Giving Chase (A Racing Romance) (Aspen Valley Series #2) by Hannah Hooton Read Free Book Online

to retort but couldn’t find anything suitably stinging. Too late, the headlights of Jack’s Land Rover cut through the mist and the trainer pulled up next to them. Frankie and Rhys stopped as Jack leaned out of the window.
    ‘This was meant to be a confidence booster for Twain, Frankie. I thought I asked you to go past Rhys, not sit alongside him.’
    Here was her opportunity to land Rhys in it, but something made her pause. She looked at Rhys. He raised an expectant eyebrow.
    She hesitated. He wanted her to say it. He wanted her to be a tattle-tale, to pass the buck.
    ‘I’m sorry, Jack. I just wasn’t able to get past.’
    Jack looked miffed and Frankie saw him wrestling to keep his patience.
    ‘Well, don’t let it happen again. When I ask you to do something, it’s for a reason.’
    Frankie hung her head, genuinely sorry. She wondered if Rhys’s stunt had caused any lasting damage to Twain’s confidence.
    ‘Yes, Jack.’
    He turned his attention to the riders behind them, effectively dismissing them. Frankie felt her spirits sink to her heels as she tapped them against Twain’s sides.
    What a way to start her job at Aspen Valley. So much for the joyful, sparkl ing career she’d been fantasising about. She’d failed before she’d barely got started. Twain bumped against Romano as they walked by. Rhys stared at Frankie, his expression a mixture of amazement and—dare she say it— guilt ?
    *
    To her relief, none of her remaining lots included Rhys, probably because her mounts weren’t of the same calibre as his Festival winners. However, her spirits picked up after her rides on Dory and Ta’ Qali. She enjoyed the challenge Dory presented her with. Dory was so narrow it felt to Frankie as if she was balancing on a drum-majorette’s baton as she pirouetted all the way to the gallops. Nevertheless, once on the move, the mare was enthusiastic and if anything, a little too keen. Frankie’s arms felt of orangutan-lengths (though less hairy) by the time they’d managed to pull up. Jack’s nod of approval was enough to bring a smile back to her face and for a short while she forgot about Rhys’s foul play.
    If her rides could be compared to the Three Bears with Twain being too lazy and Dory being too keen, then Ta’ Qali was just right. He didn’t pull, he didn’t lag, he just cantered up the hill with his long ears wobbling to and fro and his bottom lip flapping then pulled up sweetly at the top.
    ‘You’re special, Ta’ Qali,’ she told him as she unsaddled him in his stable. She ran her hand along his steaming neck and over his swayed back. Ta’ Qali shivered. She grinned. ‘But boy, are you unfit. Look how you’re sweating. What say we give you a few rounds on the horse walker to cool off, eh?’
    Grabbing a head collar from outside the door, she went to slip it over the horse’s neck. She stepped back in surprise as Ta’ Qali threw his head and shied away.
    ‘Sorry, I forgot you were head shy,’ she said. With a more gentle approach, she secured the head collar and turned to lead him outside. She gasped as she was met by Rhys standing in the doorway. He held out a simple leather strap looping together a circular metal bit.
    ‘You’ll need a Chifney with him,’ he said, not quite meeting her eye.
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous, he’s the quietest horse here.’
    Rhys looked at her for a long moment then shrugged.
    ‘Suit yourself.’ He dropped the piece of tack on the ground and turned on his heel.
    Frankie frowned at his departure. Was this just another taunt to show that girls weren’t as strong as the guys? It was an odd way of doing so if it was because surely she and Ta’ Qali would just prove him wrong? Pulling on the lead rope, she stepped forward to pick up the anti-rearing bit lying in the straw. A cry slipped from her lips as Ta’ Qali reared away from her and the rope burned her palm. His bulk loomed over her, his belly exposed as he rose higher and higher. Instinctively,