“Turn her in a circle like you were before. Let her walk it off.”
That was easy. She pulled to the side and the horse circled.
“That’s it,” Gabriel said softly. “Keep your elbows at your side. Hold the reins loosely, but not too loose.”
Eve looked down at her hands. Both were resting at her hip height. Both were plainly visible. She was holding the reins! She eased the reins to the side and the horse followed her movement, continuing to circle. She straightened the reins, holding them before her. The horse began to move in a straight line. A slow grin spread across her lips. She was doing it! She was actually doing it!
“I feel it,” she said with victory. “I feel the rhythm!”
“Next time, we’ll saddle a horse for you. My stirrups are probably too long or I would let you ride this one.”
“Can we go back to the castle and get one?” Eve asked with excitement and a newfound confidence.
“Tomorrow. You have my word. We need to give this palfrey time to rest. Pull back on the reins and get her to halt so I can dismount.”
Eve did as he told her, and Gabe swung his leg over the horse to dismount. Eve followed his lead and slid from the horse, a huge smile on her lips. “I did it!” She ran into the field, twirling around. “I rode a horse.”
“There really is nothing you cannot do if you put your mind to it.”
She ran back to him and threw her arms around his neck, laughing with exhilaration. She pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He pulled back, startled.
She gazed at him with sparkling sincere and excited eyes. “I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.”
Gabriel melted beneath the honesty and gratitude he saw in her gaze. He lifted a hand and carefully wiped a dark curl from her cheek. “I could do no less.”
Her gaze swept over his face, and a line of confusion etched into her brow. “Why didn’t you visit?” she wondered.
“You mean Castle Chandos?” He shrugged, thinking back on all the times he had refused to visit. He had not wanted to be around Michael, but he couldn’t tell her that. “I was training. For the joust.”
Something crossed her eyes and for a moment, he could have sworn it was disappointment. She stepped back. “And you’ve been winning.”
He nodded.
“So, you must be using the training you’ve acquired.”
“It is helping.”
Her gaze swept him as if she were trying to figure something out. She opened her mouth and then closed it. She grinned and swept a hand across the palfrey’s back. “She’s a beautiful horse. I’m honored to have ridden her.”
Gabriel patted her nose. “She’s my palfrey. She goes everywhere with me.”
Eve looked to the side as if she had seen something. Then, she turned and faced him. “How do you know about this clearing?”
Gabe knew that he couldn’t tell her the truth, not without betraying his brother. Part of him wanted to, but he lived by a code… and, well, Michael was his brother no matter what he had done. He was as guilty now as Michael was. He had kept the secret for as long as his brother. He looked away from her. He hated lying; it only got one into trouble. But he couldn’t tell her the truth. “Michael must have told me about it. I just knew it was here.”
“Have you ever been here before?”
He looked at her. There was such hope and anticipation in her bright orbs and was that suspicion? I could have been betrothed to her, Gabe thought. For the first time, he hated Michael, truly hated him. “No,” he lied, looking away.
“It’s a magical spot,” Eve admitted. “Magical and sad.”
“Sad?” Gabe echoed.
She nodded but didn’t elaborate. Still, he knew what she meant. She had lost her twin sister here. “It is magical if it got you to ride a horse.”
She chuckled. “You got me to ride your horse.”
