Dreams (21 page)

Ten minutes later, they were up in the school, with Luke riding around Ellie as she stood in the center. She knew exactly the routine of schooling exercises he usually did on Gabriel because Gabriel had sent her pictures of them, along with feelings of intense boredom. “OK, instead of doing lots of circles and serpentines, work on his transitions today,” Ellie called. “Mix things up, make it interesting—ride the corners, rectangles.”

Luke grinned, amused. “You know, I do like it when you're strict, Ellie.”

Ellie fixed him with a look. “Just do it!”

Focusing on the horse, Luke began to ride Gabriel through the different transitions—walk to trot, trot to canter, back down to walk, trot to halt, and walk to canter. Gabriel worked nicely, looking alert and responsive. “He's going well,” said Luke in surprise. “I'll try some lateral work.”

He began to add in leg yielding, turns on the forehand, and turns on the haunches.

“Try some circles now,” encouraged Ellie. “But leg yield out so they gradually get bigger rather than just going around and around.”

The two of them were utterly focused on the horse, and by the time they had finished, Gabriel was moving beautifully. Luke brought him to a halt, patting him. “That was so much better. Thanks.” He dismounted. “I don't know how you worked out what was wrong but it's made a massive difference. I can't believe it was as simple as him being bored.”

Ellie smiled. “And not liking your cell phone!”

“Maybe a change in ring tone?” Luke said, his eyes teasing. “I could try out different ones and see if there's one he likes—”

“No cell phone!” Ellie laughed. However much she disliked his behavior to Sasha, it was difficult to be angry with Luke for long.

They led Gabriel out of the school and down to the courtyard, but just as they reached it, Sasha came marching out of the tackroom. “What's this?” she demanded, thrusting Luke's cell phone angrily at him. “You're planning on meeting Anna again, tomorrow night? So were you going to tell me?”

Luke looked outraged. “You've been reading my texts!”

“Yeah. And lucky I did. It's over, Luke. Totally over. You're dumped!” Sasha threw the phone down on the ground and stormed off.

For a moment, there was silence.

“Here, I'll take Gabriel. You go after her,” Ellie said.

“Go after her? No way.” Luke chucked the reins at Ellie and went to pick up his phone, checking it for damage.

“Luke, she's upset and so she should be! You've been arranging to meet Anna behind her back!”

Luke shrugged. “It's no big deal. It was fun while it lasted but it's been two months now.” He took Gabriel from Ellie and led him to his stable.

Ellie went after him. “And that's a long time, is it?”

“For me!” he called over his shoulder.

Exasperation surged up inside her. She marched to the stable door. Luke was untacking Gabriel, patting him. As Ellie looked at him, caring for the horse, she felt herself falter, her anger fading a notch.

Luke saw her face. “Ellie,” he half pleaded. “Don't be mad with me. It's not as if Sasha and I were engaged. I'm not the type to settle down with one girl. I've never pretended otherwise.”

Ellie paused. “Don't you ever want to have a serious girlfriend?”

“I don't do serious.” Luke shrugged again. “If someone wants serious, they should go out with someone else.”

His gaze flicked to the farmhouse, to Joe's bedroom window. “So what about you? I thought for a while…you and Joe?”

“No!” Ellie said quickly. “No, no! Not me and Joe. We're just friends.”

Luke didn't speak for a few moments, taking off the brushing boots that Gabriel wore to protect his legs when he was being worked. “Has Len said anything about it?”

“No.” Ellie stared at him. “Why?”

“It's just I have a feeling he thinks there might be something going on.”

“Going on!” Ellie frowned. “But that's stupid! That's—”

Luke held up his hands. “Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I just thought you'd better know.”

“What's he said?” Ellie demanded.

“A few things in the last day or so, about watching you two carefully. Yesterday, he asked me if I thought there was anything between you.”

“Oh, great,” Ellie groaned, pushing a hand through her long hair.

“If there's nothing happening, then you haven't got a problem,” Luke pointed out, heaving the saddle off Gabriel's back and plonking it in her arms. “Right, all done. Thanks for helping.”

“No problem. And, Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for the warning about Uncle Len.”

“Any time.”

Ellie took the saddle to the tackroom, her thoughts going over what Luke had just said.

She decided to forget it; if her uncle wanted to be suspicious that was his problem. There were too many other things for her to think about—like Spirit not eating—without worrying about her uncle too.
He'll forget about it soon
, she thought.

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Linda Chapman grew up dreaming of being a writer and of riding in the Olympics. At least one of those came true. She has now written more than two hundred books including three very popular series:
My Secret Unicorn
,
Stardust
, and
Not Quite a Mermaid
. Although Chapman’s dreams of riding in the Olympics have been shelved (for now), she gives free rein to her horsey obsession by writing about horses whenever she is not writing about mermaids, fairies, or other magical creatures. She lives in Leicestershire, England, with her husband, three children, two dogs, and two ponies.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2011 by Linda Chapman

Cover design by Angela Goddard

ISBN: 978-1-4976-4255-3

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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