He made it to the stables just before six. Milly and Tom were already outside. All around them was the usual early morning bustle of exercise riders and stable hands with the racehorses all carrying on with their own work.

He could see a few galloping around the track in the mist. Looked like Milly and Tom were with Tobias and Karim. He grabbed his jacket out of the car and put it on. It was cold.

Fred led a horse past he hadn’t seen before.

“Hey, Fred,” he said to the old trainer. “Got a new one?”

“Yeah. The owner delivered him yesterday. The boss tells me you’re permanent now.”

“Yeah. You’re stuck with me.”

“You’ll do.” Fred nodded at Tobias and Karim. “And you’re helping with those two.”

“I am?” Milly had got her own way.

“Yep, sounds like it. I’ll have to find someone else to help me.” Fred wandered off with the horse.

Cole went over to the stalls. Milly was with Tobias. She looked beautiful in old jodhpurs and long black riding boots with the zips down the back, and about as appealing as he’d ever seen her.

“Good morning, Cole.” Tom led Karim out of the stall, the horse saddled and ready to go.

As usual, he’d managed to find time to shower and shave. The problem with working here was you got to see how other people lived.

His father had better haul himself out of bed and clean up around the house.

Milly came out of the stall, helmet dangling from one hand, leading Tobias, saddled too.

“Cole!” She might have trouble riding both horses at once. “Don’t they look wonderful?” She looked happy again, happier than she’d looked any time since the accident. “I thought we could take them for a quiet walk along the riverbank this morning. You don’t mind riding Karim for me, do you?”

“No.” Better the quieter one. He wasn’t the rider Milly was. “Now?”

Milly nodded. She shrugged into a jacket and then put her riding helmet on.

“Let’s get going.” She gathered the reins at Tobias’s neck, put her foot in the stirrup and swung herself onto the horse’s back. It danced sideways. “Gentle, boy.” It took a while, but she got the horse standing quietly.

He found the riding boots he used, pulled them on, then grabbed his helmet from the hook where it lived. He took Karim off Tom.

“Cole.” Tom looked serious. “While Milly’s getting used to these horses it’s your job to help her. Be with her any time I can’t be. And if you think Tobias is too much for her, you have to tell me.”

“Yes, sir.” He’d make sure Milly was safe and didn’t take any stupid risks. He swung up onto Karim and got ready to follow Milly out of the yards.

“Good luck, kids.” Tom wandered over to the cluster of staff and racehorses standing by the track.

They rode quietly across the paddock to the river. He kept Karim alongside Tobias, without getting too close.

“Why buy four-year olds?” he asked after a while. He hadn’t existed in her world for a while there. Milly had been concentrating on Tobias. “Why not buy something that has already been trained?”

“They won’t have picked up any bad habits. We can train them the way we want them to be. For the next few months most of their training will be in the dressage arena and it will be all about getting their shape right.”

Good to know she won’t be jumping again for a while. He didn’t want any repeat of yesterday.

“This ride isn’t doing dressage in the arena.”

Milly smiled again. “No. This is for fun. I wanted to be alone with you. But it’s good for the horses too. The more different things they experience, the less likely they are to go, oh, my God this is so strange, I don’t like this.”

“Seems reasonable.” And a very nice way to spend a morning and get paid for it.

Milly shrugged. “I shouldn’t have tried jumping them yesterday. You saw what can happen if they don’t expect to have to listen.”

“Yeah, I saw what happens. You come off and get hurt.”

“I didn’t get hurt.”

“Luck.” They came to the river bank and followed the pathway. He looked at the ferns under the trees where they kissed the first time they weren’t upset and it wasn’t for the bet. The first time he started to suspect Milly might really like him.

She leaned forward and patted Tobias. “Or good management on my part.” The ripples on the water sparkled in the morning sun. The early still mist still hung over the river.

“Yeah. Do you think you’ll ever ride Hunter again?” He’d meant to check on him this morning but got side tracked.

Milly shrugged. “He’s still limping a bit. Even if he came right I’m not sure I’d trust him again.”

“What’s going to happen to him then?”

“I don’t know. It’s a problem.” She turned back and smiled at him.

Beautiful. He considered just saying, want a fuck? But didn’t think that was the approach to take with Milly yet.

Milly came to the pathway that led down to the river.

“Should we ride in the water?”

“You’re the boss.”

“I am, aren’t I?” She turned Tobias towards the river. Then looked back over her shoulder. “I like the idea I can tell you what to do.”

“Yeah. Boss me around,” he said, instead of what he wanted to say. “Like you did under the canopy.”

“Oh.” He saw Milly bite her lip. Maybe she didn’t want to be in charge that much.

He followed along behind her. She looked good this morning. He should have stayed last night when she asked him to.

They walked the horses along the river until they came to the path they’d used months ago to get back up on the bank again. The same big tree with ferns and grass and light and shadow.

She solved the problem and swivelled around in the saddle.

“I think we should stop here for a while and give the horses a rest.”

Maybe she wanted to make love as much as he did, and this was her way of telling him? Maybe she was one of those girls who just liked to do things. Didn’t like to talk about them?

“Really?” he teased, then leaned forward and patted Karim. “They don’t look tired to me. Could probably go on for hours yet.”

She looked up frowning a little. “Don’t tease me, Cole.”

Yeah, that was mean. He should make this easy for her. Especially after turning her down last night.

She swung off her horse and waited for him to do the same, then he wandered over and kissed her. The peaks on their helmets gnashed.

“Better?” he asked.

She nodded.

“We should tie them up.” Because really, with them both holding reins in one hand, the helmets in the way, and with horses looking over their shoulders it was a bloody unsatisfactory kiss. He took the reins from her. So much for her taking charge. “We don’t want them running away, if we’re preoccupied.”

Milly smiled and nodded.

He led both horse over to a tree with a convenient patch of grass. Got them tied up. Milly stood and watched him.

He went back to her.

“Now, where were we?” He pushed the hair back from her face and hooked it behind her ears. “You look great by the way.”

She smiled tentatively. He put his arms around her and went to kiss her again. She gave that hesitant smile and moved her mouth away.

“I tried to work out a way to bring a rug, but Dad was there.”

For fuck’s sake. He put his forehead against hers.

“What does Tom have to do with this?” Now they were talking about her father.

“It would have looked strange to him.”

He slid his hands inside her jacket, gently tasted her lips.

“It would have.”

Or then again, maybe she was one of those girls who liked to talk things to death first. He wished he knew her better and knew why it was always start stop, start stop with her. After the other night under the canopy most girls he knew would be all over him. But here she was now, curved and perfect, and as stiff as a statue.

He stopped, rested his palms on her hips. “Don’t you want this?”

Her hands slid up around his neck. She looked up at him, lips parted, that breathless look to her. And finally nodded.

“I just can’t work out how it would work. It’s so early in the morning and the grass is wet.”

So that’s the problem. “Leave the logistics to me.” If she wanted him to take charge he could do that.