The True Love Travels Series Box Set

by Poppy Pennington-Smith

  Thomas frowned and glanced back into the room. “Well, listen, I know our accommodation is top-notch but it’s not ‘eat in your room’ good.” He reached out to pat her shoulder and smiled, a little more softly this time. “I’ll take care of you, I promise. Just think about it, okay?”

  Rose nodded and promised she would, even though deep-down she’d already decided – no way was she going to brave dinner with Thomas and his friends. Not without Katie by her side.

  No way.

  An hour later, when Rose was certain everyone would be seated and wouldn’t notice her sneaking in at the back to grab a take-away carton of food, she made her way up to the main house and entered the dining room via the side door.

  The room was buzzing with excited chatter. Tour groups were mingling with single travellers, and everyone was tucking in to large plates of salad and pasta. A couple of people were filling cartons with food to take outside or to their rooms, so Rose slipped up beside them and quickly scooped herself some pesto, some spaghetti, and some tomatoes.

  She was about to turn and head back outside when she felt someone lingering behind her.

  “Glad you could join us.” Thomas was smiling at her, purposefully ignoring the fact that she was clearly trying to take her food and leave. “Saved you a seat, just like I promised.” He looked up at the large table over by the wide open doors that led onto the terrace.

  “Oh.” There was no way out of it. “Thanks.”

  Rose awkwardly swung her legs over the bench and squeezed in beside Thomas and a girl she didn’t recognise.

  “Rose, this is Fleur.” Thomas leaned over her and tapped Fleur on the arm.

  “Fleur, this is Rose. My little sister’s best friend.”

  Fleur grinned, a huge bright smile that made her face light up. “So nice to meet you. I’m sorry Katie had to leave – I was looking forward to trekking with her.” Fleur scooped a fork full of tagliatelle into her mouth, then added. “Do you ride?”

  Rose looked down at her food, nudging it with her fork. “Not really,” she muttered.

  “Rose isn’t a big fan of horses,” Thomas said, smiling. “My mission for the next week is going to be to cure her of her phobia.”

  Rose’s eyes widened and she felt her throat twitch uncomfortably. She tried to laugh but it came out as more of an eeek sound.

  Fleur laughed quietly and smiled at her. “Oh, seriously Rose, don’t worry. Thomas is amazing with this kind of thing. Quite a few kids from local schools come here for therapy. Almost all of them come apprehensive and leave just totally in love with the horses.”

  “Therapy?” Rose asked, feeling a bit like a meerkat sticking its head out of the ground as she looked either side of her from Fleur to Thomas.

  “Mmm.” Fleur nodded.

  “We do equine assisted therapy for young people,” Thomas explained. “Mainly kids who have experienced some kind of trauma or loss and need help processing it.”

  “Katie never told me you did stuff like that here – I thought it was just riding lessons and trekking.”

  Thomas shrugged and reached out to pour himself a glass of water. “It started that way, but I guess it’s in the Goodwin family genes to help people.” He chuckled. “Katie probably didn’t mention it because she likes people to think she’s the only sibling with a big heart.”

  Rose smiled and tried to shrug off the sense of almost-embarrassment that had settled in her stomach. People used horses for therapy – to help them overcome trauma – and yet she was scared of them for no particular reason.

  “Don’t worry,” Thomas said, catching her eye. “I won’t force you to mix with the horses if you really don’t want to. This is your vacation. You didn’t come here to be indoctrinated into our way of life.”

  Rose felt her chest loosen as she realised that Thomas was serious – he had no intention of making her do anything she wasn’t ready for. “Thank you. I promise I’ll think about it.”

  Thomas nodded at her and looked like he was about to say something else. But before he could, someone on the other side of the room shouted his name and waved at him.

  “Thomas? A word?”

  Thomas was already standing up, leaving his food half-eaten. “Rose, I’ll catch you later. Got to run.”

  Rose lifted her hand and gave a small wave, then quickly tucked it back into her lap. Now that there was an empty space where Thomas had been, she felt unsteady and uncomfortable. She turned to Fleur, trying to think of something to say, but Fleur was deep in conversation with the girl opposite her.

  For a moment, Rose sat eating her food and sipping her water in silence. But then, keenly aware that she was the only one in the room not talking to anyone, she took out her phone, tried to make it look like she’d received an interesting text or missed call, and retreated to the terrace with her carton of pasta.

  She stood for a moment, looking out at the ranch. Although Thomas said he encouraged non-horsey people to visit and enjoy the surroundings, it was mostly full of visitors who were there for one purpose only – to ride. And now, without Katie to keep her company, Rose felt utterly out of her depth.

  She didn’t want to take Thomas up on his offer to help her overcome her fear of horses. She wanted to be left to her own devices, to spend the rest of her time at the ranch reading and sunbathing and counting down the days until she would return home.

  But she also didn’t want to become known as the ‘weird girl who hated horses’. She imagined the other guests watching her swim and lounge and stay far away from the paddocks and the stables, and pictured them rolling their eyes and laughing at her behind her back.

  Rose sighed. She thought she’d outgrown this. She thought that as an adult she would no longer find herself in uncomfortable situations. As an adult, you were supposed to be in control – able to decide who and what you interacted with.

  But, somehow, she’d found herself in a position where her only choice seemed to be to either stand out like a sore thumb by sticking to her guns and avoiding the equine side of the ranch, or to come face-to-face with one of her biggest fears.

  Either way, it wasn’t going to be much of a vacation.

  Telling herself an evening walk might clear her head, and that perhaps she could just take a look at the horses to see how she reacted, Rose set off past the trees, the lawn, and the swimming pool, and down the wide, curving, grey stone track that would eventually lead to the U-shaped stables and the sprawling fields of Heart of the Hills ranch.

  Rose walked deliberately slowly, paying attention to the trees and the darkening sky, breathing in the scent of the Tuscan countryside and persuading herself not to think about where she was headed.

  At least, now that most of the guests were inside eating, no one would notice if she bottled it and broke out in a cold sweat before getting anywhere close to a horse.

  As she neared the stables, her heart started to tremble.

  In the distance, the path stopped and became the stable yard on one side and fenced-in fields on the other. Towards the far end of the closest field, Rose could see the silhouettes of at least five horses grazing beneath the trees.

  She had stopped and was about to turn around when she heard something. She narrowed her eyes, as if it would help her to hear better, and tried to focus.

  At first, she thought it was a horse, an angry horse, a horse that had escaped and was about to charge towards her at break-neck speed.

  But then she realised it was a person.

  Rose glanced back towards the main building. Perhaps she should run and fetch someone. She was still lingering in the middle of the path when the noise grew louder.

  “Help! I need help!”

  “Thomas...” Rose breathed. And then, before she had a chance to stop herself, she found she was running. Except, she wasn’t running away from the stables. She was running towards them.

  6

  Rose stopped at the wooden gates that separated the yard from the track. She couldn’t see anyo
ne, but there was light coming from one of the stalls. Gingerly, she pushed the gate open. As she stepped through, it closed with a sharp sudden thud that made her jump.

  Her feet didn’t want to move. They prickled as if she could feel every grain of gravel beneath the soles of her shoes.

  “Hello?! Anyone? Aiuti! ” Thomas’ voice called again, louder this time.

  Rose breathed in sharply, closed her eyes, opened them, then ran towards the sound.

  As she reached the stall that Thomas’ voice had come from, she stopped and found herself bracing her arms against either side of the doorframe, as if she was a vampire unable to cross the threshold.

  “Thomas?”

  Thomas was on the floor. With the light outside waning, he was using a portable lamp to see and it was casting large exaggerated shadows on the walls. In front of him, a huge chestnut-brown horse was lying on its side, snorting heavy breaths from its nostrils.

  The air was thick with the smell of horses and hay and it made Rose wrinkle her nose.

  Thomas looked up. “Rose?” His cheeks were flushed and there was a film of sweat clinging to his forehead. He looked behind her, his eyes wide and searching. “Are you alone?”

  “I heard you shouting. I was walking...” She trailed off and swallowed hard as the horse huffed loudly and shook its head at her. “What’s happening?” she said, taking a few steps backwards.

  “She’s in labour.” Thomas had one hand on the horse’s stomach now and was stroking her nose with the other. “The foal is breech.”

  “The wrong way up?” Rose shuddered and looked back towards the path. “I’ll go fetch help.”

  Thomas shook his head. “There’s no time. The foal needs to come out now.”

  A cold, almost sea-sick feeling washed over Rose’s arms and legs. She felt like she needed to sit down. The horse was trying to stand but Thomas was whispering to it to keep still.

  “Rose, I can’t keep her calm and deliver the foal. I need you at her head, I need you to talk to her.”

  “Talk to her?” Rose could barely get the words out. “What about?” It was a stupid question and, in other circumstances, Thomas might have laughed at it. But he didn’t.

  “Just talk calmly and slowly, she’ll feel better in the dark so I’ll move the light down this end. Just be with her, all right?”

  Rose looked behind her, as if someone else may have magically appeared to take her place.

  “Rose,” Thomas was nodding at her. “You can do this.” He looked at the mare and then back at Rose. “We need you to do this.”

  Rose breathed in slowly through her nose, then shook her head. If she’d have been wearing sleeves, she would have rolled them up as she found herself saying, “Right. Okay. Right...” and kneeling down beside the panting horse.

  “Her name is Delilah,” Thomas said, moving backwards and positioning himself behind the horse’s tail. “That’s it, Delilah, this is Rose. She’s going to be your birthing partner and I’m going to be down the business end getting things sorted out.”

  Rose sat down, the hay prickling at her legs as she tucked them beneath her. With trembling fingers, she reached out. Delilah puffed at her and Rose immediately took her fingers back. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she might be descending into a panic attack. But then Delilah moved her head and looked at Rose. She had deep brown eyes and long thick eyelashes.

  “Oh,” Rose breathed. “She’s so scared.”

  Thomas looked up. “Talk to her,” he nudged.

  Rose nodded at him, deliberately trying not to see what he was doing to help the foal out of its mother.

  “Delilah, I’m Rose.” She shuffled forwards. And, this time, when Delilah puffed and rocked her head, Rose only flinched a little. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s going to be okay. Thomas is taking such good care of you and your baby.”

  Delilah looked at her and blinked slowly.

  “Beautiful girl,” Rose murmured. “It’s all right. It’s all going to be all right.”

  “Okay,” said Thomas, urgently. “I’m going to turn the foal now. Keep her calm, Rose. Yeah?”

  Rose swallowed hard. She nodded. And as Delilah whinnied and puffed and sweat glazed her back and her flanks, Rose started to sing. She didn’t know where it came from. It just started – a sweet, gentle melody that her mum sang to her when she was a baby.

  Thomas was struggling. Rose could see him from the corner of her eye, but she didn’t take her gaze from Delilah’s – just kept on singing, again and again, the same verse. Until Thomas shouted, “Got it! Okay, okay Rose, back away.”

  Rose looked at him. “I... are you sure?”

  “She can do the rest.” Thomas was standing up and moving towards the door, beckoning for Rose to follow him.

  Slowly, she got up and backed away.

  And what seemed like only seconds later, suddenly, there was a foot... another foot... a head... a foal. A gangly, dark brown foal.

  Rose felt her hands fly to her mouth.

  She looked at Thomas. He was grinning. “That’s it, Dee. That’s it.”

  “Look at him.” Rose had never truly felt awe-struck in her entire life. But gazing at the tiny horse in front of her, with a white diamond splash on its nose and sticky-up ears, she could barely speak.

  Thomas had cleaned himself off and borrowed Rose’s phone to call the vet. Now, he was standing with his arms crossed, smiling as Delilah gently licked her baby’s legs. Unfolding his arms, he put one of them around Rose’s shoulders and pulled her in close. “That wasn’t quite how I pictured curing you of your phobia.”

  Rose laughed and looked up at him. His arm felt heavy and warm and she was about to lean into him when she heard someone behind them yell, “Thomas! Thomas, what happened?!”

  Turning around, Rose saw Fleur jumping over the gate and running towards them.

  Immediately, Thomas’ arm dropped to his side and he turned, his face animated but his voice hushed as he told Fleur about the foal.

  Fleur hadn’t even looked at Rose yet but when Thomas said, “Thankfully, Rose was passing and did a pretty amazing job of keeping Dee calm,” she turned and smiled.

  “Rose?” Fleur wrinkled her brow, as if she’d already forgotten who she was. “Oh, Rose?! But you’re scared of horses?”

  “Not any more, she’s not,” Thomas said smoothly, nudging Rose in the ribs.

  Rose peered into the stable and looked at Delilah. She didn’t feel scared of this horse anymore. But she still couldn’t imagine coming face-to-face with another one and the idea that Thomas might expect her to be magically cured and ready to go riding made her stomach begin to cramp.

  “Well, that’s great,” said Fleur. “Well done.” Then she turned back to Thomas. “Is Rossi on his way?”

  Thomas nodded and glanced up at the sky. It was almost dark. “Should be here soon, but I think Dee’s okay.”

  “I’ll wait with you.” Fleur put her hand on Thomas’s shoulder and, for some reason, it made Rose feel uncomfortable.

  She cleared her throat. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

  “Sure,” said Thomas, patting her arm. “There’s no need to stay now. The hard part’s done. You were great, Rose. Thank you.”

  “No problem.” Her words came out a little too quickly. “See you.”

  But Thomas had already turned back to Fleur.

  Walking back towards her cabin, Rose sighed and patted at her frizzy brown hair. Fleur had big blue eyes and long blonde hair. She was tanned, confident, and had legs up to her armpits. Beside her, Rose felt plain and mousy. And the way Fleur had looked at Thomas, for some reason, it bothered Rose. It niggled at her and made her skin feel too tight and too hot.

  There was no reason it should. Thomas, and who Thomas dated, was nothing to do with her.

  Rose shook her head and then breathed in sharply through her nose. Thomas Goodwin was out of her league. And, besides, he was Katie’s brother. He was out of bounds. Out. Of. Bounds.
And all this mooning around after him wasn’t going to do her any good at all.

  7

  The next morning, Rose woke to the sound of something tapping on the patio doors. Slowly, rubbing her eyes and squinting at the light sneaking in from around the curtains, she slid out of bed, shuffled her feet into her sandals, and pulled a cardigan over her pyjamas.

  At first, when she opened the curtains, she didn’t see anything. But then she noticed a little blue flask sitting on the wall. Stepping outside, she moved gingerly towards it, as if someone might jump out and say ‘boo’.

  There was no one there, but tucked underneath the flask was a note that read:

  Thanks for your help last night, Remarkable Rose. I’ll be going to see Delilah and the foal at eight thirty. Meet by the pool?

  Rose’s fingers tightened around the note.

  Last night, adrenaline had taken over. She hadn’t had time to think about how scared she was. But now, in the cold light of the morning, she wasn’t sure she could do it. What if she got within two feet of Delilah and freaked out? Thomas would think she was crazy. And, despite what she kept telling herself, she liked that last night he had seen a different side of her. A side that wasn’t just mousy and timid. She didn’t want to ruin it by having a meltdown in front of him.

  Breathing in deeply, she took the flask back inside and sat on the bed. Sipping at the now lukewarm coffee, she picked up her phone. A message from Katie was waiting for her.

  So sad I’m not waking up in our little cabin this morning. Hope you’re okay and that Tommy is looking after you. K xxx

  Rose’s thumbs lingered over the keyboard. Eventually, she replied:

  All good. Miss you but Thomas being nice. I helped him deliver a foal last night! Hope all is okay with your patient. xx

  Rose held her phone for a while, watching the screen to see if Katie would reply. It was almost eight when it started to ring.