Let Love Find You by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page B

interesting and fun to occupy me while I’m in town, but it won’t be riding. Really, Phelia, I did try it again—well, I was going to, but I just . . . no, riding just isn’t for me.”
    Ophelia didn’t press it. That had been a long shot anyway. Raphael had told her about the fall Amanda had been injured in when she was a child, and that it had left her afraid to get back on a horse. Ophelia had hoped enough time had passed that Amanda might have outgrown that fear, but apparently not.
    “Well, that was just a thought anyway,” Ophelia said. “You can still help me pick out a horse for your brother. I’m sure it won’t take long.”
    But a few minutes later she amended that statement. Laughing at herself after glancing out the window, Ophelia said, “Oh, my, I can’t imagine why I was expecting all the horses to be inside a single stable. I had no idea this farm was this big.”
    As her driver helped them out of the coach, Ophelia was forced to conclude that Devin Baldwin was definitely not just a dabbler at horse breeding like so many aristocrats who tried their hand at it, loving horses as they all did. She had no idea where they might find him. She had thought he’d probably bein the stable, but there were three of them! And a barn. It was definitely a decent-size property for a horse farm.
    “Well, since no one is rushing out here to help us, Paul, you try the left stable, Mandy, you check the center one, and I’ll check in the one on the right.”
    “What are we looking for?” Amanda asked.
    “The factor or owner, or anyone who can show us the horses that are currently for sale.”

Chapter Six

    A MANDA WAS IMPRESSED. SHE ’ D been driven past many horse farms in the country, but she’d never seen one on such a grand scale as this. In addition to the three stables, there was a barn and a rather rundown two-story house. So many horses were grazing in the fenced-in fields that she didn’t even try to count them. There was even a riding track! It looked like a smaller version of the racetrack to the south that she’d attended with her aunt, but it didn’t have any stands or other accommodations for spectators, so she doubted any races were actually held here.
    Amanda struggled to open the regular-size door of the middle stable where Ophelia had directed her to look for the owner. The large double doors of all three stables were closed, no doubt to retain any heat inside during the cooler months.
    But she encountered much more heat than she was expecting when she finally got the door open. Good grief, it felt like a hothouse in here. Lanterns hung from numerous posts, and she counted three large braziers that gave off light as well as heat. Awagon filled with hay stood in one aisle. Horse stalls lined the sides of the cavernous space, which accommodated a third set of stalls down the center. Walking down the aisle on the right, she saw a horse in every stall she passed.
    She wasn’t quite sure, but most of the horses appeared to be in the latter stage of pregnancy. This didn’t surprise her. Aunt Julie had told her during one of their visits to the racetrack that racehorses were usually mated during the spring and summer months because it took a mare nearly a year to produce a foal. This timing ensured that two-year-old foals would be ready to be tested in the late spring when the racing season began. Races took place throughout the year, weather permitting, but the races during the prime season were the most exciting and the best attended because racegoers got a chance to witness new champions in the making.
    Amanda passed a worker who was grooming a mare in one of the stalls. She was about to question him when she realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Unaccustomed to speaking with bare-chested men, she moved on. One of the double doors at the back of the stable was opening, letting in more light, and she saw a man on a horse silhouetted against the bright light of day. Shielding her eyes, she