Pegasus: A Novel by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page B

beginning to feel hopeful,
     even though he still thought it was a crazy idea, and probably wouldn’t work. Circuses
     didn’t just hire men with horses to perform a circus act they didn’t know how to do.
     It sounded farfetched to him. But they called the embassy later that morning, and
     they were given the address of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota,
     Florida. It was based there for the winter before it went on tour. The woman at the
     embassy knew all about them, and Nick didn’t tell her why he wanted to contact them.
     He was afraid she’d think he was crazy too.
    Nick and Alex drafted a letter then, asking them to hire and sponsorhim, with a description of the horses he could bring with him, and explaining the
     documentation he needed from them. They drove to the post office to mail it, and then
     they went to the manor house to tell Paul what they’d done. He thought it was an intriguing
     idea, although he insisted on paying Alex, too, if it worked. Nick would be taking
     some of his best horses. And Alex said he had an old railroad car they could use for
     the ship to transport them. He was even beginning to convince Nick as they discussed
     the plan. Nick wanted to go riding after that, but Alex wouldn’t let him. He said
     they had work to do.
    “What kind of work? Do you want to look at your forest land again?” Nick liked that
     idea too. It would distract him and get his mind off his problems.
    “You have a circus act to learn, my friend,” Alex said in a stern tone, “and after
     we teach you what you need to know, we’ll work with the boys.” Nick could see he was
     dead serious, and this time he didn’t laugh. They drove back to Schloss Altenberg,
     and Alex pushed him hard all afternoon, showing him how to work the Lipizzaners, and
     how to direct them by voice commands. And then he had him ride Pluto around the ring,
     again and again, taking the big white stallion through his paces and everything he
     knew how to do. And then he had him work with Nina, the Lipizzaner mare, and an Arabian
     stallion.
    “Your horses are a lot smarter than I am,” Nick said finally. “I keep forgetting what
     to do. They don’t.” They were impeccably trained.
    “They’ll remind you. They’re smarter than I am sometimes too.” Alex had done nothing
     but instruct him, with infinite patience, all afternoon in his style and their liberty
     commands. And he made Nick repeat what he learned again and again. He was a hard taskmaster,
     and incredibly patient, and Nick was impressed.
    It was an arduous week in Alex’s hands. He was relentless in his training of Nick,
     teaching him how to work as one with the horses, and then he included the boys. Responses
     to Paul’s letters began to drift in, all of them negative. No one had a job for Nick
     or felt they could sponsor him and the boys. Their only hope now was the circus, and
     as they waited for an answer, Alex continued to work with Nick and the boys. Paul
     came to see them in the stables several times, and was impressed by what he saw, and
     Marianne came every day after school to watch them. They looked very professional
     to her by then. Toby was still a little shy, but Lucas was irresistible and a natural.
     He rode one of the Lipizzaners bareback, and Alex taught him how to leap from one
     to the other, and both the mare and the stallion were willing to let him do that.
     If the circus hired them, Alex was going to give them Pluto, and the mare called Nina.
     She was ten years old, but beautifully trained and a steady ride. And he had already
     handpicked six Arabians for them, all from his best stock. He insisted that he could
     spare them, and that he had so many horses that he would hardly notice. But Nick knew
     that Pluto had been promised to the Spanish Riding School, and Alex would have a hard
     time replacing him. And Alex persisted in refusing to be paid.
    A full two weeks after Nick had sent the circus the