Page 59

“Nah, but there were rumors going around that you might move out of the cottage to get your own place.” Teddy reached up to pat her hand on his arm. “I’m glad you’re back. Several of your students showed up yesterday for their lessons.”

Knowing she’d missed her lessons made her wince. She forced a reassuring smile. “I’m glad to be back too.” She couldn’t deny that just being close to the horses again made her feel better. “Let’s head inside to check on Syracuse and Goldie.” Now that she’d come this far, she was determined to see the horses.

“Mr. Bonner, has Mr. Murphy returned with Fiona’s Folly from the race?” Doc asked as they stepped inside the dark barn.

“Call me Teddy, nobody uses formal titles here.” Teddy frowned, then added, “Yes, Fiona’s Folly is back. Liam returned late last night.”

Her assumption about her father spending the night in Lexington had been wrong.

“Where is Fiona’s Folly?” Rex asked.

“We keep him separate from the other horses. As a stallion, he can be a little temperamental,” Teddy said. “And we have extra security cameras on his stall because he’s so valuable. From what I hear, several adjacent farms are already looking for Fiona’s Folly to sire their next foal.”

She didn’t pay much attention to that statement as the news was no surprise. Of course, horse owners would be scrambling for the chance to raise offspring of the horse that just won a little over four million dollars. She headed down the main aisle of the barn straight toward Syracuse’s stall. The chestnut gelding turned toward her, hanging his head over the edge of the stall. She instantly reached up to stroke his velvet nose.

“Hey, boy. I heard you missed me.” Tears pricked her eyes as she realized how badly she’d missed him too. Syracuse bobbed his head up and down as if agreeing with her. His coat was silky smooth, a testament to the great care and treatment Teddy had provided in her absence.

“I’ll get a lead rope so you can take him outside,” Teddy said. “Then I’ll bring Goldie too.”

Goldie was a stout yellow quarter horse. Fiona used both Syracuse and Goldie for riding lessons, based on the needs of her students. Goldie was for the newbies and younger kids, while her older, more experienced students rode Syracuse. And she had three teenagers who were learning how to jump.

That was the part of teaching she enjoyed the most.

Rex and Doc stood back as she led Syracuse outside. They looked as if they wanted to protest her actions, and she understood why they were annoyed. Clearly, they had not come here so she could ride.

“I just want to put him in the corral, then we’ll discuss our next steps,” she said, leading the chestnut bay past them.

Rex and Doc stood off to the side, clearly not as comfortable around the horses as she was. Just thinking of Doc on horseback made her smile.

Teddy quickly joined her with Goldie. Goldie and Syracuse touched noses briefly, before Syracuse trotted off, shaking his head and sending his mane flying. He preferred to be outdoors, rather than cooped up in the barn.

She noticed several lights glowing from the windows of the big house, which appeared to be another three-quarters of a mile from the barn. Evidence, she supposed, of her father being home. Apparently, he was an early riser too.

Now that she was looking at the house she grew up in, she decided the best approach would be to simply walk up and confront her father. With Rex and Doc there, he could hardly hurt her. Her father was in his late fifties and no match for two young and armed former soldiers.

As she turned to suggest that plan, she frowned at the silhouette of a man coming around the corner the other side of the barn, opposite of the side they’d used, which was adjacent to her cottage. Another groom?

The guy stepped clear of the barn. She gasped when moonlight bathed his features. He was roughly her age with curly dark hair.

Patrick! Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. He was her cousin Patrick, the only son of Seamus who just happened to be her father’s identical twin brother. On the heels of that realization, more memories tumbled back.

She’d heard them! She’d heard Seamus and Patrick conspiring to fix the race! And when she’d confronted them, they’d pulled a gun on her! She’d turned and ran from behind the main house toward her car, which had been in the driveway. She’d taken off, but Patrick and some other guy, one of her cousin’s friends, had given chase, firing at her, which had caused her to crash.

“Hey, who are you?” Patrick demanded, stopping short when he saw Rex and Doc.

There was no time to waste. She bolted across the corral toward Syracuse. The horse reared up at first, but the moment his front hooves hit the ground, she reached up to grab a fistful of his mane. Then pulled herself up and onto his bare back.

“Fiona!” Doc yelled her name, sprinting forward.

“Patrick is involved and so is my uncle Seamus! I must warn my father!” She shouted the words over her shoulder, hoping Doc would hear and understand. Then she leaned low over Syracuse’s back, tightening her knees to keep her seat.

She didn’t normally jump the gelding without a saddle, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her. She urged him forward, heading straight toward the side of the corral closest to the house. With her fingers wrapped tightly in his mane, she breathed a prayer as Syracuse gathered himself to jump, sailing easily over the fence. From there, her horse made short work of closing the gap between her and the main house.

As she rode, memories rolled through her mind. Most importantly of all, she knew Fiona’s Folly hadn’t won the last race fair and square. Her uncle Seamus and cousin Patrick had hired at least one if not two men to drug Savior’s Journey, rigging the race. And when they were caught by the horse’s trainer, Calvin Jacobson, they’d eliminated him too.

Killing him.

And she knew that was because Seamus owned one-fourth of Fiona’s Folly. Not only did that give him a quarter of the winning purses, roughly a million dollars, but there would be an ongoing gain too.