All she wanted from him were three more days of kisses and caresses, followed by a firm and lasting goodbye.
She leaped Duke over the fence and up to Elijah. “Fancy another ride?”
“Iknewhe could jump that fence.” Elijah narrowed his eyes at Duke accusingly. “I’ll never leave the safety of the house again.”
Olive grinned. She couldn’t help it.
Elijah was a knave, but a strangely honest, surprisingly funny one. No matter how hard she tried not to, she liked him a little more every day.
“No ride?” She fluttered her eyelashes. “How about practicing mounts and dismounts, then?”
He sent her a look filled with such heat, it was clear the scene he was imagining had nothing to do with saddles and everything to do with Olive.
She flushed in response. She didn’t need him to tell her what he was thinking. She wanted to experience it firsthand.
Managing the horses was safer.
She turned Duke back toward the fence. “Come with me.”
Managing the horses was an excuse.
After Olive had got over her shock that Elijah disliked horses—and after feeling smugly superior had lost its allure—she’d discovered that sheenjoyedteaching.
It turned out that helping someone else learn a skill was just as satisfying as trouncing the competition.
Watching a reluctant student mastering a techniqueshe’dtaught him filled her with more warmth and pride than any of her past victories.
Not that Elijah needed much help. For all his disinclination to ride the horses, he was clearly well trained. What he lacked wasn’t instruction, but confidence. A few more days of exposure might not cure his hesitancy completely, but should help a little.
It wasn’t just a matter of showing him a few tricks he didn’t know, but rather convincing him such skills wereworthknowing.
Horses were delightful. Her farm was paradise. Heshouldwant this.
Duke jumped over the fence, and she slid from his back to allow him to mix with the other horses.
“Why even have a fence?” Elijah grumbled as he reached the barrier.
When he placed his hands on the topmost log, the knuckles were white. He took a visible breath and vaulted over the fence.
Olive frowned.
Hedidn’twant this.
Not the farm, not her lessons... he had no inclination to improve his proficiency with horses at all.
Elijah was plucking up and persevering forher, not for him.
Her heart gave a little flip. It felt as though he was courting her. Not with poetry and peonies but with the one thing she adored above all else: her horses.
It was working, blast him.
Each day when she came out to the stables, her first thoughts were of what she and Elijah might do together. Moments with him were better than moments without him. He had put in the effort and now felt like part of her world.
She had not spent half as much time seeing if she might fit into his.
“Forget the horses.” She walked up to meet Elijah at the fence.
He gaped as though he no longer recognized her. “Forget... horses?”
