Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 1.1 - Sometimes You Just Know (3 page)

But the rider clambers back onto the mare, jerking at her mouth so savagely that Justin almost intervenes. He feels his mother rest a restraining hand on his arm and tries to calm himself; they're looking to buy, not to start a fight. His eyes go towards the man who had just handed the horse over, and Justin thinks he can see a similar battle playing across his handsome features.

Then the rider starts in with his crop. Justin honestly can't tell if the man is even giving orders to the horse, if she's being punished for refusing to obey or just being punished. The rider is raising his arm and bringing the crop down with his full strength against her flank, all the while jerking on the bit and digging in with his heels. It's far too much; there are differing opinions about the use of physical correction, but there's no way this is anything but abuse, and Justin ducks under the railing before he's even aware that he's doing it. This time Molly makes no move to stop him.

He's too late, though. Dan has sprung forward already, and he reaches up to grab the rider's wrist and bend it backwards. His voice is a low growl, but Justin is close enough to hear. "If you hit that horse one more damn time, I'm gonna shove the fucking crop up your ass."

The rider looks at him in shock, and then his bluster returns. "Get your hands off of me! Who the hell are you anyway?"
"I'm the guy who's gonna shove your crop up your ass if you hit that horse one more time." The voice is low, but intense, and Justin hopes the rider has sense enough to take the warning. There's a long, tense moment when it really looks like the rider is going to fight, but then there's a stir at

owner are talking.
"Larry, they'd like to try her out themselves now," the owner calls.
She seems just as oblivious to the violence in the air as she'd been to her
rider's earlier inadequacies, but Justin's mother is working on her, he can
tell.
Larry wrenches his arm free from the other man's grip and gives him
a dirty look before flipping his leg over and sliding off the horse. He
manages to give the horse's mouth one more jerk with the reins as he
hands them to Justin, and then he's stomping off towards the owner. The
mare is trembling again, and Justin really doesn't want to ride her. She
deserves a rub down and a hot mash and some relaxing time in the pasture.
But that's not going to happen if she stays at this barn, and Justin knows he
can't justify buying her based on what she's shown them so far. Dan steps to her head and pulls at her ears as he blows soothingly
into her nostrils, and Justin can almost feel the tension draining out of her
body. "Do you think she's okay for a couple jumps?" Justin asks quietly. Dan looks up as if noticing Justin for the first time, and Justin hunts
for any sign of recognition in his eyes. He finds nothing. "I can lower the
rails on that one…" Dan nods to the far side of the arena. "You could take
her over it a couple times while I rebuild the combination. And if you took
her through it with just a rail on the ground, she could get over her nerves
and be ready for some height the next time…"
Justin nods. He needs to put thoughts of Dan out of his mind and
focus on the task at hand, and it sounds like a good plan. Then he
remembers the rider's words. "Wait, do you even work here? Are you okay
doing all this?"
Dan looks him in the eye, and he feels a flutter somewhere in his
core. He has to force himself to listen to the words of the reply. "I'm
actually just here to pick up a horse. But they won't be ready to help me
until they're done with you, so… if I can speed you along, that's good for
me."

"Yeah, I know," Dan responds, but then he just nods towards the horse. "You'll need to walk her a bit, get used to her…"
Justin isn't sure how to handle this dismissal…he's really not used to people not wanting to get to know him. But Dan is right about the horse, so he adjusts the stirrups and swings up onto her back. Once he's settled, Dan moves away from her head and walks over to the jump without acknowledging Justin at all. That's frustrating, but Justin tries to focus on the horse.
He walks the mare a bit, gets her used to her new rider, and the new way of working. He doesn't even try for collection; he'd seen enough of her in the paddock to know that she's got potential, but he's sure he's going to have to put some work in before she'll be relaxed and supple, considering her recent experiences. He brings her to the trot, just loose and at her own speed, and then a canter. Her ears prick forward when she sees the jump Dan has lowered for them, but Justin turns her away a few times, tries to get her a little calmer. It's good to know that she still enjoys jumping, at least.
When he finally takes her over the low jump, she bunches her muscles and takes off like she's leaping the Grand Canyon. It surprised Justin a bit, and he has to work to keep himself from dragging his weight off her already-abused mouth, but he manages, and she lands well and takes off at a gallop. That'll be useful for cross country, Justin thinks as he tries to gently bring her under control, but it's not really appropriate for stadium jumping. And then his mind is back on Dan. He has a moment of panic, thinking that the man might leave again, that Justin could lose this opportunity, but he remembers that Dan had said he had to wait for this ride to be done, and when he looks around, he sees Dan leaning against one of the fences, watching Justin ride.

effectively than his own efforts to pay attention had. It would be nice to impress the man. But he reminds himself not to try to be flashy, or show off; it's not in Justin's nature, and besides, he thinks and hopes that Dan has enough sense to see through that sort of thing. Justin works on calming the mare down, using his seat and his hands, relaxing his body… she still rushes the next jump a little, but she's much easier to control when she lands, and Justin thinks he sees Dan nod a little. Or at least he hopes he sees that.

He doesn't do much more with her; he's got as good an idea of her abilities as he can get without pushing her harder than he wants to. He brings her to a walk, and lets her start cooling down. He thinks he'll recommend that the family makes an offer for her; he just hopes they can figure out a way to keep Larry off of her until they have a price sorted out. He also hopes he can find time to talk to Dan. Or at least figure out some way to keep the guy from slipping out of his life again. Justin catches himself—when had Dan ever been
in
his life? This isn't like him, building up one little incident into some sort of imaginary relationship.

Still, he feels a little stir of panic when he looks around the arena and can't see Dan. He had rebuilt the jumps, and then…there's another jolt of alarm when he sees where Dan has gotten to. He's standing by the railing, looking like he's trying to talk to the owner, but Molly is there as well, and from the looks of things, she's recognized Dan and isn't too impressed.

Justin had never told his mother about Dan's role in his decision to buy Magic. He's not sure why, it just… at first, it was nice to have something private, something that only he and Dan knew. And then after a while, it had been too long, and it would have seemed weird for him to bring it up. But that means that Molly isn't aware that Dan had helped them out. And she can carry a grudge for a long time.

Justin urges the mare to trot on her way over to the fence. He pulls her up just in time to hear Molly say, "So, really, it's great to have this chance to thank you. He's been a brilliant horse for us, and we never would have stumbled across him if it wasn't for you and your friend. And

to have gotten him for such a low price—well, that was just the icing on the cake." The words are innocuous, but Molly's tone makes it clear that she really isn't thanking Dan.

He seems totally unfazed. "Yeah, glad it worked out," he says, and then turns back to the owner, apparently continuing a conversation that Molly interrupted. "So, do you want to load them, or should I?"

But Molly's not quite ready to let go. "It's an interesting story, really… the way that Dan and I met before…." Justin has to stop this. He's not sure exactly what Dan is doing for a living now, or even exactly what he was doing before, but Justin doesn't want to see his reputation dragged through the mud. Molly and Wendy had focused their attentions on Carol's name the previous year, apparently dismissing Dan as the brawn rather than the brains, but now Molly seems ready to bring him down as well.

"Yeah, Dan was really helpful with a horse we bought," Justin says quickly, and all three turn to look at him. He isn't sure how he could sneak up on anyone while riding a thousand pound horse, but apparently he has. He sends a pleading look towards his mother, who frowns back at him. Dan seems pretty unconcerned about the whole thing. Not arrogant, more just… removed. As if he doesn't really care what happens.

"He went out of his way to make sure I gave him a try, and it really worked out." Justin turns his focus mostly to Dan. "He's eventing Novice this season—he's got huge potential. Scopey as hell, and fast."

The owner looks about as interested as Dan. "Well, isn't it nice when things work out like that?"
Justin exchanges looks with his mother while the owner looks up at him. "So, what did you think of her?" It takes Justin a moment to realize that she's talking about the horse he's sitting on. He can see Dan drawing away from the conversation, but the owner still hasn't finished talking to Dan about the horses he's here for, so at least Justin knows he won't be leaving. He manages to say something non-committal about the mare; he'd

Someone comes out to take the mare from him. It's not Larry, the rider from earlier, but Justin's still a bit concerned. But the girl smiles at him and runs a loving hand down the mare's neck. "I'll take care of her, don't worry." He believes her for some reason, and he's able to turn his full attention towards finding Dan.

It's not that hard to locate him. He's standing at a discrete distance from Justin's mother and the mare's owner, close enough to be summoned when the owner's ready to deal with him, but not close enough to overhear their haggling. He doesn't look like someone who just had a near-violent confrontation over animal cruelty. Honestly, he looks a little bored.

Justin has a sudden burst of nerves, another unfamiliar feeling for him. He's built this up in his mind so much—reality
has
to be a disappointment. He glances over at Dan, and there's that theory blown, because Dan looks even
better
than Justin had remembered. He wouldn't have thought it was possible. His feet are carrying him over even as his brain is pulling away, trying to find a little time, some better approach, some way to avoid messing this up before he even gets started.

His feet are too quick, though, and he's suddenly standing right in front of Dan, who's looking at him blankly. "Uh, Dan, right?" Dan nods as though he's dealing with a mentally challenged child. Excellent start. "Yeah, uh…sorry if my mother caused any problems for you over there…I never really got around to telling her about…" About what, exactly? About their mystical connection? "about you helping us out with Magic."

Dan gives him a blank look. "Okay…"
Justin feels like an idiot. It's obvious now, Dan hadn't made any special effort on Justin's behalf, he'd just made a comment or two. Justin has blown this whole thing up in his mind, acting like a little girl with a crush. He wants to retreat, and has already taken a half-step backwards, when he sees a tiny glint of something in Dan's eyes. He can't identify the expression, but it stops him in his tracks. He thinks for half a second, and

"So, are you still working with that woman? Carol?" There's a brief echo of her mocking laughter in Justin's mind, but he ignores it and focuses on Dan.

"Carol? No, not for…well, not since Magic." Dan looks at his hands, and then back at Justin. "And I never worked
with
her, exactly. More
for
her."

Justin tries to nod calmly, tries not to show his excitement at Dan actually volunteering a little information, making this less of an interrogation and more of a conversation. And he's not exactly sorry to be able to place Dan as an employee rather than a co-conspirator. "Oh. Okay. Hey, good work earlier, with the mare. I was on my way over, but…" Justin grins a little. "I think you did it with a little more style."

Dan's face darkens, and Justin's glad that the frown isn't directed at him. "I hate shit like that. Like he thinks he's a big man for beating something that can't fight back."

Dan glowers, and Justin isn't sure how to respond. He agrees with Dan, but he doesn't really want the conversation to go in that direction; he'd rather they talk about things they like, not things they hate. "Well, like I said, you took care of it." He glances over his shoulder to where the women are talking. "And unless the price shoots up somehow, we're going to buy her, I think, so he won't have a chance to get his revenge."

Dan nods slowly. "Yeah, that's good." He smiles softly, and Justin wishes the expression was directed at him. "She's a beautiful mover, isn't she?"

Justin thinks back. "You saw her outside? Or just under saddle?" Dan raises an eyebrow. "Outside. Under saddle…Sweet Jesus." He sounds disgusted. Justin hopes Dan isn't including him in his disgust, and wants to justify himself, to explain that he had wanted to be gentle, to ride