Chapter Eighteen
Will
“Hey now, no arguing,” I said fondly as I watched Dad’s three Highland cows bunt each other as they surrounded the large, metal hay feeder in their paddock, their shaggy, orange coats dusted with frost. My dad was completely devoted to them, and if he could’ve gotten away with it, the three of them would spend their evenings curled up on the sofa next to him.
“You’ll have to be good,” I added as I gave Delilah, the oldest and largest of the three, a pat on the neck. “I’m going to put Jamie in the hut in the next paddock, so you can’t go waking him up at four every morning when you want attention.”
Delilah huffed at me, turning to look at me from under her floppy fringe and giving me a soft nudge with her large, flat nose.
We didn’t keep a lot of cows because the terrain wasn’t really right for them, but the Highlands were more pets than anything else.
Dad had always loved them, and when he’d retired, he’d bought the girls from a friend in Scotland.
They were full sisters and had happily taken to their new life in Yorkshire, being petted and pampered by an old man who wasn’t ready to sit around and do nothing.
“I know, I know. You’d never do anything like that,” I said. “You’re good girls.”
Fiona, the middle one, lowed in agreement, then went back to pulling hay through the feeder bars while Bonnie, the youngest, snuck up behind me in an attempt to use me as an itching post. She was a lot bigger and stronger than she imagined, so I gently pushed her away and instead put my hand on her forehead and dug my fingers into her coat to give her a scratch.
“All right, that’s enough,” I said. “I’ll be here all day otherwise.”
“I think they’d like that,” Dylan said, and I looked over to see him leaning on the gate. “You can be their butler.”
“I’m already their bloody butler,” I said as I wandered over to him, leaving the girls to their hay. “Dad keeps messaging me and asking how they are, even though he can look out the window and see them. Higgs is going to help me finish clearing the drive later so he can come down.”
Dylan chuckled. “Will that make things easier for you or will your dad just give you updated lists of instructions?”
“The second most likely, but at least he’ll be happy.” I slipped out of the gate and clicked it shut behind me. “How’s the yard?”
“Everyone’s fine. Got a few horses starting to get a bit grumpy at the lack of exercise, but they’ll live.
Higgs told me yesterday he didn’t think we’d get any more snow, but once everything melts, it’s going to be so wet I think we’ll have to limit turnout just to stop everything getting so churned up. ”
“It’d be best if they didn’t turn into mud pits,” I said. “But we can roll the fields when they start drying up, and that’ll limit any damage. And the grass usually comes through fine afterwards.”
“True,” Dylan said. “Also, Helen’s put her notice in. She and her husband are moving to Wales in March, so she’ll be taking her two with her. Looks like we’ll have a couple of openings. Are you happy for me to fill them straight away, or do you want to wait until after lambing?”
“You can fill them,” I said. “I trust you to find good people. Just let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.” Dylan leant on the gate, a frown furrowing his eyebrows.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Yeah… I know we have a waiting list for the yard, but I got a call yesterday from a guy looking for spaces. Not sure if it’s a hoax or not, but he said his name was Wilder North.
” The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
Luckily, Dylan seemed to have noticed because he added, “The dressage rider. He was part of the team for the last Olympics. He’s the guy who won the double gold medal, then got really angry over all the publicity and pressure. ”
“I remember,” I said with a nod. “I’d have thought he’d have his own yard. Don’t most professionals have their own places?”
“They do,” Dylan said. “Which is why I thought it was a hoax, but… I don’t know. Why would someone ring up pretending to be Wilder North and ask about livery? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“We’ve got two spaces now. Give him a call and invite him down. If it’s a hoax, they won’t come, and if it’s real, then—”
“Then we could have a fucking Olympic medallist here. God, what would Sandra do? She’s already convinced she’s Britain’s next dressage queen, but she can barely do a novice test. She’ll be all over him for lessons.”
I shot him a wry smile. “You’ll figure it out. It’s why you’re the yard manager.”
“Thanks for the sympathy,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’ll need to get a whip or something to keep them all in line.”
I chuckled then turned to look over my shoulder at the crunch of a car on the snow, catching sight of Jamie’s little hire car as it came slowly through the gate. “By the way,” I said to Dylan, “the green hut is booked for the next few weeks, just in case you see a random man walking around.”
“Seriously? At this time of year?”
“Yeah, he’s a friend of mine.”
Dylan gave me a pointed look and grinned, glancing over at Jamie’s car. “Ahhh, yes, a friend. The same friend who was here on Thursday night.”
“I have friends,” I said. “Lane is my friend. So are you.”
“Yeah, but there’s friends and then there’s friends,” Dylan said with a smug note in his voice. “Will he actually be staying in the hut, or will he be in the house?”
“God, you’re as bad as the rest of them,” I muttered.
Last night, when Jamie had asked about accommodation, I’d been in the pub with my friends, and it hadn’t taken any of them long to notice I’d been messaging someone.
Apparently, privacy was a thing only for other people because it hadn’t taken long before Theo, Lane, and Spencer had been reading my messages over my shoulder and dictating responses.
Lane had been the one to suggest taking Jamie for Sunday lunch, seconded by both Oliver and Anders.
I hadn’t gotten much of a vote.
Luckily, I’d had my phone back by the time Jamie started sending pictures. They’d come through blurred until I’d downloaded them, but even so, I would have been fucking mortified if anyone else had seen them because I hated the idea of violating Jamie’s privacy like that.
I was pretty sure my friends had guessed where I was going when I’d suddenly taken off, though, because Lane had slyly mentioned that I should bring Jamie next Friday if he was still around, and Theo had sweetly promised they’d all be on their best behaviour. Which I didn’t believe one bit.
They didn’t have best behaviour to begin with.
“That probably means I have a point,” Dylan said.
“I’m not answering that,” I said as I turned to walk towards Jamie’s car. “By the way, you should come to the pub with us some time. It’s not good for you to work all the time.”
“That’s my line!”
I flipped Dylan off and his laughter echoed in my ears as I walked across the yard to where Jamie had parked. We’d managed to clear a lot of the snow off the main walkways, which had made things a lot easier, and I was hoping if we kept it clear we wouldn’t end up with sheet ice either.
“Hey,” I called, giving Jamie a half wave. “You made it.”
He looked up and smiled at me, the expression catching me off guard in the same way it always did. I’d only known him a week, but that smile had already proved it had the power to turn my whole world upside down.
“It’s much easier to find in the daylight,” Jamie said. “And it looks like some of the snow is starting to melt.”
“A little, but also Higgs and I cleared a ton of it yesterday afternoon.”
“You should have said. I’d have stayed to help.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “You’d done enough.”
Jamie frowned. “Just make sure you don’t do too much and hurt yourself.”
“That’s very selfless of you,” I said with a teasing smile. “What’s brought that on?”
“Mostly the fact that if you injure yourself you can’t feed or fuck me and then I’ll suffer terribly.”
“How noble.”
“I am nothing if not benevolent,” Jamie said, leaning up to kiss me. It was the first time he’d attempted to kiss me in public, and for a split-second, I hesitated. Jamie noticed and pulled back. “Sorry, I—”
“No, it’s not you,” I said hurriedly. “I’m just… not used to people trying to kiss me. It comes with being a hermit. Don’t really get much of a chance to find people interested.”
“I’m interested… if you are.”
I didn’t answer him with words. Instead, I cupped his jaw with one hand and drew him into a kiss. He tasted like coffee and honey lip balm, and I could smell the sharp, warm scent of his cologne. It made me want to bury my face in his neck and run my lips over every inch of his skin.
But I definitely couldn’t do that in public.
“Hmm, you have to do that more often,” Jamie said. “You’re far too good a kisser to only do it when we’re fucking.”
“Any more demands you’d like to add?” I asked, biting back a laugh.
“What are my other options? How many do I get?”
“None at this rate.”
“That’s not fair.”
“What else do you need? You’ve already got me feeding you, fucking you, and kissing you.”
“True, but most of those benefit you too.” He grinned, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to say no, no matter what he asked for.
“Come on,” I said. “Stop being a menace to society and let me show you where you’re going.”
“But I like being a menace. It goes nicely with being a hedonist. And a spendthrift wastrel with no concern for reality.” I glanced at him in concern, and Jamie shrugged. “Another gem from my father’s accountant. It’s not completely untrue. Or at least it wasn’t.”
“Still a bit bloody rude, though.” I’d never dare say anything like that to someone’s face, even if I was thinking it. I hated that rich people could just say that kind of shit to people’s faces and walk away without a care.