“I can ride bareback.”
Before he could stop him, Ru clambered over the fence into the paddock, grabbed a chunk of Cookie’s mane, did a little forward skip and used his momentum to launch himself onto the horse’s back.Whoa!Not that Jasim couldn’t mount that way, but Ru was all fluid lines and motion.And that smile… Oh fuck.
“You made that look easy.”
“It is.” Ru patted Cookie’s shoulder.
“You should wear a helmet.”
“I’ll make sure I don’t fall off.”
Jasim ought to have stopped him. If there was an accident, his insurance wouldn’t cover him. But Ru knew how to ride, even with no saddle or reins. He cantered around the paddock with Joni running behind, then came back to where Jasim stood, swung his leg over and jumped down.
“Good girl, Cookie.” Ru stroked her and Joni butted his back. “Yeah, you’re a good girl too.” Ru stroked the other horse.
“They could come in for the night now.”
“You stable them at night?”
“Until they’re through isolation and until we know what they need. Didn’t you put them in at night?”
“No. They’re used to being outside. Horses were only brought in when they were sick and when the weather was really bad. We all have to get used to rain in Ireland.”
“You want to bring them in?”
“Sure. Which way?”
“You don’t want halters and reins?”
“Not for these two.” Ru opened the gate, whistled and led the horses out. “Cookie! Joni! Follow!”
Jasim kept glancing back as he headed for the stable block. The two horses were walking with Ru like dogs. Just behind him and one on each shoulder. There weren’t many of Jasim’s horses that would be quite so obedient and polo ponies were the best trained horses in the world.
“Wow.” Ru sighed when he went into the stables. “This is amazing. So clean and smart. Is there satellite TV too?”
Jasim laughed. The facilitiesweregood because they were intended for horses that cost a lot more than Cookie and Joni.
“This is Cookie’s.” Jasim opened the door of the stall and Ru led her in.
“Oh look. You have food and an automatic waterer. Lovely bedding that you mustn’t eat. Plenty of ventilation. Maybe TV one day, though I’m not sure you’d be able to watch it. And see? Joni is right next to you so you don’t need to pine.”
When both horses were safely locked up, Ru turned to him and smiled. “Thank you. They are very fortunate animals. I hope they know it, but I definitely do. I can’t believe you bought them. Both of them. Even if you’re going to sell them on, I really appreciate what you did.”
“You do know they need to learn to be apart.”
“Yes, I know. I couldn’t do it on the farm because there was no way to separate them. And…”
“And what?”
Ru gave him an apologetic smile. “I didn’t want to be the bad guy. I know obsessive friendships are wrong, well any sort of obsession I suppose, but they were happy and I envied them that.”
You weren’t happy?“They’d be better horses if they were less reliant on each other.”
“You’re right. I don’t think they’re so bad that they’d scream and cry if they were parted. But I never had the opportunity to see. We had a lot of horses come and go at the farm, but these two were there the longest.”
“So you want me to be the bad guy?”
“You’ve only shown me you’re a good guy.”
