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Delayed by the conversation with Raven and Jay Kydd, Cassie and the little crowd she’d gathered moved into the stable. Days earlier, Cassie had told her grandmother her intention to ride. Things had to change even if Cassie must endure the perpetual frost of Grandmama’s displeasure. This morning Cassie meant to make a beginning. She hadn’t counted on a full escort. Only Raven would miss the event. With his characteristic change from warmth to cool distance, he had bowed and taken himself off. It was Dick Crockett who opened the stall and went to stand at Hermes’s head. The boys settled on the stable floor, and Cassie stood next to Dick, talking to the horse, watching his ears and tail. Jay Kydd offered Hermes a sniff of Cassie’s old tack, letting the horse catch the scent of her on the old bridle and saddle. Then, with quick, light hands, he put them on the horse.

“You’ll take me for a ride won’t you, boy?” she asked the horse. Hermes, she thought, must wonder at the crowd he’d drawn to his stall, but he seemed to take their attention in stride. The plan was for Cassie to take a short ride around Grandmama’s largest paddock. It was laughable really to make such a production of the thing. Before her accident, Cassie would have slipped away on her own without even a groom and ridden across miles of open countryside. Today, after Hermes’s jaunt around the paddock, he would be free to run in his usual pasture.

At a nod from Kydd, Cassie and Dick stepped away, and Kydd led Hermes from his stall.

Their small party trooped out to the stable courtyard, where, as luck would have it, they met the dowager returning from her morning ride on Arabella, her favorite bay mare. Mr. Snell was with her on Mercury, a chestnut gelding, another of her grandmother’s favorites. The horses whinnied and danced, and two other grooms rushed forward to help settle the animals. The dowager dismounted without assistance, and faced Cassie and Mr. Kydd. She gave Dick Crockett a quick sharp glance that questioned his loyalty.

“What’s this?” she demanded. “An invasion?”

“Grandmama, I believe you’ve met Mr. Kydd and know Kydd Brothers, his family’s firm in London.”

“Your grace.” Kydd bowed.

“Don’t your grace me, young man. I won’t have you telling me how to run my stables no matter how many horses your uncle sells in London.”

“Never ma’am,” said Mr. Kydd.

“So, what are you about then?” The dowager fixed her sternest glare on him.

“I hear, ma’am, that there’s a July meeting at Chichester.”

“Grandmama,” Cassie intervened, “I’m going to ride Hermes around his paddock. No galloping, no jumping. I merely want him to know that he is not to blame for the past.” She lifted her chin. She should be afraid, but she wasn’t. “It is time to put the accident behind us for me and for Hermes.”

“And you need this scurvy lot around you for courage, do you?”

“These are Hermes’s staunchest admirers, who only want to see him run, as he was meant to run. He has been running, hasn’t he, Grandmama, in secret, under Mr. Snell’s watchful eye?”

Mr. Snell looked away.

“Mere exercise to keep him sound and strong. No horse of mine will grow fat and lazy.”

Cassie wanted to tell Grandmama what a fraud she was. “And if Hermes has kept sound and strong, will you let him race?”

“Hah! You have no idea of the work required to bring a horse to the field. By July? You’re dreaming, girl.” Her grandmother glared at her.

“It’s work you know well, Grandmama, and you have those who are willing to help, and if we start now…”

“That horse hasn’t carried a rider in three years.”

“But he will today.” Cassie refused to bend.

“Very well. See that you don’t break another limb.” Her grandmother turned away and strode into the stable. Snell followed with the two grooms leading the other horses.

Cassie drew a deep breath.

“Still game?” Kydd asked her.

“Still game,” she replied, and turned toward the paddock. The boys dashed ahead and scrambled up onto the fence. Dick Crockett opened the gate. Kydd led Hermes inside. He stepped high and tossed his head, but under Kydd’s influence, he stood at the mounting block.

“How do you want to do this?” Kydd asked.

“I don’t know,” she said with a laugh, suddenly conscious that when she put her damaged foot in Kydd’s linked hands, the uncooperative foot was likely to crumple.

Kydd stepped back and studied the situation for a moment. He signaled to Dick Crockett, who stepped up to hold Hermes’s head and keep him calm.

“Here’s what we’ll do. Take hold of the high pommel, and keep one hand on my right shoulder. Ready?”

Cassie did as he suggested, putting her foot in his hands, taking hold of the sidesaddle’s pommel. Kydd’s shoulder was solid and steady under her other hand. He lifted his linked palms, while she pushed against his shoulder, and then she was in the saddle on Hermes’s back, her knees around the two pommels, her back straight, her body centered on the horse. Hermes took a few dancing steps to the right and then settled, alert, waiting for her command. She stroked his neck. The boys whistled and hooted.