Page 493 of From Rakes to Riches

Gemma almost snorted.Nobs.So wrapped up in their own little worlds.

Did none of them know the cost of anything?

“I don’t have the blunt for that,” she said mildly. “But I’d like to travel around someday. From stable to stable, where I’m needed.”

“That’s wonderful, Gem.” Lady Artemis beamed with sincerity. Though the lady was a nob, she was a very nice nob. “When you’re ready to embark upon such an enterprise, please call on me. I’ve a bit of blunt lying around, and I’d love to contribute to the rehabilitation of animals.”

Gemma nodded her thanks, humbly, as a lowly stable lad would to his betters, and tightened her hold on Hannibal’s reins. She could sense him growing restive from proximity to Dido and inactivity, and she needed him to be calm when she attempted to mount him.

Lady Artemis gave a parting nod and cooed to Dido as they walked away. “You’re my perfect girl, aren’t you?”

Alone with Hannibal, Gemma allowed the air to calm around them so the only sound and movement were his breath and hers. She ran a hand over his withers and allowed it to rest on the pommel of the saddle. She sensed no tense flexion of his muscles, so she slipped her boot into the stirrup.

Still, no tension.

The thing was that Hannibal wasn’t an unbroken horse. He’d been mounted and ridden before, that was apparent. But those who had done so had used force and cruelty. What Gemma wanted was for him to accept a rider with readiness. To know and trust that when he was mounted, he would feel the wind in his mane and experience joy—that taking on a rider was freedom, not imprisonment.

She took a quick sip of air and, in one familiar, swift motion, dug her boot into the stirrup and pushed off the ground as she heaved herself onto this towering sixteen-hands horse. The next moment, she found herself astride, and it was all she could do not to let out an exuberant whoop. It felt like the sweetest gift—to have gained Hannibal’s trust.

She leaned forward and stroked his mane. “Ah, we truly are friends, aren’t we?”

She straightened and caught a glimpse of Lady Artemis watching from the other side of the paddock, a broad smile on her face.

But Gemma wasn’t here to impress. She was here for Hannibal. Toward that end, she began to test him, to see what cues he took. She gave a light squeeze of her knees, and he began to walk. He had a smooth, easy action, she could already tell. Excitement that she hadn’t yet allowed herself to feel stole through her. This fellow would be a goer. It wasn’t only obvious from his size and pedigree, but from the way he walked.

“You have so much within you, don’t you, my friend?” she cooed into his ear.

He’d been wanting this too. A connection with someone who understood him.

And he wanted to run. She could feel it as she reined him in and resisted urging him into a trot.

He’d trusted her thus far; he would still have to trust her.

“Oh, we will run, my friend, but not yet. Let’s get to understand one another today,” she said with rising anticipation of that future moment.

They’d circled the paddock a few times when Hannibal’s ears flicked forward, and sudden tension entered his body. He’d seen something. She shushed him and stroked his mane, even as her gaze cast about.

Then she saw it beyond the paddock gate.

A figure, quiet and unmoving.

Rakesley.

She knew it with a certainty she didn’t understand.

He stepped into light growing brighter in slow dawn increments, his dark, intense gaze upon her.

He’d been watching all this time.

She could be dismissed for insubordination.

A shiver curled up her spine.

But something else—somethingmore—slid in alongside that shiver.

The somethingmorehis dark intensity provoked within her.

The somethingmoreshe didn’t want to understand…

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