“So you do know how to behave!” she said, feeding him two carrot bits before laying her cheek against his and winding her arms around his neck.
She stayed there, absorbing the living warmth and latent power of the huge creature as he stood still, allowing a puny human to keep him there. She heard his heart pumping, his lungs drawing in air, his tail swishing at flies, and a crazy idea formed in her mind.
She let him go and stepped back to look into his eyes.
“When was the last time someone rode you?”
“Honey, you told me flat out you don’t know how to ride, and Darkside ain’t exactly a starter horse.” Sharon stood in the middle of her office and looked at Julia like she had two heads. “Hell, I haven’t tried to ride him since he bucked me off six months ago. It’s not worth the bruises.”
“I was just in the paddock with him,” Julia said, winding her hands together almost in a prayer. “He let me lead him around in circles and figure eights and even back him up.”
“I know. George told me.”
“George was watching?”
“He knew he’d better keep an eye on the devil horse.”
Julia crossed her arms. “He’s not a devil horse. He’s just not used to being good.”
Sharon crossed her arms in response. “Look, I may be softhearted about horses but I’m not crazy. Darkside is more than a handful for an experienced rider. There is no way I’m putting a beginner up on his back. Can you imagine what Taggart would say to me?” She shook her head.
The mention of Paul only increased Julia’s sense of urgency. She put her hand on Sharon’s forearm. “My uncle arrives tomorrow, and he’s more protective than Paul. If I don’t do this now, I’ll never have another chance and Darkside won’t, either.” She sensed a softening in Sharon. “You wouldn’t have brought the horse here if you didn’t believe he could be redeemed. Let me help him.”
She didn’t mention that Darkside would be helping her at the same time. It was time to face her Night Mare. The cause of her epilepsy. If she didn’t, she would never really believe she was cured.
Julia kept talking. “You’ll be right there the whole time, leading him, no faster than a walk. I’ll just sit quiet as mouse on his back.” Sharon started to shake her head again, and Julia injected every ounce of pleading she could muster into her voice. “Please!”
Sharon sighed. “Since I believe in whisper horses, I reckon I have to believe he won’t hurt you. Not deliberately anyhow.” She grabbed a pair of gloves off her desk and strode toward the door. Julia skipped along beside her as Sharon found George and told him to bring Darkside’s saddle and bridle to the paddock.
“You lookin’ to get dumped again?” the groom asked his boss.
“I’m lookin’ to get some tack out to the paddock without any smart-ass comments from you,” Sharon said.
George harrumphed and headed for the tack room.
“Okay, here are the rules,” Sharon said as she walked toward the paddock. “Well, there’s one rule: I make the rules. You do whatever I say without question.”
Julia’s heartbeat was already accelerating with nerves. “Whatever you say goes.”
“Remember that when you get up on Darkside and everything’s going smoothly and you decide you want to gallop.”
Julia’s breath hitched. “Gallop? I might be rash, but I’m not suicidal.”
“Could have fooled me,” Sharon muttered under her breath as they approached the paddock gate.
“Sharon, did Darkside really cripple his previous owner?”
“I guess Paul told you that. Yeah, he did, but I knew that son of a bitch Earl Samms and I’m willing to bet he deserved it. Earl abused his horses to make them afraid of him. He liked the feeling of power when a big, strong Thoroughbred would back away from him in terror. It worked until he met up with a horse who didn’t believe in backing away.” Sharon reached the gate and stopped.
“So what happened?”
“According to the groom who saw it, Earl went into Darkside’s stall with a whip, saying he was going to teach the horse a lesson. He thought he had Darkside tied up tight enough to keep him still while he beat him, but that stud is strong to begin with and anger added power to those big muscles.” Sharon’s eyes were on the stallion where he stood in the paddock and her tone was admiring. “He broke both the ropes Earl used on him and stomped the hell out of his abuser.”
“So he was just defending himself,” Julia said.
“Only reason Earl’s alive is the fool groom risked his own life by going into the stall and dragging him out,” Sharon said. “At least Earl sold all his horses so he can’t torture them anymore.”