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Chapter Ten
Wayne led Elise outthe back door of his place, where she was surprised to find a little wooden stable and a fenced-in area. Wayne wolf-whistled, and a gorgeous dark brown horse with dusty blonde hair cut out from the stables and tossed her head in greeting.
“Hey, Darla,” he said.
Darla hustled toward him and dotted her nose into his hand. The view was terribly sweet. Elise willed herself to keep it together.
Wayne turned his eyes back toward her and said, “Do you want to take a ride?”
Elise nodded but furrowed her brow. “What does this have to do with...”
Wayne heaved a sigh. “I can take you past his place. I don’t know what good it would do you to meet him right now. But if you want to get a look at him, we can go.”
Elise’s heart hammered. “You know him, then.”
“Pretty well, I would say. I’ve been a part of the island my whole life. He’s been one of the bigger players here since around then, as well. I didn’t know he had anything to do with the movie. I imagine that’s one of the things he likes to keep in the past,” Wayne said.
Elise reached into her bag and brought out the diary. She flashed the old photograph his way.
Wayne whistled. “That’s him, all right. Attractive man with his whole life ahead of him. And a number of secrets turns out.”
Elise followed Wayne into the stable, where he saddled up both Darla and another horse he called Ghost. He then led the horses out of the stable, passed Darla’s reins over, and then bucked himself up onto Ghost’s saddle. Ghost whinnied and coughed and clopped his hooves across the gravel, while Wayne said, “Calm down, boy. Calm down.”
Elise returned her bag to the house, locked the door from the inside, then walked back toward Darla. She hadn’t ridden a horse since her early twenties, maybe, when she and Sean had gone on some expedition while her mom had watched the twins.
When in Rome.
Elise gripped the top of the saddle and heaved herself up and over. The action felt embarrassing; she could only imagine what it had looked like from Wayne’s perspective.
But she had gotten on.
She adjusted quickly, pushing her feet into the stirrups and arranging the reins. Her posture was straight up and down, something her mother had been strict about.“You want the world to see that beautiful face, Elise.”
“You okay?” Wayne asked.
“I think so.”
“You sure? We can wait on this. Head over there another day,” Wayne said. His eyes glittered with apprehension.
Was it possible that he was just as frightened of Alex as she now was?
“No. I have to go now. I can’t wait.”
“Okay.” Wayne flared his nostrils, then added, “You know Dean Swartz is the richest man on the island, right?”
“Yes. I’m aware of that now.”
“Okay.
There was a strange, somber quality to the air as Wayne headed out toward the gate. He dropped down from Ghost, pushed the gate open, and then guided Ghost out. Together, he and Ghost waited while Elise and Darla headed in their direction. Once they exited, Wayne closed the gate and returned to his saddle.
“You ride naturally,” he told her. “Have you done it a lot?”
“No,” Elise said. “Guess it’s just in my genes.” She gave him a wide-eyed look, and he laughed.
Despite the strangeness of the day, it was still good to make some kind of joke.
Elise burned with questions as they clopped out of the backyard and entered a little trail, which led out toward one of the side roads. As they joined the traffic of walking tourists, of carriages, of other horses, Elise tried her best to focus.
