He had never seen a better horsewoman than Olive Harper.
Woman, full stop.
Horseman, full stop.
Eli didn’t have words to describe the ease with which she led Duke through his paces, showing off to magnificent effect. They were not horse and rider, but rather an all-powerful Centaur, sent to Earth by the gods as a trick to play on mere mortals.
The man who married Olive Harper would be a lucky devil indeed.
As the gossips were fond of saying, there was no hope of “taming” Miss Harper, which in Eli’s opinion was the best part. She was wild and free and reckless and capable. She didn’t need anyone to rescue her. Shewasthe adventure.
She waved her gloved fingers at him, then took off over the snow-covered field, a brown blur flying over hills of white until she disappeared behind a thicket of trees.
Eli grinned to himself. Ten days suddenly didn’t seem long enough. Perhaps he would enjoy parts of this.
While he waited for her to return, he idly tossed bits of carrot at the lone remaining horse from a safe distance.
Rudolph gazed at him suspiciously, nudging each cube of orange carrot with his nose without taking a single bite.
Caution was good. Caution waswise.
Miss Harper was a goddess and gods could be tricky.
Eli did not wish toundo the kiss he’d shared with her all those years ago. He wanted toredo it.
He hated that he could not rewrite past history, no matter how hard he tried. Eli could beg for forgiveness all he pleased, but they both knew he didn’t deserve it.
It was a miracle she was even out here, spending her valuable time... with...
Eli burst out laughing and chucked the last bits of carrot at Rudolph. “She’s not coming back, is she?”
Rudolph shook his head with a disgruntled snort and ambled away.
Round one, to Miss Harper.
Chapter 4
The Second Day
Dawn streamed from the horizon the following morning as Olive paid her usual early morning call upon her horses.
She took a loud bite from the tip of a carrot before feeding the rest to Duke.
Sharing the carrots was their secret custom. She couldn’t allow anyone to catch her at it, though today there was no need to worry on that score. The servants wouldn’t return until the first of January, and as for Elijah Weston... Notongentleman worth his salt would dare rise before noon.
Olive had the horses to herself, just as she liked it.
There were many more to attend to than the four bloods she’d introduced Weston to, of course. In addition to mares, the Harper farm boasted dozens of yearlings, many of which had caught the interest of wealthy tourists, and would travel to new homes after the Yuletide.
Olive loved every one of her horses. She adored training them, riding them, and caring for them in ways both large and small, from tending to daily maintenance to assisting with difficult births.
This farm was her life.
She would not allow a ghost from her past to ruin it.
“Miss Harper?” called a low, gravelly voice. “Are you in the stables?”
Of course she was in the stables. The question was what the devil Weston was doing out and about at dawn. This was her home.
