I walked toward the paddock, seeing only that magnificent animal. I called out
to him. “Good day to you, Beauty.”
To my astonishment and pleasure, he turned his great head toward me and whinnied.
I reached the paddock and climbed the fence. I held out my hand to him, calling
him beauty and angel and even an archangel, but I came back again and again to
Beauty. I didn’t have anything for him. I hoped he wouldn’t take it amiss and
bite my hand.
Again, to my delight, when I called to him, he trotted toward me, his tail
swishing from side to side, his great head nodding up and down. He was perhaps
four years old, in perfect health, his coat glistening beneath the bright
morning sun.
He butted his big head against my hand and nearly pushed me backward off the
fence. I laughed. “You are wonderful, you know that? Certainly you do. I should
have asked Amelia who you were. I wonder what your name is. I can’t keep calling
you Beauty, not a handsome fellow like you.”
“His name is Tempest.”
I turned slowly, Tempest still butting my hand, to see John standing six feet
behind me, dressed for riding.
“Why aren’t you with your uncle and Swanson, the estate manager? You’re supposed
to be studying hard, readying yourself for the day when finally you may take
over?”
“Swanson’s wife just birthed twins. My uncle decided to let him remain with her
today.”
“I should think so.” I waved toward Tempest. Of course I knew the answer even as
I asked. “He is yours?”
“Yes. You can forget snagging him for yourself. He is a soldier’s horse, strong
and intelligent, and meaner than the devil when he has to be. He is flirting
with you right now, but were you to try to ride him, he would either ignore you
entirely or toss you in the nearest river.”
“Oh, no, he wouldn’t.” I turned back to Tempest. “Will you allow me to ride you?”
That grand animal eyed me with benevolence, I would swear that he did exactly
that. “I ride well, it’s just that I haven’t been able to ride in a while. I’m
really quite good. Anyone who is a good rider knows that a rider’s physical
strength has nothing to do with anything.”
“Tempest is smart, but I doubt even he understood all of that. Besides, that
last was meant for me. You might as well turn around and face me. Ask me if you
may ride my horse.”
I turned on the fence. “May I ride your horse, John?”
“No. Absolutely not. He gets impatient, he has his own ideas about where he
wants to go, and when, and exactly what route he wants to take. He requires
mastery, which he now accepts that I have. He can become vicious. What would I
tell my uncle if I were to let you ride my horse and Tempest killed his blushing
new bride?”
“I’m not blushing.”
“The other two are true.”
“All right, just what would you tell him?”
“Well, if you ever did ride Tempest, it would be without my permission, and you
would deserve whatever he did to you. I would have to tell my uncle that his
bride was an idiot.”
“An idiot, am I? Now I will tell you what I think. You’re being rude because I
didn’t flutter my hands and fall at your feet and whimper all over you in London.
Admit it. It is not what you are used to from ladies. And now you have turned
nasty. I will admit that I’ve been called things, but never an idiot.”
He came up to stand beside me at the paddock.
He put one foot up on a fence railing. He was wearing black Hessians, so
perfectly polished I could see my frown in them, and something else. I could see
that I was wary, very wary. Now that I saw the proof, I brought in the coldest
thoughts I could to counteract what he made me feel. He was much too big, he
knew it, he used it to dominate, but he couldn’t hurt me, not here, not on his