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Jules took the reins and gathered them in both her hands and dug her feet into the old stirrups of the western-style saddle. It was larger and roomy. Even if she started to fall, she could always reach out and grab the horn on the saddle’s pommel. Of course, he hadn’t been kidding about the mare’s disposition. She was the sweetest animal Antonio had ever owned, and was the horse his brother Javi had first ridden.
In a few brisk movements, he’d mounted Trueno, the gelding that was still as fierce as a mustang. The horse had thundering hooves that sounded across the sand. This was his favorite horse out here, the one he made time to ride when he was back in his native land and doing work for his company. There was no speed Trueno couldn’t match.
Clicking his tongue, he kicked his heels against Trueno’s side and led the horse as well as Jules and Tornado to the ring. After they were settled inside, one of Antonio’s hands shut the gate behind them. Xavier coached Trueno to walk side by side with Tornado. From his vantage point on the high steed, he was looking down on Jules, able to admire the brilliant red glint in her hair.
“So we’re just going to walk around a bit.”
“How daring,” she said. Then she let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m not exactly a cowgirl, but I would like to see you. I know you said you wished you could train horses professionally if you had a choice in life. I want to see you show your stuff.”
He nodded as they made a lap of the circle. “I tell you what. I’ll give you a bit of a demonstration, and then we’ll let the ranch hands take these back to the paddock, and I’ll show you a surprise off trail.”
“I’d like that.”
***
The sun was getting low in the sky as he helped Jules lead her horse to the center of the ring. To be fair, he’d seen worse first-time riders. She hadn’t slipped off, although in a saddle that roomy it would have been hard. She had a few panicked grabs on the horse’s mane when she’d almost slipped off, and her posture was all wrong, but she’d done fine. The old mare had done her job yet again, and it was worth all the effort and coordination to see that golden smile beaming from her face.
“You sure you want a show?” he asked.
She nodded but still clutched the reins tightly. “I want to see everything you’ve got.”
He led Trueno to the side of the ring up against the railing again. He choked up a bit on the reins and shifted his body into a low crouch, the third position for the canter, and then clicked his tongue. His thighs contracted around the horse, applying pressure to make it surge forward. Then they were off like the wind.
Even with his helmet on, Xavier felt the breeze hit his face, the strength of it tangling with his hair and battering his T-shirt. He kicked Trueno’s side and they were off to a gallop, feeling as if the horse’s very feet weren’t even touching the ground. It was like flying, the closest to real power and freedom that he ever felt in his life. The scenery passed by him in a blur, a dazzling mix of the settling sun’s orange, the dusty brown of the adjacent fields and the occasional flash of Jules’s brilliant red hair.
This was what he missed when he was trapped behind a desk.
What he missed in countless meetings with partners and accountants and advertising executives. That was a rat race. A false life. The only things that were real included this intoxicating freedom on his favorite steed and the love building in his heart for Juliet Gaines.
Gradually slowing his pace, Xavier eventually led Trueno back to the ring. He dismounted first and then helped Jules off her mare. They walked with joined hands to the trail as Antonio’s workers took care of the horses they’d left behind.
Her hand was so small in his. He didn’t know why she never seemed small, except when he reflected on it. When he saw her daily, she was this storm of energy, always busying herself everywhere. Jules felt larger than life, but when he held her soft, fragile hand in his, Xavier was reminded there was more to her than that. She could be lost, could be injured, just like earlier in that damn alley.
“You’re frowning,” she accused as they slid farther through the trees and out of sight of the farm. “Are you okay?”
“Just thinking,” he said. “Everything last night was terrifying.”
She shook her head, which surprised him. “No, it wasn’t. I knew you’d take care of me, and you did.”
He wasn’t sure he felt like a hero. If anything had gone wrong, they wouldn’t be here now.
Squeezing her hand, he added, “I hope I always can take care of you. I did everything I could.”
“And you kicked massive ass,” she said before her tone sobered to match the sincerity in her blue eyes. “Seriously, thank you for saving me. You’re better than Superman.”
He chuckled. “I’m not sure about that.”
“Well, you don’t wear crazy tights and a cape, so you’re definitely better.”
They walked in silence for twenty minutes more, heading deep into the woods until they came to a secluded hill where he’d already set up the night’s picnic. The sun was almost set by then, casting orange-and-pink hues over the sky, and all of it seemed to be reflected in the glinting highlights on Jules’s hair.
She grinned when she saw the spread before her. “Wow.”
“Did you expect anything less? I know you have to be starving.”
“Okay, so I know it looked like Tornado was doing most of the work, but I am pretty famished,” she admitted, sitting down on the blanket and pulling out the small plates from the basket.
He followed her lead. “These are tapas. The finger appetizers you get at bars around here. I brought some fried potatoes, some fresh grilled veggies and cheeses, and of course the best thing you can put in your mouth—roasted octopus braised in its own ink.”
