“Peter, take a breath, will you,” she said in a calm voice. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Fine! You just paid thirty thousand dollars for a horse no one can ride!”
“He’s magnificent. Even you should be able to see that. And his bloodlines are impeccable.”
“Being distantly related to nobility hasn’t made him a gentleman.”
“He can clear any jump you put in front of him.”
“And usually without his rider! That personality of his is better suited for the rodeo than show jumping. Even better, put him in a ring with a red cape and he’d give any matador a run for his money.”
People were starting to gather around them, fascinated by her outrageous bid and the ensuing argument. A.J. didn’t care but it irked her to watch Peter get more flamboyant as their audience grew. He loved attention, and seeing him bloom under the eyes of strangers made her remember the one toothpaste commercial he’d been in as a child. He’d paraded around for months afterward like he’d won an Oscar, and the thirty-second spot had led him to believe he was destined for stardom. The afterglow of speaking the words Minty-fresh, Mommy! into a camera had lasted twenty years.
“You’re overreacting,” she told him, trying to get one more look at the stallion as the stable hands began to lead the horse away.
“And you’re out of control! I run a stable of winners. Some of the best bloodlines in the country are under our roof and I won’t let you bring a beast like that into their midst.”
“He’s not a beast—”
“That thing tossed his rider, ran out of the ring and trampled half the crowd at the Oak Bluff Jumper Classic.”
“That’s in the past.”
“That was last week.”
“He’s going to be a champion. You’ll see.”
“The stallion’s dangerous and unpredictable. What makes you think he’s suddenly going to turn into a winner?”
“Because I’m going to be riding him.”
Peter snorted. “I doubt you could hang on to him long enough to get both feet into the stirrups.”
A mix of bravado and frustration made A.J.’s voice louder than she’d meant it to be when she replied, “You’ll see. I’m going to take him into the Qualifier two months from now.”
People around them gasped.
At that moment, a shout of alarm rang out from up front. When she turned around, she saw several stable hands bolting in different directions, diving for cover. Then, just as suddenly, everyone in the crowd was scrambling for safety. The stallion had broken free from his handlers, leapt into the cordoned-off area where the crowd had watched the auction and burst into the throng of people, scattering them like marbles across a floor.
Not again, A.J. thought, sparing Peter a glance as they both ran for it. His face was vacillating between a self-satisfied I-told-you-so look and one of naked fear as the horse charged toward them with thundering hooves.
Most people, being of sound mind, ran out of the ring, but a few brave souls rushed forward, spreading their arms wide in a semicircle around the animal. They were going to try to corral the horse through an open gate that led into an unoccupied paddock, but the stallion seemed to know what they were after. The horse made a beeline at the men instead of falling for their ploy, and they fell aside, trying not to get trampled.
Mission accomplished, the stallion raced on, ready for more action, his lead line streaming behind him like a banner. Chaos reigned as people shouted and cursed and it dawned on A.J. that the horse looked delighted at all the trouble he was causing. He’d broken free of his captors, terrified the crowd and was enjoying himself thoroughly by chasing after stragglers.
If he were human, he’d be laughing, she thought.
Peter’s voice was furious in her ear. “I can’t believe you want to bring this demon home!”
She smiled as the stallion galloped by, a black blur. He was limber and graceful, with the strength of steel in his muscles. “Look at him go.”
“Straight to hell if I get to pick where to send him.”
After another ten minutes of people trying to get control of the horse and failing, A.J. tugged her baseball cap down tight and stepped into the ring. She caught the stallion’s eye immediately. Pegging her with a dark look, he rushed at her, only to come to a screeching halt a few yards away when she refused to move. Dirt kicked up around him in a cloud and he pawed the ground in warning, throwing his head up and down.
Instead of showing fear, A.J. put her hands into the pockets of her jeans. A silence fell over the crowd.
She could see the horse mulling over his options. Someone standing their ground in front of him was something new and he seemed confused.
“All right, you’ve had your fun,” A.J. said in a low voice. “Now it’s time to behave yourself.”
As if he understood her, he shook his magnificent head and whinnied a loud denial. He was breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring widely, but she knew it was more for drama than from exertion. Even after bolting around the ring like a madman running from sanity, he hadn’t broken a sweat across his gleaming black coat.
While they squared off, A.J. was looking at him with a calm disregard, as if he were a temperamental two-year-old. Inside, however, her instincts were sharp. She tracked every movement he made, noting the subtle twitching in the muscle fibers of his deep barrel chest and the beat of his heart in the veins just under his slick coat. She was searching for any advance warning that he was going to lunge at her, any hint as to what his next move might be.
After all, she might be daring but she wasn’t stupid. It didn’t take her years of experience with horses to know she had to be extremely careful when staring down an animal like Sabbath. A half ton of stallion backed by the personality of a pro wrestler didn’t make for safety. It was a dangerous situation. And a thrilling one.
“You know, you may have missed your calling.” She took a step forward, continuing to talk. “You’d make an excellent steamroller.”
Sabbath snorted and reared up on his haunches for show.
“I’ll make a deal with you,” she said, stopping when she was only a couple of feet from him. “You calm down and come with me and I’ll help you put all that energy to more constructive use.”
She smiled at her own words, thinking it was probably like asking a rugby player to turn in his cleats for a pair of tap shoes.
While the horse seemed to be considering her proposal, A.J. pictured herself saddling him up and mounting him for the first time.