Page 36 of Winning Her Duke

She was too distracted to think more on it. Something had to be done immediately. She handed Owen the silly parasol.

“Excuse me!” Gia shouted toward the man watching Dante’s warm up. She called louder and earned his attention only briefly before he dismissed her.

“They won’t listen to ye, lass,” Owen said, his normal frown deeper than usual. “Even if it would guarantee them a win, they’ll not consider the words of a woman. Let them lose. Then maybe you can buy back your horse at a discounted price.” He growled as he fought to close the parasol.

“You know Dante gets depressed when he loses. I’ll not have it.”

She called out again and this time the man turned briefly to look at her as if she were a nuisance, then turned away again. Well, if that’s how he wanted to play it, she could be an utter nuisance.

As she began removing her glove, Owen growled.

“Don’t do it, lass.”

“Do what?” Hale watched her curiously.

“There’s nothing to come of it.” Owen gave another warning just as Gia placed her thumb and middle finger at the edges of her mouth and gave three shrill whistles in a distinct measure.

At the sound, Dante stopped, reared back to toss the rider from his back, and trotted over to where she stood. He tossed his head once before placing the flat of his face against her chest.

“What just happened?” Hale asked.

“He’s trained to come when I call. I didn’t train him to toss a rider to do so, but I can’t say that I blame him since the bastard was using a crop on him.” She ran a hand down his smooth sable coat, comforting her friend.

The man who had dismissed her earlier, came over quickly.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“I see I have your attention now,” she said as the man tried unsuccessfully to pull Dante away from her. “You’re not getting the most speed from this horse.”

“He’s plenty fast to win.”

“Against Loiterer? No, I’m afraid not. And before you ask me how I know, I cannot say, but I can see he’s not running at peak performance.”

“Miss Gia Landon?” The man gasped, his eyes gone wide.

The Jockey Club did not allow horses who were trained by women to compete, so the documents submitted all had Owen’s name on them as trainer. But some people knew the truth.

“Yes.”

The man’s demeanor changed instantly and he bowed toward her, sparing a quick glance for the duke at her elbow.

“It is an honor.”

“Thank you.” She brushed off the silliness and got back to business. “Do you wish to have him perform at top speed for the race today?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then get rid of the crop. He doesn’t like it. It is distracting him from doing what he was trained to do. Your rider need only guide him between his opponents. Dante will run as fast as he can if your rider loosens his grip on the reins and lets him have his head a bit.”

The man called the disgruntled rider over who also changed his demeanor when he learned her identity. She had no idea she was so well-known and was concerned she put the horse at risk of being disqualified since she was a woman and, therefore, unable to train a horse.

She glanced at Hale feeling slightly embarrassed to find him beaming at her with pride.

She went through her instructions again with the rider. Owen added a few suggestions as well regarding Dante’s starting response.

The men thanked her and offered Gia and her guests access to their box near the finish line to watch the race. Gia would have rather watched from the starting line, but Owen had been impressed with the offer and she didn’t want to disappoint him.

“I should probably have stopped you from giving them advice on Dante, so I had a better chance of winning against him with Godspell at Epsom.” Hale winked, most likely to let her know he was only teasing, but the gesture made her breath catch in her chest.