kid as he bent for the ball and sent it flying, his wide, white smile gleaming against his cocoa-colored skin as he followed the ball. What an arm. The kid was a little green, and he sometimes took dangerous risks, but he had incredible potential. It was amazing to Enzo that this kid had grown up in the projects and had only picked up a stick in the last few years. With some training and time on the pitch, Enzo thought that he’d be as good as anyone he’d seen play.
Mark had asked Raj Khan to play number three and captain for now, but Enzo felt sure that David would eventually take over that spot.
The only weak point was Mark Stone himself. The billionaire could barely keep his seat on the million-dollar pony he rode, and the only time he hit the ball seemed to be through sheer luck.
But, Enzo reminded himself, he had been spoiled by all those years watching Hendy play on La Victoria. Lord Henderson had been the kind of patron who actually knew what he was doing on the pitch. Some of the billionaires who funded high-goal polo teams were more like Mark—they paid to play. And by play, that mainly meant just being on the field while the pros ran circles around them.
Still, he thought as he watched Mark happily follow the other players down the field, he had to give the man credit for enthusiasm. The guy looked like he was having the time of his life.
Raj called a time-out, and the players left the field, handing off their mounts to the waiting grooms. Enzo walked over to Mark, who was chugging an enormous energy drink on the side of the pitch.
“So,” said Mark, his lips faintly blue from the drink, “what did you think? Pretty great, right?”
Enzo smiled. “A lot of talent on that pitch. You picked some strong players.”
“Thanks for tipping me off about David,” said Mark. “I was a little worried when I met him. He’s just so frigging young, but the kid plays like an absolute monster.”
Enzo nodded. “He plays like he has no fear. Which is both good and bad, you know? I would like to see him be a bit more careful on the pitch. But we can work on that.”
Mark grinned and slapped him on the back. “That’s what I’m paying you the big bucks for, Rivas. I want to win.”
Enzo raised his eyebrows. “Well, we have four strong players. That is a good beginning. But we will have to see how they come together as a team.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Max was seasick.
Noni couldn’t believe it. The boat was so big, they were secured to the dock, the current barely moved under them, but the kid was literally green in the face.
Liz placed a bowl of hot soup in front of him. “Just take a few sips,” she wheedled him. “I promise you that it will help.”
Max shook his head and looked up at Noni miserably. His big brown eyes were shadowed underneath his little horn-rimmed glasses. He hadn’t slept at all the night before—he said his stomach hurt too much.
“Just try a spoonful, Max,” agreed Noni. “Don’t you want to feel better?”
Max looked leery as he slowly dipped his spoon into the bowl and then brought it, trembling, to his lips.
He swallowed.
“There! Now, that wasn’t so hard, was—”
Noni was interrupted by the little boy spectacularly throwing up all over the table in a panoramic splatter of vomit.
Liz looked up at her, an almost comic look of horror etched on her face. “I think you better get him back on dry land,” she whispered.
* * *
After giving him a bath and changing his clothes, Noni brought Max to the farm for the day, hoping that getting him off the boat would do the trick. But those hopes were dashed the minute they got out of her truck and he threw up on Pilar’s hydrangeas.
“I’m sorry,” he said miserably as Noni wiped his mouth with a tissue.
“It’s okay, hon,” said Noni, rubbing his little back. “It’s not your fault you’re sick. Come on, let’s go see if Pilar will give you a drink of water so you can you rinse your mouth.”
They knocked on the kitchen door and Pilar answered, her ridgebacks calmly wagging their tails on either side of her. She looked at Antonia imperiously, but her face softened when she saw Max, who looked just about as pathetic as a little kid with tummy trouble could look.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Pilar,” said Noni, “but I’m afraid Max has got a touch of seasickness. In fact, he just threw up in your garden, so we were hoping for a glass of water.”
“Sorry,” offered Max shyly. “I tried to aim for the dirt, but I think I got your flowers.”
Noni was surprised by the slightest twitch of a smile on Pilar’s face.
“Pobrecito,” said Pilar. “Of course. Come in.”
They walked into her big old-fashioned kitchen. Not for the first time, Noni admired the antiqued brick floor, the big porcelain sink, and the warm wooden counters that had a rich, glowing patina from years of use.
She sighed happily. She loved Pilar’s kitchen.
“Sit down, hijo,” said Pilar, waving Max over to the long painted farm table. She squinted at Max as he swayed while crossing the floor. “Actually, you look like you need to lie down. How about the library? You can curl up on the couch and watch some of Tomás’s cartoons while I make you some tea that will help your stomach.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” said Noni. “I was going to set him up in the office in the barn. There’s a pretty comfortable couch in there.”
Pilar was already leading Max out of the kitchen. “Nonsense,” she said firmly. “The stable is no place for a sick child. He needs to rest quietly.”
Noni bit back a protest, knowing that Pilar was right. She had been worried about taking Max to work today, but she couldn’t leave him on the boat that made him sick, and with Enzo gone, her brothers were counting on her to make sure the barn was taken care of.
“Thank you,” she said when Pilar returned. “I hope we’re not putting you out.”
“Of course not,” said Pilar, briskly filling the little copper teapot and putting it on the stove. “I know how miserable seasickness can be. I do not care for boats myself.”
Noni smiled, remembering Sebastian telling her how much Pilar loathed the yacht. “It’s really nice of you. I’m hoping
that he’ll get used to it after a while.”
Pilar frowned. “It won’t get better through exposure. How long do you have him for?”
Noni bit her lip. “Two weeks. Jacob had to fly back to Berlin for some work. You really think he won’t get better?”
Pilar shook her head. “Just worse. And it can be dangerous. He will become dehydrated if he’s sick long enough.”
Noni felt a small surge of worry blossom in her gut. “Oh no. That can’t happen. I’ll have to rent another place to stay.”
Pilar scooped some loose-leaf tea into a tea ball and dropped it into a china cup. “This time of year? It’s high season. You won’t find anything.”
The worry turned to panic. “Oh God. You’re right. I know you’re right. Maybe if I get a Realtor, they’ll be able to help? I think I have a number somewhere…” She took her phone out of her pocket and desperately started scrolling through her contacts.
Pilar dripped some honey into the cup. “You could stay here,” she said casually.
Noni’s head shot up. “What?”
Pilar kept her eyes on the cup as she shrugged. “The house is practically empty. It’s just me and the dogs. I have plenty of room.”
Noni blinked. “No, no, we couldn’t put you out like that.”
Pilar finally looked at her. Her eyes flashed. “Don’t be stubborn. The boy can’t stay on the boat,” she said flatly.
Antonia swallowed. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s incredibly kind.”
The kettle whistled.
Pilar waved her off as she turned toward the stove. “But those mongrels of yours will have to stay in the barn.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Enzo asked David to meet him at Mark’s barn early that morning. He wanted to work with him a little before the other players arrived. Over the past couple of days he’d noticed the young player making some reckless mistakes on the pitch. Enzo knew the kid was just trying to prove himself to his more experienced teammates, but he was jeopardizing not only his own safety, but also that of the ponies and the other players.
Enzo thought he would only make it worse if David was confronted in front of his teammates, so he quietly asked him to meet privately. He didn’t want to embarrass him or put him on the defensive.
Mark’s barns were brand-new. State of the art. Big enough for two hundred ponies, though Mark had only half that many at this point. He planned on filling the rest of the stalls by starting his own breeding program, based entirely on cloning.
Enzo couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy about being piloto to a team where no one really knew the ponies yet. He had no doubt the horses were all of excellent pedigree and in great health—Mark had gone on a multimillion-dollar buying spree that left the horse world buzzing in awe—but Enzo knew that each horse was an individual, and it was vital that the players knew their mounts.
It would take months, he thought, walking through the high-tech barns before he really knew these ponies like he had known the Del Campo horses.
He frowned, not wanting to think of the Del Campos. Not wanting to think of Noni…He knew it had been the right choice to move on, to cut off contact. But that didn’t mean thoughts of her didn’t crowd his mind almost every moment of every day.
And the nights were worse.
Enzo shook his head, trying to push his thoughts away as he opened one of the stalls. He needed to concentrate on this team now.
He had chosen a pony at random so that he could multitask by taking the measure of the new horse while he was working with David.
The pony was a piebald mare. The nameplate on her stall door said Sadie. She clamped down her tail and pricked her ears forward when he entered the stall. Enzo approached her slowly, knowing the signs of a nervous horse.
“There, there, pequeña.” He kept his voice low and calm. She snorted unhappily as he advanced toward her. “No worries, little girl,” he said as he slowly reached out his hand to touch her neck.
She shuddered a bit when he touched her, but he kept talking and started scratching along her neck and behind her ears. After a moment, he felt her relax enough under his hand that he was able to put on the lead and take her out of the stall to get groomed.
David had arrived by then, and Enzo told him to go pick a pony for today’s lesson.
“Any one of them?” said David. He looked like a kid in a candy store who had just been told he could have whatever he wanted to eat.
“Your choice,” answered Enzo, grinning. He liked to imagine how this must all feel to David, having gone from the streets of Philadelphia to being trained to be a top-tier, high-goal player.
David led out a little chestnut, and they groomed and tacked up side by side.
“Where are you staying?” asked Enzo as he tightened the girth around Sadie’s belly.
“In a guest cottage on the estate,” said David. “It’s ridiculously dope. Mark had them built especially for the team. I’m surprised he didn’t offer to put you up as well.”
Enzo shrugged. “He did, but I have a place already. A little studio I’m renting.”
David shook his head. “You’re crazy, man. No way is it as nice as Stone’s cottages. I have three bathrooms for just one person!”
Enzo laughed. “I’m good with one.”
David suddenly looked serious. “Hey, Enzo, I don’t think I ever thanked you for recommending me to Mark in the first place. He told me you were the one who sent him my way.”
Enzo nodded. “I just told him you had talent. You did the rest.”
David smiled shyly and glanced over at him. “Well, thanks for what you did. And thanks for working with me today. I know I’ve got some stuff to learn. This is a huge opportunity and I really don’t want to blow it.”
“You won’t,” Enzo assured him. He grinned at the kid. “Not as long as you listen to me anyway.”
* * *
Noni walked back to the farmhouse in the dark, grateful for the cool evening breeze that wafted over her. She stretched, exhausted. Her days were longer than she liked now that she was doing both her farrier work and filling in for Enzo. She was usually dressed and on the pitch while it was still dark out, squeezing in some polo practice before Max woke up in the morning. After that, she went directly to the barn and started her work before the first feed. And this, she thought to herself unhappily, certainly wasn’t the only time that she had arrived home well after Max’s bedtime.
Noni felt that she was failing to connect with Max. There simply wasn’t any time. She tried to make a point of coming back up for lunch every day, but even then, Max happily chattered away to Pilar and responded to any questions Antonia might have for him in shy, one-word answers. Pilar usually brought Max down in the late afternoon for a quick riding lesson or so he could watch Noni do smith work or supervise the horse training, but of course, Noni was always working when he was there. It was hardly quality time.
That said, Noni didn’t know what she would have done without Pilar. She had thought it would be simple enough—that she would just bring Max along to the barn in the morning and keep him there with her as she worked. It had only taken her about an hour on that first day to realize what an idiotic idea that had been. Noni worked with fire and nails and hot metal—not exactly the safest environment for anyone, never mind a restless seven-year-old child. And if Max wasn’t bored, he was hungry, and if he wasn’t hungry, then he was underfoot or getting into things he shouldn’t be. He was fascinated by the horses, but he had no experience with them, which meant that he didn’t know the rules and hadn’t yet developed a healthy respect for the big animals’ more dangerous capabilities.
By the time Pilar had come down that first morning, bringing Max a light jacket since the day had been cooler than expected, Noni had already plucked him out of a stall, pulled him down from the hay loft, and pushed him away from the rear end of a pony just before he was backed over. He had been having a temper tantrum, literally kicking and screaming in Noni’s arms as Pil
ar let herself into the barn.
Pilar shook her head and tsked when she saw them. “What’s going on here?” She didn’t look at Noni, just bent down to Max’s level and addressed him instead. “Ay, what could be so terrible, niño?”
Max had stopped fussing at once. He looked warily at her, then up at Noni, and then back at Pilar.
“She won’t let me ride the horses.” His little lips still trembled. “She says that I need lessons, but I can do it myself.”
Noni rolled her eyes. “Which was exactly what he was trying to do when I caught him trying to climb up Hex.”
“Hmm,” said Pilar, unsuccessfully hiding her smile. “Well, Noni is right, señor. You do need lessons. But”—she plucked him out of Noni’s arms—“perhaps I can give you a first one right now.” She looked over at Antonia. “¿Bien?” she said.
Noni nodded gratefully. “Yes. Thank you. I’m so behind.”
Pilar snorted. “But of course you are.”
Before Noni could respond, Pilar had turned and carried Max off to search out the oldest and most docile pony in the stable.
After that, Pilar had taken him home for lunch, and that night she had told Noni that he might as well stay with her during the days. She wasn’t busy, and besides, Max was an easy child.
Noni knew that it was the smart thing to do, that it was the only thing to do, really. She couldn’t have Max being endangered in the barn, and she couldn’t miss work because her brothers were counting on her not to, but she felt a pang of loss when she agreed to it. She had imagined this time with Max in such a different way.
Still, Noni knew that she should be grateful to Pilar and she tried to remind herself of that gratitude every time Pilar was brusque or sarcastic or downright mean to her. Pilar obviously liked Max immensely, but she still treated Noni as an unwelcome stranger in her home.
It was starting to feel like two against one, thought Noni as she continued her walk up the road to the house. And then she was immediately ashamed of the thought. It was good that Max liked Pilar and Pilar doted on Max. Pilar was saving Noni’s hide. No doubt about it. But still, deep down, she couldn’t help feeling like this was just more proof of her inability to care for Max in the way he deserved.
Nacho Figueras Presents Page 13