AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘If not reciprocated, it’s a disaster.’ The shouts, the fights. The priceless porcelain hurled across rooms, smashing against walls. His mother’s cry.‘You loved me once!’His father’s reply.‘I hate you now.’That was where romance ended. In rage and recrimination.
‘What about you?’ he asked. ‘Would you build such a lofty monument to romance yourself?’
Hannah looked around the space. Tucked an unruly strand of hair behind her ear. She nibbled at her plump, peach lips. But she wouldn’t look at him.
‘My art takes up all of my time and emotion.’ She appeared to have hunched in on herself, as if she were trying to tuck herself in, fold herself away till she was hidden. ‘And that’s enough.’
He understood his own attitude all too well. Love was a lie. Romance a folly as real and palpable as the building in which they stood. He wondered what led a young woman like her to reject it, when most had their heads in the clouds.
‘So cynical for one so young,’ he murmured. And something of a kindred spirit, but he didn’t want to think of that. Of the way she stood there. Her cheeks coloured a beautiful pink from the warmth of the day and the mild exertion. How her eyes were the translucent green of Lasserno’s coastline, where the water met the rocky shore. How they were alone, where the only thing he could hear were the birds and the whisper of a summer’s breeze through the trees outside. The beat of his heart thudding in his ears. Then she looked up at him, a flash in her eyes like sun on the sea. Her gaze casting down his body, then back to meet his. Her lips parted.
This, between them, was nothing about romance but something more primal—though no less destructive. An awareness like a match freshly struck and flaring to life. If he were another man he would have taken the few steps forward to close the space between them, wrapped her in his arms, kissed her and explored this attraction. The heat of desire coursed through his veins, settled down low. Snapping at his heels to prompt him into action. He took a deep breath against the immediacy of this craving. Something he didn’t want or need.
The only thing he had to rule his life by was the desire to serve his country. To be better. The best. And nothing else would do, particularly not following this desire running between them when nothing could ever come of it.
‘We should move on,’ he said. ‘The horses need exercise. But if the light appeals, you may come here and paint.’
At least it might help keep her away from him and his incendiary desires with no outlet.
‘Thank you.’ Hannah’s voice was low and husky, the sensation of it scoring over his skin.
They left the small pavilion and he shut the door behind them, on the past. He was all for moving forward, the only direction for him now. They approached the horses, happily nibbling on some grass under the trees, heads lifting and ears pricking as they approached.
‘I’ll give you assistance to mount Kestia.’ He didn’t want his horse’s back hurt by an inexperienced rider struggling to get on. It had nothing to do with a need to move close, where he could smell the scent of her like the apple trees which graced the sheltered orchards of the palace gardens. It most certainly was not an excuse to touch Hannah in any way, to feel the warmth of her body through her jeans as he assisted her onto the horse, but he needn’t have worried. She was graceful, assured. Almost as if she’d been born in the saddle on which she sat. Looking perfect on the horse he’d bought for his future princess, whoever she might ultimately be from the list of candidates now sitting in the top drawer of his desk. After Hannah left, after his coronation, then he’d decide that part of his future. He still had time.
Alessio shoved those thoughts aside. He swung himself onto Apollo’s back and led through the olives into the heat of the day, pointing out landmarks as he saw them. Anything to keep his mind off the way her cheeks glowed pink in the warm sunshine, the way soft strands of her dark brown hair escaped the riding helmet, curling round the base of her neck.
He’d rather encourage Apollo into a gallop and keep riding till both were exhausted and covered in sweat, to burn away these sensations that were so foreign to him. And he couldn’t sit here any longer, taking this sedate pace. He needed more, to outrun the crushing in his chest. The feeling of being trapped in a way he couldn’t explain.
Reprieve came from a man walking through the grapevines in the distance.
‘Do you feel confident enough to ride back to the stables yourself? As I said, I need to speak with my vigneron.’ It wasn’t far and Kestia was quiet and sound.
Hannah hesitated for a second, then nodded. ‘I’ll be fine. You go ahead.’
It didn’t take a moment to encourage Apollo to move. Alessio clicked his tongue and the horse knew what he wanted, accelerating into a gallop and giving them both the freedom they craved.
Hannah watched Alessio ride out. The magnificence of it as he took off over the landscape. She settled Kestia, the little horse becoming impatient seeing the big bay streak away into the distance. Hannah patted her neck as they walked a short way. Out of Alessio’s presence it was almost as if she could let out a long-held breath, those moments in the pavilion, built as a tribute to love and romance, filling her with something she barely understood. An awareness that took root and grew unchecked and uncontrolled in that little space, and for the briefest, blinding flash she craved to explore it for herself. But those feelings led nowhere. They were remnants of childish fantasies and nothing more.
Now she was firmly grounded in reality, sitting on the back of a beautiful horse for the first time in nine years. That was a thrill of its own, and with Alessio occupied she could ride as she wanted with no one to ask questions of her.
‘Okay, little girl, let’s see what you can do.’ She encouraged her horse into a trot through the vibrant landscape, the sun high in a cobalt sky, a cool breeze making the afternoon comfortably warm rather than oppressive. They broke out onto the path, towards the castle rising majestically from the landscape. Like a fantasy picture made real.
She spurred her horse on a little faster now, settling into the rhythm, the quiver in her belly all about excitement. How had she forgotten how alive this made her feel? It was as if a switch had been flicked, a light turned on, illuminating all the dark and missing corners in her life. Ahead lay the low gate they’d passed on the way out on their ride and Kestia’s ears pricked. Hannah’s heart thrummed in her chest, the excited beat of it because this jump waseasyand she was going to take it. As they approached the obstacle Hannah checked the length of her mount’s stride, preparing them for the jump. Adjusted her position and they flew, for the briefest of moments, before safely landing on the other side.
All those things she’d suppressed, forced herself to forget, coalesced into that bright, brilliant moment soaring over the fence. The jump hadn’t been difficult for either of them, but still she patted her little horse, whispered words of praise as the tears stung in her eyes. The memories of competition, her parents’ pride at her success... There was joy in this moment, but it was also suffused with a deep ache which never really went away.
She rode on, not slowing her horse. They entered the stable area and she dismounted with a smile which might not leave her for hours, rubbing Kestia’s mane, smoothing her hands over her soft coat. The thud of hooves in the distance caught her attention and she glanced outside to see Alessio galloping towards them like a warrior. He rode into the stables with a flash and clatter of hooves and pulled up his horse, leaping from Apollo and stalking towards her, reins in hand.
‘What the hell do you think you were doing?’ His eyes glittered like black diamonds. Jaw clenched hard enough to shatter teeth.
‘Riding?’ She stroked her horse’s velvety nose, trying to ignore the man crackling next to her with the energy of a summer storm. ‘She’s wonderful. A dream.’
‘As she should be,’ he hissed, his breathing hard from exertion. ‘You could have hurt her by pulling a stunt like that!’
Hannah refused to accept the approbation. She might do many things, but she’d never hurt a horse. ‘It was no stunt. I—’
‘You said you couldn’t ride!’
