Nothing but Trouble

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

I’D GONE STRAIGHT to bed after Annabel got together with Connor the night before. The flimsy doors did little to block out noise, and I had no desire to hear a blow by blow account of them doing the deed.

I put the pillow over my head just in case her moans travelled through two layers of wood, but even then I tossed and turned. In my dreams, I was sitting on Captain, my arms wrapped tightly around Connor’s waist as we galloped across lush green pastures and soared over hedges. With Connor, it felt like I could jump the moon.

Then I woke to a cold dose of reality. Another woman was no doubt draped over him at this very moment, and I couldn’t even trot properly.

“Hurry up,” I muttered at the toaster, gripping the butter knife so tightly it left a dent in my palm. I wanted to get out of the kitchen before anybody else turned up, and by spreading jam like a woman possessed and chewing quickly I managed it.

Folly nuzzled me as I combed through her tail. I still hadn’t found the conditioner, but there was no way I’d venture back into the spider’s layer.

“Blimey, you’re keen,” said Jenny when she saw me tying Folly outside under the overhanging roof. It was trying to rain, and I didn’t want her to get wet.

“I’ve decided horses aren’t as scary as I thought.”

“That’s good to hear,” she said with a laugh. “Do you fancy giving a hand with a few other things once you’ve done her?”

“Why not?” Anything to distract my mind, which had spent far too long imagining Connor’s abs. Was an eight-pack even possible? I had no idea. And as the only time I’d seen a six-pack in real life was when I picked up Terry’s beer at the off-licence, I doubted I’d find out any time soon.

Jenny was showing me how to measure out feed into bowls when my phone rang. Oh, hell. Mike? Terry?

No, Grant. Thank goodness.

“I went round to check on your house. Did you know the dude from your porch is living in your shed?”

I sighed. “I hoped he’d be gone by now.”

“He’s installed a satellite dish. I don’t think he’s planning on leaving in the near future.”

“Is it still possible to run away and join the circus, do you know?”

“That bad, huh? Do you want us to get rid of him?”

It was a tempting offer, but I still wasn’t sure whether Mike had got the message. At least with Terry in the shed, I was unlikely to come home and find Mike had installed himself in my bedroom.

“I’ll sort it out when I get back. Terry’s annoying, but he’s harmless.”

“If you change your mind, just say the word. How are the horses?”

I told him about life at Linden Hollow so far, carefully leaving out any mention of Connor. If I mentioned a hot guy, Grant would tell Todd, and Todd would insist on driving up here to rate him out of ten and give me tips on what underwear I should be wearing. Or not wearing, if his imagination had anything to do with it.

“I had to teach a girl like that to drive once,” he said, referring to Annabel. “If I wasn’t gay already, her attitude would have been enough to turn me that way.”

I smothered a bark of laughter. I’d gone outside to take the call, but Jenny looked up out of the gloomy feed room at the noise. “She’s the most obnoxious person I’ve ever met. Well, apart from Mike. Maybe I should introduce them? They’d get on famously.”

“One of them would end up getting eaten alive, that’s for sure.”

A vision of a praying mantis with Annabel’s head snacking on my stalker popped into my mind. I hated to say it, but in that instance, I’d be rooting for her. “I can only hope.”

Grant promised to pop round to Edith’s again in a day or two to check Terry wasn’t installing indoor plumbing in the summerhouse, then we bid each other goodbye.

I’d gone back to helping Jenny when Felicity poked her head around the door. “Where’s Connor? I can’t reach Berry’s spare bridle. The hook’s too high.”

“Connor’s not here today. Something urgent came up, and he had to go into town. If you ask Lenny, he’ll find you something to stand on.”

“Connor’s off?” I asked once Felicity disappeared. “He didn’t mention it yesterday.”

“No, it was a last-minute thing. He should be back tomorrow. Don’t worry, you’ll still get your lessons—I’ll teach you myself.”

I couldn’t help the pang of disappointment I felt. I hadn’t wanted to admit to myself how much I liked the afternoon session yesterday where we forgot who we were and simply talked. Not about anything of consequence, just easy chat. Connor lost some of his edge then. His attitude receded and his face relaxed. He became the real Connor, I was convinced of that, which made him hotter than ever.

Not only his looks, but his easy smile and the way he laughed from his belly. Whenever our horses closed the distance between each other, my heart beat faster and my skin prickled as his aura encroached on mine.

I was riding into trouble and I knew it, but I wasn’t sure I could stop myself.

Or if I even wanted to.

But I couldn’t tell Jenny that, of course. When she asked how I was getting on with my lessons, I went with vague. “Okay, I think. Connor’s a good teacher.”

“Him being able to come at such short notice got me out of a bind, that’s for sure.”

“What do you mean? I thought he’d been here for ages?”

“I’ve known him a few years, but he’s only here temporarily. My regular trainer ended up in a cast for six weeks, and it wasn’t even due to a horse. She spent her life doing riding stunts then broke her leg when she came off her bicycle.”

“That’s terrible,” I murmured. My words should have been aimed at the poor lady who got injured, but instead all I could think about was Connor leaving. “When’s she due back?”

“Not for three weeks yet, and she’ll need to ease in gently. Connor’s been a lifesaver to step in.”

“What will he do after that?”

She shrugged. “Probably go home. Or maybe travel a bit. He’s been talking about a trip to Europe.”

I realised how little I knew about him. Where was home? Somewhere in America, obviously, from his accent, but America was a big place. We’d spent hours talking, and I’d told him about Edith, my list of challenges, Mike, and even how Terry cheated on me, yet I didn’t know so much as his last name. I’d learned more from chatting to Jenny for five minutes than I had in five days with Connor.

“You ready for your first lesson?” asked Jenny, cutting into my thoughts.

“As I’ll ever be.”

I wasn’t too bad at the trotting lark now. I could do circles with ease, and even loop back and forth across the arena in a serpentine.

“Connor said you need to ride a dressage test,” Jenny said as I brought Folly to a halt at the end of the session.

“That’s right. Do you reckon I’ll ever be able to?”

“Of course. There’s a low-key unaffiliated competition just down the road next week. Why don’t you enter it?”

I froze. “That soon? I can’t even canter.”

“You’ll be able to soon enough. Connor can get you started tomorrow morning.”

The idea of going that fast brought me out in a cold sweat, even as I untacked Folly. What if she turned into some wild demon at the promise of a bit of speed? That thought stayed with me through the afternoon and evening, meaning I wasn’t in the best of moods over dinner.

When Annabel and Felicity shared an animated discussion about what they were going to watch on television that night, all I could hear was fingernails on a blackboard. I accidentally huffed, and Annabel locked her gaze on me.

“So, how have your pony rides been going?” she asked, her tone condescending.

“Fine,” I snapped. “At least I’ve managed to stick to riding of the horse variety.”

I honestly don’t know why I said that. Even as the words left my mouth, I clapped a hand over it, horrified with myself.

Annabel’s face turned an alarming shade of beetroot, which clashed terribly with her green eyeshadow. “You little cow. You probably don’t even know what it’s like to get laid.”

I deserved that. I opened my mouth to apologise, but before I could do so, she stormed off with Felicity at her heels like a faithful spaniel.

As her bedroom door slammed, Jenny burst out laughing. “I’ve been dying to say that for days. You’ve got balls, lady.”

I buried my head in my hands. “I don’t know what came over me. It just popped out.”

“It was only what we’ve all been thinking. She’s been trying to get her claws into Connor from day one.”

“She doesn’t have claws; she’s got talons.”

We both hooted with laughter again, and I glanced over to Annabel’s door, worried in case she heard us. It remained firmly closed.

But it wouldn’t stay that way forever. I sobered up at the thought of spending an uncomfortable evening with the Uglies, watching Project Runway. I didn’t even like the damn program. I’d suggested watching Dancing with the Stars the other day, but Annabel rudely informed me she didn’t go in for all that celebrity rubbish. Neither did I, but I liked the dancing. “Isn’t Project Runway a reality show?” I’d asked. She rudely informed me it was “art.”

Nope, I didn’t want to spend a second longer than I had to with either of them.

“I’d better go back to my room before they come out again,” I said. “I know I’ll have to deal with it in the morning, but I have a saying—Never do today what you can do tomorrow.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have to lock yourself away. Why don’t you come back to the house with me? We were planning to watch a movie.”

“We?”

“Me and Connor.”

Connor was there? “I thought he’d had to go away suddenly?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “Not exactly. There was a bit of an incident last night. You hit a sore spot just then with your comment about only riding horses.”

“What do you mean?”

Jenny glanced over at Annabel’s door then lowered her voice. “Annabel went to Connor’s room last night and told him a story about wanting advice on lateral work. Except when he turned round from closing the door, she’d dropped her robe and was standing there starkers.”

I thought he’d have leapt at that opportunity, but Jenny’s tone implied otherwise. “What happened?”

“He told her she’d got the wrong idea, and she said she hadn’t then tried to kiss him. He ended up manhandling her out, and apparently she was none too happy about it. I figured it was best to give everyone some space by having him take the day off.”

Wow! She’d handed it to him on a plate, and he’d knocked her back? That had to sting. And then I’d said what I said and poured salt into her wound.

“So what about tomorrow? Do you think I should keep a low profile as well?”

“Girls like Annabel turn up with plenty of money, no manners, and a disgusting sense of entitlement. I’ve seen it before. She won’t forgive and forget like a normal person. I hate to say it, but avoidance is probably the way to go unless you want to feel her anger.”

I gulped. “I’ll keep out of the way.”

“You’re coming to watch a movie, then?”

The alternative was another night in my room. It may have been comfortable enough, but the walls were closing in on me. And though I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, I wanted to see Connor. I couldn’t deny that hearing he’d knocked back Annabel lit a little spark of happiness deep inside me.

“Why not?”

At her house, Jenny held the door open for me, and I found myself in a hallway which could best be described as lived-in. A show home it wasn’t, but there was something comforting about seeing the coats slung over the bannister and the row of shoes next to the front door.

But that wasn’t the part that made my breath hitch. In the living room, Connor lounged barefoot on the sofa in a worn t-shirt and faded jeans, idly flipping through TV channels like he owned the place. Dark hair flopped over his forehead, and he pushed it back as he met my gaze.

Oh, yes. I was in trouble.