Page 10 of Unbroken (Poplar Springs #2)

EIGHT

ELI

P hoto ops.

God, I hated all the damn photo ops during and after the rides.

At times, the riders made me feel like a prop, the way the women all clamored to take pictures with me and stole the hat from my head to put it on themselves.

And the ways they tried to get me to pose were ridiculous.

But I went along with it, because it was all part of the experience. And it made for better tips.

All I could think about as I draped my arms around two sisters was how frustrated I was with Fiona.

She’d kept up the running commentary and jokes the entire ride, making every one of the guests fall in love with her.

Hell, they were all lined up to take pictures with her too.

My aggravation just kept building, like steam in a pressure cooker, and I knew that I couldn’t wait until the guests left so I could finally vent my frustrations without an audience.

When there was finally a break in the paparazzi action, I motioned for Fiona to meet me in a quiet corner of the barn.

The guests still had a few minutes to mill around the property and take photos with their horses in their stalls, but they shouldn’t need supervision for this part, and I was pretty sure Fiona and I wouldn’t be missed.

“What’s up?” she asked, looking windblown and adorable.

“I wanted to talk about what happened on the ride while it’s still fresh.”

“I thought it went really well,” she said. “Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. And we were a great team. Some of them were talking about coming back.”

I pursed my lips. “Were we, though? Did you consider that teamwork? Because it felt a lot like the Fiona show.”

“Oh, come on!” She punched me playfully. “I was just bringing some fun to it. Because you got a little … deep when it came to the irrigation stuff.” She paused and waggled her eyebrows at me. “That’s a joke. Get it? Irrigation? Deep?”

I sighed. “Fiona, you need to be more serious, especially during the safety talk. My boss— your brother—expects me to cover the safety guidelines before we head out, and you simply bulldozed your way over it. What if someone had been injured in a way that could have been prevented if they’d known what to do? ”

She frowned, finally realizing she was being scolded and clearly not liking it one bit. “But they weren’t paying attention until I added my own dialogue. At least I kept their interest.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

“Parts of your script were … well, boring, if you want the truth.”

“Fiona,” I said, trying not to raise my voice. “Trail riding is serious business. On some of those steeper trails, the leader literally holds his riders’ lives in his hands. ”

“Or her hands,” she snapped at me. “See? You do think you’re my boss!”

“For fuck’s sake, it was just a word! I was trying to make a point.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

That maybe if you spent less time clowning around and actually took things seriously, your brother might give you a bigger role than trail assistant. I knew I couldn’t say that to her. As frustrated as I was, I didn’t want to be mean.

We stepped close to each other. Fiona’s hands were squeezed into fists and her eyes were flashing at me. I was trying to figure out if she was going to punch me when screams broke out at the far end of the barn.

We both took off running without even questioning it, and I had already envisioned a thousand horrible scenarios when I was met with the reason for the commotion.

A stallion, one of Shannon’s prize breeders, was out of his stall and running around the barn.

“What the hell?” I asked, glancing at Fiona, who met my look with one of shock.

One of the trail riders ran over, a frantic young woman in tears. “I’m so sorry. I was trying to get a video with him, and I opened his stall. I never thought he’d get out!”

The rest of the group was either glued to the walls or circling the horse like it was a loose dog they could guide back into place. That was a dangerous idea. I knew that one wrong move could result in a punishing kick. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the barn door was wide open.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath .

If Fiona and I hadn’t been off in the corner fighting, I might have noticed the woman fiddling with the stall door.

Now we had to corral a challenging, confident, loose stallion with an eye for the ladies.

Not far from the barn were a number of mares who Shannon was definitely not planning on breeding this season.

Once Diesel got a shot at them, all the breeding schedules would go out the window.

“Folks, can you line up over there against that wall? Diesel is a powerful horse, and I want y’all to stay safe.”

They complied, and the horse tossed his head a few times. I knew that Diesel was weighing his options: head for the overflowing feed bucket someone had left on the ground or make a break for the open door and the promise of fillies.

“Let me help,” Fiona said softly. “Let’s flank him together.”

I nodded. Even though I was still furious with her flippant attitude, I could admit that I needed her help.

There weren’t any other hands nearby and I didn’t dare shout for assistance and risk agitating Diesel further.

We broke apart, each moving slowly to keep from startling the horse.

Right when we were about to close in, Diesel’s eyes went wild.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” I whispered as I watched the tail flick. “The way he’s going, he’ll run into Belle!”

“No, we can’t let that happen! Shannon’s going to kill us.”

I grabbed a rope and we both took off running outside, knowing full well that there was no way we’d ever catch the stallion before he got to where he was going.

All we could do was pray that he’d pause in front of the gate where the mature mare was grazing rather than getting right down to business.

I was shocked that Fiona kept up with me as I ran.

“He’s going to stop when he sees her, I’m sure of it,” I huffed .

The next few minutes were critical because we couldn’t afford to let Diesel romance Belle. She was an experienced mother, but at this point, she was old enough that a pregnancy could be risky. She was also Shannon’s favorite mare, and Fiona’s sister would be furious with us if we didn’t stop this.

“Uh-huh, yup,” Fiona said in a thin voice. “Of course he is.”

We both watched as Diesel caught sight of Belle. My racing heartbeat slowed as the horse downshifted to a trot.

“Okay, good, he’s taking it slow. I think we can grab him if she comes over to say hi to him,” I said.

We stopped running as we got closer so we wouldn’t startle Diesel, who seemed so enamored with the pretty mare making eyes at him on the other side of the fence that nothing else mattered.

“That’s it,” I said softly. “Just stay where you are and look at Belle.”

I glanced at Fiona, and she seemed poised to act as well.

We were only about twenty feet away when Diesel gracefully hopped the fence as if it were nothing more than a speed bump.

“No!” we screamed in unison, because we knew exactly what was about to happen before it actually unfolded.

There was nothing we could do as the stallion sidled over to Belle, reared up on his back legs, and then mounted her like he’d been waiting to do it for ages.