Page 89 of Her Guarded Hero

“You compete?” Elsa asked.

Aurora watched the two women together. It was an odd conversation, Lindy was definitely suspicious of something.

Dennis put his arm around Aurora and walked her over to the entrance of the arena. “Those two seem to be hitting it off,” he said. “Look, I’m late meeting a new client, so I’ll leave you in Elsa and Chuck’s capable hands.” He bent over and kissed Aurora’s cheek. “Tell your grandfather I expect to see him at the next horseshow in Reno.”

“Will do, Dennis,” Aurora smiled.

She turned to see Chuck, Lindy and Elsa all talking. She went back to them.

“Just in time,” Elsa said with a sunny smile. “Chuck told me that you’re interested in seeing my new training facilities. I would love to show you. You just have to promise not to tell anyone about it,” she said coyly.

Ick. Elsa being coy was not attractive. Judging by the look on Lindy’s face she was thinking the same thing. Aurora stole a glance at Chuck and saw the man looking happy for the first time. Apparently, he liked coy.

Ick again.

“Let’s take one of the SUV’s,” Elsa said as they exited the training arena. “I hurt my hip doing a jump a couple of days ago. What with you being pregnant, and me needing to take it easy, it makes sense,” Elsa said. “Mort!” she called out to a ranch hand that was walking from the office to the arena. “We need a driver.”

“Coming, Mizz Lyle.” The man looked like a linebacker.

“Come sit in the back with me Aurora. I want to hear what’s been going on at Valhalla.” Aurora kept Elsa entertained the half mile to the outlying buildings. It was the friendliest Elsa had ever been. Maybe flirting with Chuck was giving her a new lease on life.

“What’s the new training program you’re doing with the horses?” Aurora asked.

“It’s when the horses fail using regular methods. We just use a little more attention and tender loving care. I know you would approve of that Aurora.”

“What do you do specifically?” Aurora asked.

“Some of the horses have done marvelously well. You know Sutter? He took Gold at Rio,” Elsa said proudly.

Aurora remembered Sutter. He had done really well. “What’s he doing now? I haven’t heard of him competing in any other events since Rio.” Mort opened the door for Aurora to get out of the vehicle and Chuck got Elsa’s door. Aurora noted that Lindy was on her own.

“We put him out to stud.”

They walked toward the corrugated building with Chuck in front, then Lindy and Mort behind her. Chuck unlocked the door.

Aurora turned to Elsa, “Why did you put Sutter out to stud? He was at the top of his game, I would have thought that he would do more events and compete in the next Olympics.”

“What the fuck?” Lindy yelled.

Aurora whirled around in time to see Mort shoving her cousin through the doorway of the darkened building. Then she heard a sickening thump.

“What happened? Lindy!”

“Shut up and get in there.” Elsa pushed Aurora. She didn’t need to, she had to get to Lindy. When she got through the door she saw that the far back corner of the building was illuminated. She heard the sound of horses whinnying, but for once she didn’t care. Instead she was focused on Lindy. Oh God, please say she wasn’t dead.

Aurora slammed down to her knees and felt for a pulse and sobbed with relief when she felt one in Lindy’s neck.

“We need to get rid of them,” Elsa said. “And this time don’t fuck it up. I need you to make it look like an accident.”

Aurora stared up at a woman she’d known for years. Things became pathetically clear. “You’ve been abusing these horses to get the results you wanted.”

“Not all of them,” Elsa said. “A lot of them didn’t need extra incentives. But some of them, like Sutter, needed a firmer hand.”

“You whipped him.”

Elsa nodded in agreement. “Used sharper nosebands and Rollkur too. But in the end Sutter was a champion. Of course, I also ended up with some rejects,” she said dismissively.

Chuck snorted. “Yeah, and somehow they kept ending up at your place.” He glared at Aurora as if it was her fault.