‘Come this way,’ Benjamin said, cutting her off and placing his hand to her back as he guided her. ‘I have some very special residents for you to meet.’
Rose didn’t like the way he’d interrupted her, but then she also understood that he might not want to talk about his former employer with her yet. She was asking him personal questions about a woman he’d clearly admired despite her old age—she would have to contact the lawyer to see what more she could uncover.
‘These are my polo ponies,’ Benjamin said, gesturing with his arm for her to look at all the horses blinking back at them, their heads over the half-doors of their stables. ‘Well, in fact some of them areyourpolo ponies that I have the privilege of riding, and I’m very much hoping to continue riding them.’
Rose nodded. She couldn’t get her head around the fact that she now owned the land they were standing on, let alone the horses that lived there. The past weeks and months were like a blur to her, and combined with the whirlwind trip to Argentina, it was all feeling more dream than reality.
‘There are so many of them,’ she said, counting a dozen as she looked up and down the row. ‘You need this many to play the sport?’
‘Some of them are old favourites, my high-goal ponies who’ve already proved themselves, and others are having their first season. It’s a busy stable.’
‘And the ones that are outside in the fields?’ she asked. ‘You don’t ride those ones?’
‘Some of them are youngstock that aren’t ready to be ridden yet, carefully bred with generations-old bloodlines, but Valentina also had a soft spot for the older horses, the ones that were retired from the game,’ he said, reaching out to touch the cheek of one of the equines as he stood beside the stall. ‘Many of the retired horses are rehomed privately, but those that were injured or simply too old would come back here to live out their days. She earmarked a significant amount of the property to be an equine retirement home of sorts.’
‘And if those older horses didn’t come here?’ she asked. ‘What would happen to them?’
Benjamin made a face and shook his head. ‘You don’t want to know. To many people, horses are too expensive to be cared for once they have no purpose. The ones that see out their days here are the lucky ones.’
Rose nodded. She was impressed with what she’d heard so far—she couldn’t not be—but she was also starting to realise just what she’d taken on when she’d signed the inheritance papers. Once the property was transferred into her name, her responsibilities would stretch further than just propertymaintenance, and the thought terrified her as much as it thrilled her. She now had fields full of retired ponies who would rely on her for their ongoing care.
‘Would you like me to give you a tour on horseback or on foot this afternoon?’ Benjamin asked, his smile impossible to look away from.
‘On foot,’ she replied. ‘Polo might be in my blood, but this girl likes to keep her feet firmly on the ground.’
It was then that she thought of her mum, a memory that hit her without warning as she remembered the last time she’d said those exact words, when her mother was trying to convince her to have a go at skiing. Rose had been too nervous to learn as an adult, but now when she looked back, she wished she’d said yes, just because it would have meant they’d spent even more time doing something together.
She looked away and pretended to be studying one of the horses, even reaching out to lift her hand to its muzzle. She was surprised how gently the horse touched her back, its breath warm against her outstretched palm.
‘Actually,’ Rose said, quickly wiping at her eyes before turning back to Benjamin. ‘If we can go slow, perhaps?—’
‘Horseback it is then,’ Benjamin said, looking delighted with her answer even though she hadn’t even finished her sentence.
‘So long as we goveryslow. This is all new to me, remember,’ she said.
He nodded, his smile reaching his eyes and making her so pleased that she’d run after him to say hello. Even though she’d just arrived, she hated the thought of being alone in the large house, so to know that someone was on the property was reassuring. And she had the feeling that the more time she spent with him, the more she’d find out about the Santiago family.
‘I need to go and exercise some of the ponies before it gets too hot,’ he said, ‘but if there’s anything else I can help you with while you’re here…’
‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’ll just make my way back to the house and read through the endless pages of documents the lawyer gave me yesterday.’
‘I’ll come by the house later this afternoon for that tour,’ he said, nodding before taking a step backward. ‘And please, I hope you’ve already forgotten all about our first encounter, but if not, I hope you’ll accept my apology. I’m not usually so unfriendly to strangers.’
Rose believed him; she could see how warm and charming he was, and she returned his easy smile.
‘Actually, Benjamin,’ Rose said, as he was turning to walk away. She studied him for a moment, not sure whether to show it to him but knowing that she’d regret it later if she didn’t. She reached into her pocket and took out the horse figurine that she’d been carrying around all morning, rubbing her thumb over the groove of its body as she always did when it was in her hand. ‘Before you go, there’s something I’d like to show you.’
‘Show me?’ he asked.
Rose slowly opened her palm, looking from the figurine to his face as she asked the question. ‘I wondered if you might recognise this.’
His sharp intake of breath and the way he immediately reached for it told her that he more than recognised it. Benjamin’s face had drained of colour, and part of her wished she hadn’t shown him.
‘Recognise it?’ he said, as if she’d asked him a joke, his eyes meeting hers. ‘Of course I recognise it. Rose, this was carved by my great-grandfather.’
She watched as he stared down at it, silent until he slowly looked back up at her.
‘What I’d like to know is exactly how this came to be in your possession.’
