Keeping Chilly (The October Horses Book 3) Read online

  Keeping Chilly

  Genevieve Mckay

  StonePony Studios

  Copyright © 2021 by Genevieve Mckay

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Genevieve Mckay

  Chapter 1

  Bree

  “Can’t you two keep your hands off each other for two seconds? We’re trying to win a horse show here. I could use a little help getting Dragon ready.”

  Nicholas and I broke apart, laughing, and I turned to face Chloe’s outraged glare. She stood in the doorway of our makeshift tack room with her hands on her hips and a murderous expression on her face.

  Patience, I reminded myself, squashing down my annoyance. She’s been through a lot lately.

  Outrage seemed to be Chloe’s mood of choice over the last few months. Even though her life looked golden to me, she’d been simmering with anger ever since her mother had kicked her out of their home.

  And her crankiness reached whole new heights when our working student Jeremy was around. Which, since we all lived on the same property, was all the time.

  “It was just a kiss, Chloe,” I said, ignoring Nicholas’s snicker behind me. “It wasn’t like we were auditioning for adult movies or anything. We’ve been working hard all morning so we snuck away for a quick break.”

  “We’re here to help,” Nicholas added, plucking some stray bits of hay out of my hair. “What do you need?”

  “I need a new life.” Chloe’s shoulders sagged. “And I need a horse who will listen to me and not try and leap out of the ring as soon as I let my guard down.”

  I looked at her in surprise. Dragon was feisty, beautiful and talented. But she was also quirky and independent. And those were all reasons that Chloe loved her. I’d never heard her complain about anything Dragon did before. Not once.

  “Is she acting up” I asked, frowning. “She seemed relaxed all morning.”

  “No, not yet. But it’s coming. I have a bad feeling about this show.”

  Uh-oh, that’s not good. I looked at Chloe worriedly. Dragon was an incredibly sensitive horse who was easily set off. Especially if the humans around her were too focused on themselves to pay attention to her. She was capable of brilliance … when she felt like it. But she could also be dangerous and unpredictable. You had to be on your game when you handled her. Something I knew all too well.

  I reached down and laced my fingers with Nicholas’s as we trailed Chloe outside into the glare of summer sunshine, trying to think of the best way to calm her down.

  Stepping outside was a sharp contrast from the cool shadows of the tack room. The air was so hot out here that it almost hurt to breathe. I’d already changed out of breeches and into shorts, but it hadn’t made much of a difference. It was just past lunchtime and the asphalt parking lot beyond the stable block was shimmering with heat.

  All the horses, except for Dragon, had already finished their rides, been cooled out and had cooling liniment baths to help beat the heat. So far, they seemed to be handling the temperature okay.

  I winced as a screaming child ran past, pulling five wildly bouncing balloons on a string behind her. She, and the harried looking father who hurried after her, looked completely oblivious to the fact that horses might not appreciate balloons.

  Normally, dressage shows didn’t attract quite this many spectators, but it was a long weekend and there was a fair going on just down the road, complete with an ancient roller coaster that we could hear rattling around in the distance. Excited screams and tinny carnival music were a constant background noise.

  People wandered around everywhere carrying cotton candy and wearing face-paint. Kids squealed and ran around out of control, high on sugar and desperate to pet the horses. It was the most festive dressage show I’d ever been to. But the atmosphere was a little crazy.

  “How long until you ride, Chloe? Lorne and Julie should be around here somewhere. I know Julie wanted to help with your warm up.”

  “I’m on in an hour, but Dragon really needs to get out and start walking around the grounds. I don’t trust her around this much chaos. It will take her a while to settle down. And Julie and Lorne are watching Jeremy ride that chestnut,” she added darkly.

  “Lauren’s horse?”

  “Yes.” She scowled and grabbed Dragon’s leather halter off the hook on the mare’s stall door. “Although I don’t know how they’re supposed to even get close to him with his permanent fan club swarming around. I can’t believe he’s conned those desperate women into letting him ride their horses. He’s such a faker. One of these days …”

  She broke off and disappeared into Dragon’s stall.

  “What does she have against Jeremy?” Nicholas whispered in my ear.

  I rolled my eyes and shrugged in answer to his question.

  “I honestly have no idea.”

  Jeremy, who was in his mid-thirties, was on the older side to be one of our working students, but his lilting Scottish accent, ice blue eyes, and air of mystery had quickly gained him a following on our small local show circuit. And it was a bonus that his riding skills were beyond decent. His fans mostly consisted of single, or not so single, show moms who followed him around like an adoring flock of starlings.

  He’d already gained three new horses to ride and show in addition to ours, something that drove Chloe wild with jealousy. The chestnut he was showing today, Sassafras, was actually a pretty incredible horse.

  It was true that I hadn’t trusted Jeremy very much when he’d first arrived at our farm, either. He’d been aloof and not overly friendly. We’d even suspected him of having some dark secret past that he was keeping from us.

  But as the months passed, it was like his guard dropped and whatever chip he’d been carrying on his shoulder had just sort of melted away. He’d become more and more friendly with all of us and the horses loved him.

  The only one completely immune to his charms was Chloe: her hatred and suspicion of him grew with each passing day.

  “It’s just so unfair that he wrapped Lauren around his little finger like that,” she said, pulling off Dragon’s summer sheet and folding it over the door. “She’s loaded with money and has all these ama
zing horses. And all her rich friends want Jeremy to ride their expensive horses for them now, too. You know he’s going to drop us and ride for her the second his internship here is over, right?”

  “He hasn’t said anything about leaving,” I said firmly, “and he’s free to go anytime he likes, Chloe. Why are you acting so jealous? You have nice horses to ride, too.”

  “I’m not jealous,” she said quickly. “I’m just mad that he’s fooled everyone into thinking he’s this great person and a hotshot rider when he’s not. And speaking of lying traitors, that stupid Maisy is doing some sort of Grand Prix freestyle demo with Thor in a few minutes, too. I get to share the warm-up ring with my two least favourite people on the planet.”

  “His name’s Titan,” I corrected automatically but Chloe just rolled her eyes and shrugged.

  “He’ll always be Thor to me,” she said firmly. “She doesn’t deserve him.”

  I frowned and glanced around quickly to make sure nobody was in ear-shot as she ducked down to fuss with Dragon’s legs.

  Chloe was one of my best friends but she was opinionated, and loud. Which was fine most of the time but not here. Not when she was saying bad things about other riders. The horse community wasn’t very big and rumours spread like wildfire. I didn’t want the October Horses name to get mixed up with anything negative.

  “Who is Maisy?” Nicholas asked. “And why does Chloe hate her?”

  I sighed and shook my head. Why did Chloe hate anyone?

  “Maisy owns that farm up the hill from us with the dressage ring,” I said in a low voice. “We ride the trails past her place all the time. I’ve never met her but I’ve seen her ride and she’s pretty amazing. I have no idea why Chloe hates her but I think it has something to do with Titan.”

  “Her horse?”

  “Yeah, he’s this fancy Friesian-Warmblood cross that Maisy competes on. Apparently, Chloe knew him when he was a baby, back when his name was Thor, and she wanted to buy him. Only, Maisy’s parents bought him first; they offered the seller more money and Chloe’s deal fell through.”

  “Ah,” Nicholas said, “the bitterness makes more sense then.”

  “I guess it does. But it happened like seven years ago. Chloe was a little kid for heaven’s sake. It doesn’t do her any good to have this chip on her shoulder all the time. It’s the same way she hates Jeremy. She just can’t seem to let anything go.”

  We cut our conversation short as Chloe led Dragon out.

  The mare looked alert but relaxed. Her bay coat gleamed with good health and constant grooming. She stood with her head up, boldly surveying the showgrounds as if she was the rightful queen of everything.

  She stood rock-still as Chloe ran a final polishing brush over her and then tacked her up carefully. Dragon’s braids were miraculously still in place and she looked every inch the professional show horse.

  I added a coat of hoof polish to her dark hooves, wiped the corners of her mouth clean and then stepped back to admire her.

  “Stay right there, I’m just taking a picture for the blog,” I said, shifting around to catch them from a few different angles. Chloe’s somber expression lifted and for a second, she looked like her old self again.

  A burst of loud clapping and excited chatter carried across from the ring and Chloe’s smile fell away as quickly as it had arrived. Moving to the mounting block, she swung up onto Dragon’s broad back.

  “I can’t believe he’s convinced all those owners to hire him,” she said darkly and I knew it must have been the crowd of Jeremy’s owners and followers congratulating him on his ride. “He’s such a lying suck-up.”

  “Chloe,” I said in warning as I glanced over at Dragon. “You’ll upset her.”

  I looked worriedly at the big mare, waiting for her to pick up on Chloe’s agitation and start to act up. But, despite Chloe’s dark mood, Dragon actually seemed in good spirits. She stood like a rock with her ears pricked toward the ring, her eyes bright with excitement. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what she was thinking about.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know.” Chloe sighed and patted Dragon’s shiny neck. “I’m being an idiot.”

  “Just a little,” I said, laughing. “This is supposed to be fun, remember. We’re just getting experience and miles for the horses. There’s no pressure. And you’re not competing with Jeremy … he’s on our team.”

  She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  “Right.” She took a deep breath. “He just … ugh, I don’t know. I’m always worried that if I don’t start doing better on Dragon that I’m going to lose her. That Lorne is going to decide to give her ride to Jeremy.”

  “Oh.” I stared at her in dismay. “Is that what you’re worried about? Chloe, Lorne would never …”

  She shook her head, giving me a bleak look. “Don’t be so sure, Bree. Jeremy is doing his best to get this mare away from me, I just know it. Eventually he’ll wear Lorne down.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but she shook her head and nudged the mare toward the warm-up ring.

  “We’ll be over there in a second,” I called after her. “We’ll watch your warm up.”

  Chloe just raised a hand in acknowledgement and rode away without looking back.

  I watched her for a moment, feeling a cold wiggle of worry shiver in my belly. Dragon looked mellow for now, but I knew from experience that that could change in an instant.

  Dressage was not her favourite thing at all, and we’d had a tough time convincing her that dancing in a ring was a good idea. Dragon was a superstar when she was out schooling on a cross country course, but she didn’t have the patience or the desire for dressage. Her scores were very slowly improving but she thought nothing of throwing off a series of bucks when asked to halt or to rear if she had to stand still for more than a second. And she’d bolted right out of the ring more than once. She was definitely a work in progress.

  “Want me to grab us something from the food truck before the line gets too long?” Nicholas asked.

  “Yes.” I brightened at the thought of food. “Extra gravy on the fries, please. We can find a table by the warm-up ring and watch Maisy’s demo. I’d love to take some pictures of her and Titan.”

  “You got it, boss.” He gave me a mock salute as he left and I couldn’t help but grin as I watched him walk away. We’d only really gotten involved this past winter and I still had to pinch myself sometimes to make sure I was awake and not dreaming. I knew that I liked him way too much for my own good, but I just couldn’t help it.

  A year ago, I’d been certain that I was on my last legs, about to die from the disease that had taken hold of me and nearly finished me off. So, any thought of a relationship had been out of the question.

  It had been a miracle that I’d not only survived but had created a whole new life for myself. I was the co-founder and social media coordinator of our October Horses project, which helped retired racehorses find new homes. And I’d found a second family in everyone who lived on the farm.

  The farm, the horses, and my mind-bendingly popular blog were all a dream come true. My blossoming relationship with Nicholas, my boss Julie’s son, was just the icing on the cake. I’d had a couple of boyfriends in the past but I’d never experienced this level of trust before. Certainly not with my last boyfriend Duncan, who’d thought it would be a good idea to sleep with my sister while I was in the hospital.

  Nicholas felt like he was an actual part of me. Like he was my soul-mate or something ridiculous like that. And I was pretty sure that he felt the same way.

  I dragged the ancient, leaky hose from a nearby water spigot and fed the end through the bars of Ace’s stall, turning on the nozzle. Water suddenly spurted up at me and the hose jerked in my hand spattering liquid in an arc across my face and the walls of the stall. I’d forgotten about the faulty hoses here; the water lines were full of air bubbles and you had to hold onto them tight or they’d leave you soaked.

  “Gross,” I said, wiping a ha
nd across my dripping forehead. “Sorry, Ace.” That would teach me to daydream while I was doing chores.

  Ace nickered at me sleepily from the back of his stall, not bothered at all by the commotion or the water now dripping into his bedding.

  “Not much longer, buddy,” I called to him, moving on to fill the rest of the buckets, too. We only had Dragon left to show that day and then we were free to go home and finish all the chores we had left undone on the farm.

  Adie, our youngest working student, was away visiting her family for a couple of months so we’d all been stretched pretty thin. We had five horses showing that day, plus Jeremy’s client’s horses that he needed to warm up and ride.

  And back home, we’d just had two new horses sent to us by the October Horses board of directors. They’d shipped us two horses instead of the single one we’d requested. Which meant we currently had more horses than we had stalls. Luckily it was summer so some of the horses were taking turns staying outside in the paddocks overnight. But we’d either have to sell someone before winter, or build more stalls.

  I finished filling the buckets and checked all the nets to make sure they were still full of hay.

  “Nipper, you’re hardly eating,” I said, frowning at his unfinished breakfast. He wasn’t usually the type of guy to turn down food. But now the big brown and white pinto had left his net to stare wide-eyed through the bars, looking anxiously toward the show rings where a crowd had formed. Music was playing and I guessed that Maisy was probably starting her freestyle demonstration.