The a Circuit (11 page)

“Burn!” Dani whispered loudly, and Marissa giggled.

Zara scowled. Who the hell did Jamie think he was? He was her trainer, not her nanny. She was just about ready to turn around, march right back out of the ring, and just keep going.

Then Fitz rode past. “Hurry up, Zara,” he called with a grin. “You don’t want to miss all the fun!”

Zara got a little distracted as she watched him trot off. He looked even hotter with those long legs wrapped around a horse. It would be nice to have some eye candy in a lesson for a change.

Jamie stood up to clear the mounting block. But Zara ignored him, yanking down her stirrups and then swinging on from the ground. She hadn’t done that in a while, and Ellie was taller than her old hunter, so she had to grab some serious mane to pull herself up. Ellie danced around a little, tossing her head, but by then Zara was aboard.

“Come on, mare,” she muttered, turning Ellie’s head toward the far end. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Ellie resisted, setting her neck against the rein. But Zara wasn’t in any mood for her antics. She gave her a sharp kick with both heels, which sent the mare flying forward with her head up.

“Easy!” Jamie chided. “We talked about this last time, Zara. Ellie likes a soft hand and a light seat until she loosens up, or you’ll end up fighting each other the whole time.”

Zara just scowled, not bothering to answer. But as soon as the trainer turned away to watch the others, she gave the mare a quick scratch on the withers. “Sorry, girlie,” she whispered under her breath.

Twenty minutes later, Kate was near tears. She’d had a disastrous lesson so far, starting with Fable nearly dumping her at the mounting block when a couple of the barn dogs had raced past outside the ring. And things weren’t getting any better. She was having trouble controlling the big, strong gelding, who was in an especially frisky mood. He ran through her aids, overjumped easy fences, and bucked through almost every lead change.

“Try it again, Kate,” Jamie called as she brought Fable back to a trot after their latest attempt. “Shoulders back, and stay focused. See if you can get him a little softer this time.”

Kate braced herself as she saw Fable’s ears perk toward a four-foot vertical farther down the ring and felt him start to drag her toward it. Somehow she managed to get him turned toward the first jump in the current exercise, all too aware of six pairs of eyes watching her. Normally they would have moved on to doing courses by now, or at least some more challenging gymnastics or something. Kate had the sick feeling that she was one of the main reasons they were sticking with the current easy exercise, making her feel like a beginner who’d never ridden anything more challenging than the mechanical horse outside the local supermarket.

“Stay cool, you’re doing fine,” Tommi whispered as Kate rode past. She was sitting on Legs, who was standing calmly on a loose rein despite his reputation as a firecracker.

Just then Kate heard a commotion somewhere behind her. Glancing back, she saw that Zara’s mare was acting up again. She was the other reason they hadn’t moved on; Ellie was tense and resistant and had actually refused a fence or two. Now the mare was backing up rapidly, shaking her head against Zara’s hands.

“Hold up a second, Kate!” Jamie called.

Kate turned off the track to the fence, circling back around to where the others were waiting. Summer was sitting on her horse beside Tommi and Legs. “You need to relax, Kate,” Summer said. “Your shoulders look really tense. You should try counting your strides out loud to keep yourself calm.”

Kate didn’t answer. She was breathing deeply, trying to stop herself from totally melting down.

“You okay?” Tommi asked.

Kate just nodded, afraid to speak. She bent to fiddle with her stirrup leather to avoid having to meet her friend’s eye. Summer was still blabbing her stupid advice, something about her heels this time.

But Kate barely heard her. As she sat up, she caught Fitz looking at her. He smiled and shot her a thumbs-up.
You can do it
, he mouthed.

Luckily Jamie had things under control with Ellie already. He turned back to the others. “Sorry about that,” he called. “Try again, Kate.”

Sucking in one last deep breath, Kate sent Fable into motion, Fitz’s smile giving her back a little of the confidence she’d found before the lesson. This time she was determined to do it right.

Zara watched sullenly as Kate and the big gray she was riding cleared the line. They looked a lot better this time. Great. That meant Zara was the only remedial case in the lesson, thanks to her hyper mare.

“What’s wrong with you, anyway?” Zara muttered as Ellie tried to yank the reins out of her hands.

“Your turn, Zara,” Jamie called. “Nice and easy. Trot a circle first to make sure she’s accepting your aids.”

Zara squeezed Ellie into a trot, sending her around in a big, loopy circle in front of the line. Or at least that was what she tried to do. The mare veered off the circle when she saw the jump, popping her shoulder and trying to pull toward it.

“Quit it!” Zara exclaimed, tugging at the mare’s mouth to get her back on the circle.

Ellie protested by flinging her head straight up, fighting to escape the bit. She ended up scooting sideways with her head twisted to the side.

“Easy with your hands!” Jamie called.

Zara let out a string of curses as she tried everything she could to get Ellie back under control. But the mare kept going, skittering sideways like some demented dressage horse.

“Watch it!” Dani exclaimed as Ellie almost crashed into her Thoroughbred, who was always a little amped. He responded by jumping forward, then letting a hind leg fly in Ellie’s direction.

The kick didn’t connect, but it spooked Ellie. She leaped suddenly in the opposite direction, jerking Zara along with her and making her lose both her stirrups and her balance. Before she could recover, the mare yanked her head down and bucked like a rodeo star.

“Oof!” Zara hit the ground hard, landing flat on her back.

Jamie was at her side in seconds. “Don’t move,” he ordered.

She ignored him, shoving herself into a sitting position. “I’m fine,” she muttered, grabbing her sunglasses. They’d landed in the dirt beside her, miraculously still in one piece.

“Oh my God!” Summer exclaimed. “Zara, are you okay? That was sooo scary!”

Jumping to her feet before the trainer could stop her, Zara shook off the arena dirt. She was going to have one hell of a bruise on her ass tomorrow, but otherwise nothing was hurt except her pride. Coming off in her first group lesson? Yeah, really epic way to introduce herself to her new barn.

Ellie had stopped nearby. Zara hurried over and grabbed the mare’s flapping reins. “Hold still, horse,” she ordered. Running on adrenaline, she launched herself up into the saddle.

“Zara, wait,” Jamie said. “I think you’d better—”

Zara didn’t give him time to finish. Jamming her feet into the stirrups, she kicked Ellie into a trot. Aiming her at the largest jump in the ring, a four-footer that Jamie had been ignoring, Zara sent the mare into a brisk canter.

“Zara!” Jamie yelled.

But they were already at the jump. Ellie pricked her ears as they approached, and for a second Zara thought she might stop. She gave her a nudge and a growl, and the mare gathered herself and flew over.

There, Zara thought as they landed. That should show everyone that she could ride in spite of that stupid fall.

“Zara, stop!” Jamie ordered, striding forward to grab Ellie’s bridle as they circled back around.

“Uh-oh. Wave good-bye, Zara,” Dani whispered to Fitz, probably a little more loudly than she’d intended.

Zara shot the other girl a glare. Fine. So what if Jamie kicked her out of the lesson? The important thing was that she’d made her point—on her own terms.

She glanced down at the trainer, trying to hide her emotions. Jamie stared back, looking strangely thoughtful. Finally he let go of the bridle.

“That really wasn’t necessary,” he told her calmly. “Let’s not pull anything like that again—consider this your warning. Now get back in line.”

For a second Zara wasn’t sure whether to tell him off, laugh in his face, or jump Ellie right out of the ring and never come back. But something in Jamie’s eyes made her think that none of those things would be a good idea right now. Sure, she was already pretty sure he was too uptight for her. But if she left this place, she wanted it to be on her terms. Not get kicked out for mouthing off. The last time that had happened, her parents had grounded her from riding for over a month.

“Whatever,” she muttered under her breath, riding over to take her place with the others.

“That was quite a lesson, huh?” Marissa commented to Tommi, shooting a look in Zara’s direction as they all walked their horses back to the barn.

Tommi was watching Kate, who was leading Fable a few yards ahead. The big gray had finally calmed down a little toward the end of the lesson. Still, Tommi knew Kate well enough to be sure she wasn’t happy with their performance.

But Kate would recover and learn from the bad ride, like she always did. Zara was another story. Tommi wasn’t sure what she’d do next. She’d blown into the quiet, professional atmosphere of the barn like a tornado, and seemed just as unpredictable.

“Yeah,” Tommi said to Marissa. “I’m surprised Jamie’s putting up with her garbage. Any of us would’ve been grounded for pulling a stunt like that.”

Marissa shrugged. “Maybe he’s afraid to get after her ’cause she’s a celebrity.”

“Doubtful. Since when is Jamie afraid of anybody?” Tommi had no idea why Jamie was cutting Zara so much slack. Maybe he was just giving her a chance to settle in before he whipped her entitled little ass into shape.

Whatever, Tommi figured it wasn’t her business, so she tried to forget about it as she took care of Legs. He’d performed well, mostly ignoring the craziness. That made Tommi more anxious than ever to find out what her father thought of her business plan. He’d been at some kind of meeting in White Plains for a couple of days, leaving town before she got up on Monday. But he was due back sometime that afternoon.

Half an hour later Legs was settled in his stall. Tommi gave him one last pat, slipped him a peppermint, then headed around the corner to the main aisle.

Most of the others from the lesson group were hanging out near the tack room. Fitz waved as Tommi approached.

“Ready for pizza?” he asked.