Page 19 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

But I can’t think of quite why I need to be good at letting her ride me, except I like to see her smile. So if I’m a little squirrelly, and if I take off at the start a few times, well, I suppose I’ve always been rebellious at heart. We work for a while on walk, trot, walk, trot, stop. And then, she drags in a breath. “I think it’s time to see what you can do at a slightly faster speed.”

But she doesn’t do anything. She doesn’t lean forward. She doesn’t bump me. She doesn’t click. She sits perfectly still.

I swivel my head to the side and eye her.

“I know.” She sighs. “Is it bad that I’m nervous to ask you to canter bareback?” Her hands tighten on the reins. “If you can’t be saddled, maybe I should call it a day.”

I whinny—I wish there was a better way to tell her that I won’t be crazy, but after my bolting and dashing. . .

“My sister Whitney would be making fun of me right now.” She leans down low over my neck, dropping to a whisper. “She’s the fearless one. She’s the one who does crazy things all the time. I’m the one who plays things safe. I’m the responsible older sister. I don’t do insane things, like steal horses and lie.” She stiffens. “Except, this time, I did.” She sits up, and she gathers the reins again, and she slides her left leg back just a hair. Then she squeezes with her right leg, bumps me with her left, and kisses at the same time.

“Let’s see what you know.”

I don’t really know what she’s asking, other than more speed, so I take off at a run. She tugs back on the reins just a little, so I slow to a jog.

“Whoooo,” she says as I slow up. “That was a little scary. You sure can move, though.” Once I realize what she’s asking, I maintain the speed, jogging along in big looping circles.

She starts and stops me a few times.

“You don’t seem to know your leads, but that’s hardly surprising. It feels like you were meant for speed, and they don’t bother with leads much on the track.” She exhales. “Which is good, I guess. But. . .I wonder what you’ll do if I ask you to really go.”

She bites her lips, and her eyes squint up. “This paddock isn’t enormous,” she says. “But it’s pretty big.” She walks me slowly to one end. “Let’s see how fast you move when I ask you to really go.”

I barely wait for her to ask—for some reason I want to impress her.

She crouches low over my neck, her body moving with mine, her hands staying impressively steady. We race from one end of the pasture to the next, faster with each run, as I figure out how quickly I can stop and as she becomes more comfortable with my movement and being bareback.

When she finally stops, I notice something odd. Her leg seems to beshaking. She digs around and pulls out her phone.

Of course. Maybe being a horse has damaged my brain.

“Ugh, it’s that same number. They called six times while I was working you.” She groans. “I guess I’d better see what’s going on.” She cringes. “But what if it’s Steve’s client?” Her hand trembles for a moment, and then she swipes to answer. “Hello?”

Again, I can barely hear the voice on the other end of the line. “Is this Isabel Brooks?”

“Uh, yes.” Her free hand tightens on the reins. “That’s me.”

“Your boyfriend, Tim Heaston, told me to call you. I guess he’s out of town.” The man has a German accent.

“Yes.” She clears her throat. “You must be Mr. Müller.”

“I am,” he says. “Tim said to email you about a horse you’re working with, but I thought calling would be faster.”

“Oh, well, sure. Good.” Izzy relaxes a little, clearly pleased it’s not someone calling to yell about me being here. “I’m actually out with him now, but maybe I can call you back later.”

“Actually, I was able to pull up the feed from Tim’s paddock cam, so I’ve been watching you ride.”

“His—what?”

“A few months back, I had one of my horses at Tim’s for a week. He gave me the website address to watch his paddock cam, so I could check in on my rehabbing stallion.”

“Oh.” Izzy sounds confused. “I didn’t even know he had one.”

“Well, he told me that he wasn’t sure how talented this horse was yet, and he wasn’t sure how broke he was either, but I think both are clear from the video footage I just saw, and I don’t want him to reach out to anyone else.”

“About—you’re saying. . .I’m sorry. What are you calling me about? Tim said people would call me with questions.”

“I want to come buy that stallion you’re riding, Miss Brooks, before someone else snatches him up. I can bring the money in cash tomorrow.”

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