Leaping Hearts(75)

Her concerns returned the next morning. With the dawn’s arrival, she felt the heavy weight of her goal settle on her shoulders once again. Lying next to Devlin, she began to fidget, feeling trapped between wanting to spend all day in bed with him and being uneasy and anxious to get to work.

“You’re like a live wire this morning,” he said.

“Sorry. I’m just thinking about Sabbath.”

“What about him?”

“Well, he’s terrified of water, right? It makes me think about all his other quirks and things he doesn’t like.”

“Like eating alone.”

“Loud noises.”

“The blacksmith,” they said together.

A.J. propped her head up on her hand. “I’ll bet if we knew more about his history, we might be able to understand him better. I’m going to do a little digging. Find out where he came from, try to figure out where this all started. He can act badly but he’s not a bad horse. I just hope he wasn’t…”

“You’re worried he was abused?”

“I’m trying to think of some other explanation for all of his problems. I’m hoping there’s another reason.”

After a quick breakfast, they left the farmhouse. Devlin headed out into the ring to adjust the jumps and A.J. started grooming the stallion. Without Chester’s help, it took longer than usual to get Sabbath tacked up and ready, especially with her arm hurting as it did. Despite taking several Motrin, which she’d swallowed as soon as Devlin had gone downstairs to make breakfast, she found lifting a saddle onto the stallion’s back difficult.

Riding him proved more arduous. Even though they had a good session, A.J. was in agony. With every leap into the air, and through the dozens of hard landings, she had to bite her lip to keep from yelping. To hide her distress, she took to avoiding Devlin’s eyes for fear he’d read her discomfort.

As they led Sabbath back to the stable, she tried to discuss the day’s work but by then her arm was throbbing. When Devlin offered to help groom the stallion, she saw the simple courtesy as a lifesaver. With him preoccupied with a curry brush, she had time to rush into the tack room and swallow two more pills. When she came back, he was putting a blanket on the horse.

“You ready to try some more work around the water?” he asked.

A.J. nodded, stripping off her chaps and then freeing Sabbath from the crossties. As she was leading the stallion out of the barn, Devlin stopped her.

“You look tired.”

“I’m fine.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t need a rest?”

“We don’t have time for breaks,” she said brusquely, then tempered the words with a smile. “At least not until later tonight.”

His eyes grew sensuous. “Say, I don’t know if you’re aware of this but there happens to be some loose hay up in the loft.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. Bet it’d be good to roll around in. Just in case we can’t wait to get up to the farmhouse.”

A.J.’s body flooded with heat. She glanced out at the jumps. “Let’s get going. The sooner we start—”

“The sooner we’re done,” he finished, dropping a lingering kiss on her lips.

In a hurry, A.J. led the stallion into the ring and then over toward the water. Immediately, he began to buck in fear and protest. Over and over, they approached and retreated, getting a little closer every time. Stroking his neck when she could and keeping her movements slow and reassuring, she put aside her physical pain and tried to calm him.

After more than an hour, A.J. led the stallion out of the ring, feeling discouraged and exhausted. She put Sabbath into his stall and removed his halter and then Devlin came over with an armload of grass and dropped it over the door. They both stared ahead as the horse ate, the soft rustling of a muzzle against grass the only sound in the barn.

A.J. was rolling her mother’s solitaire back and forth between her fingers when Devlin finally spoke.

“You’ve got to slow down.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re exhausted.”

“We worked hard today.”

“You’re coming off a fall. You need to ease back into all of this.”

“I don’t have that luxury,” she said softly. “I don’t have the time to take it easy.”

“A.J., I know you’re focused on the Qualifier but you run the risk of burning out if you keep up this pace. I know you don’t want to hear this but I think you need to consider the bigger picture.”

Her breath left in a rush. “That’s what I’m doing. There’s always a water jump at the Qualifier, along with a whole host of other things. The crowds, the noise, the other horses. Sabbath’s going to be beside himself. We need to prepare him—”

“You’re not going to fix him in two months. No one could.”

“But—”

“And nobody wants you to hurt yourself trying. Especially me.” Devlin tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “Working yourself to the bone is not the answer.”

“There’s just not enough time,” she said to herself.