When Only Diamonds Will Do by Lindsay Armstrong Read Free Book Online

still flighty, still to partake in their first official yearling sale, still, some of them, with short bushy tails and frizzy manes.
    The stud-master sat with them on a stand in the parade ring and gave them a run-down on the horses’ breeding as the little ones pranced around the ring.
    ‘Will you buy today?’ Kim asked Reith.
    He shook his head. ‘Some of them are barely broken in to lead, some aren’t, but it’s interesting to be able tokeep track of them from an earlier age, before they hit the sales ring.’
    ‘Do you have your own trainer?’
    ‘No. I spread them around: Perth, Melbourne, Sydney.’
    Kim frowned. ‘How many horses do you have in training?’
    He rubbed his jaw. ‘About twenty.’
    Kim swallowed. She had a very good idea how much that would cost. ‘Many winners?’
    ‘Not yet.’ He looked down at her amusedly. ‘Haven’t been in the game that long.’
    ‘Rescuing businesses in trouble must be profitable,’ she commented.
    He said nothing and they walked in silence for a while. They were on their own now; the stud-master had left them after inviting them to have a wander around.
    It was a cool, overcast day, unusual for the time of year. Kim wore jeans, boots and a navy leather bomber jacket, whereas Reith had a lined anorak over his shirt and jeans and suede desert boots.
    Kim remembered him handling the horses when they’d visited the foals still with their mums in the paddock. It was obvious he knew his horses—a man after my own heart, she thought with a fleeting smile.
    Now, as they strolled along a swept path, a sharp little breeze got up and she moved closer to him.
    ‘Feels as if it’s come up from the Antarctic, that breeze,’ she said with a shiver.
    He put an arm around her and drew her towards a creeper-covered shelter with a bench inside. Inside, asthey sank down onto the bench, they found themselves protected from the breeze but he pulled her closer.
    She breathed deeply and nestled against him but at the same time she had no idea what was coming next between them.
    ‘So, back to work tomorrow,’ he murmured.
    ‘Mmm …’
    ‘Looking forward to it?’
    Kim hesitated and, rather than answering, asked a question herself. ‘What will you be doing?’
    ‘I’m off to points north for a few weeks.’
    A little of the Antarctic chill seemed to enter her soul, let in, she thought, by the casualness of his words but, not only that, by the lack of detail.
    The thought transferred to a larger issue between them—the lack of
all
she knew about him. And refused to ask now, yes, she acknowledged, despite how close she felt to him. She couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be than sitting close to him, breathing in his essence, conscious of his bulk and strength, but there was a huge mental divide between them.
    She moistened her lips and asked another question. ‘Reith, how did we come to this?’
    ‘You don’t think we should have come to “this”?’ he queried.
    ‘I’m just a bit surprised, but that’s not what I meant,’ Kim confessed. ‘To begin with I saw us more as adversaries…well, maybe not that so much, but enjoying fencing, verbally, with each other. Now—’
    ‘You tend to forget—’ he interrupted ‘—that one glimpse of your legs nearly drove me into a tree.’
    Kim laughed softly. ‘You were furious with me at the time, though,’ she reminded him and deepened her voice.
‘Lady—are you mad?’
    He grimaced.
    ‘But this is what I still don’t know—are you trying to seduce me or not?’ She leant her head on his shoulder.
    He loosened one hand and slipped some strands of her hair under her cheek. ‘I can’t tell a lie,’ he conceded. ‘Well, the thought of going to bed with you, Kimberley Theron, is, paradoxically, keeping me awake at night.’
    She moved her cheek on the fabric of his jacket. ‘I must say I’ve also thought about it.’ She looked up into his eyes. ‘You must know that. Not—’ she pulled herself out of