Read Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 01 - Dark Horse Online
Authors: Kate Sherwood
After a few minutes Evan snorts a little, and his eyes open, and Dan quickly looks out at the mountains again, pretends he was unaware of Evan’s little nap. Evan takes a minute to collect himself and then rubs the back of his neck and says, “I’d better get home. Is there anything else we need to cover?”
“Uh, just… Tat.” Evan raises an eyebrow, and Dan hurries to clarify. “She’s great, and she’s got a lot of potential as a rider, and I’m really happy to have her as a part of the barn. I’m just wondering how to treat her, I guess. What the priorities are in terms of balancing Tat’s enjoyment of the horses with running the place as a business.”
“Okay… I think I get what you’re saying, but can you give me an example?” Evan’s back in business-man mode, but the edge is gone, and it feels like they’re colleagues rather than employer and employee.
“Well, I’m assuming that Sunshine isn’t for sale right now, since she seems to be the horse Tat’s settled on showing. But is she
never
for sale? Right now, Sunshine knows a hell of a lot more than Tat does. If she’s only going to be Tat’s horse, there’s no real reason to put much energy into her training, at least for a while. You know?” Evan nods, so Dan continues. “And Tat’s interested in riding more over the summer, which is great. But she really hasn’t got the skills yet to be a whole lot of use as a trainer. She could do okay as an exercise rider, though. So if she was just another employee, I’d have her riding the horses up and down hills, stuff like that—stuff that’s good for the horses but isn’t really going to teach Tat much as a rider. But she’s not just another employee, not an employee at all, so maybe I should be focusing on having her do more schooling-type riding, where she’d learn more even though she’s not really the best rider for the job, you know?”
Evan smiles a little ruefully. “I hear what you’re saying. I….” He leans back a little and now his smile seems a bit sad. “As far as I’m concerned, the whole Kaminski business ‘empire’ is only useful insofar as it makes Tatiana happy. I mean, I don’t need a lot of money, and we’re the only ones left in the family… so pretty much everything I’m doing is for Tat, so that when she gets old enough there will still be a business for her to choose to get involved in or to choose to ignore.” He plays with his beer bottle a little, peeling the label off thoughtfully. “But, I dunno… it’s probably not a good idea for a fifteen-year-old to realize that she has that kind of clout, you know? Seems like it would be hard to grow up normal knowing that a good-sized chunk of the world actually does revolve around you.”
Evan pauses, and Dan jumps in. “For what it’s worth, man, I think you’re doing a great job so far.” Evan glances over in surprise, and Dan blushes a little. “I mean, I’m not a psychologist or anything, but… she’s a great kid. She’s been working really hard at the barn, and Robyn and all the rest of the staff love her. She doesn’t seem spoiled at all.”
Evan’s smile finally has the warmth that Dan remembers. “Thanks, man. That means a lot. She’s… she’s my most important job, you know? And I really have no idea what I’m doing. Jeff helps….” And then Evan’s smile is fading, although Dan isn’t sure why. He hopes there isn’t trouble between the two, at the same time as a tiny part of his brain jumps to attention at even the hint that Jeff could someday be single again.
Dan squishes that thought down as hard as he can and tries to get back to Evan’s conversation, tries to get back to the friendly, relaxed atmosphere of moments ago. “I’m not sure anyone really knows what they’re doing. There’s lots of kids from parents who should be experts who turn out bad. And like I said… so far, Tatiana seems like she’s turning out great.”
Evan smiles again, and it’s almost at full power. “Yeah, she really is pretty excellent.” He pauses for a moment. “So, in terms of the barn—can I ask you to just use your judgment? I’m not trying to unload my responsibilities onto you, but I just don’t know if I’ve got an answer. I want her to be happy, but I know that she won’t be happy long-term if she gets everything she wants all the damn time. So—maybe a mix? Have her do some stuff that’s good for the barn, but try to work in some stuff like the training that’s good for her. Does that make sense?”
“And I’ll try to check in more regularly, without you having to chase me down. From the sound of things, Tat’s looking to spend most of her summer at the barn, so you’ll probably be seeing more of her than I do. So… I guess I’ll be looking to you for updates on my sister.” He smiles a little ruefully and then continues. “And I wanted to thank you for what you’ve been doing so far. She came home last night just about floating off the ground, totally thrilled with everything you’d been teaching her. And she texted me at work seven times today, babbling about how excellent everything at the barn is… so, whatever you’re doing seems great… as long as she doesn’t get spoiled.”
“Okay, so, thanks for everything. I’ll try to drop by the barn and see what’s going on, but I’m sure you’ve got it all under control.” He smiles and scratches his stomach a little, and Dan’s eyes are caught by a little flash of skin showing when his dress shirt rucks up a little. Dan tears his eyes back to Evan’s face, but it’s too late; Evan has noticed. The man’s smile gets a strange little edge to it that Dan can’t decipher, but he doesn’t say anything, just sets his empty beer bottle on the table and heads down the stairs. He turns at the bottom and looks back up, and his eyes are a little warmer than they were before, a little more focused. “So, I’ll be in touch. Let me know if you need anything.”
He turns the Jeep around and heads out, and Dan sits back down on the porch. The meeting had gone well, and Evan had been friendly. So Dan figures he should be happy, should be satisfied that things are going smoothly. And he is, really. He just can’t quite shake a little feeling like he’s missing something, something that might be important. He tries to let his mind relax, and let it come to him, but all he gets is flashes of Evan’s tanned stomach and peaceful sleeping face, mixed in with Jeff’s gentle smile and hungry eyes. That’s not at all helpful, he decides, and goes to have a shower before bed. When he gets in the shower and finds the same images going through his mind as his hand wanders to his cock, he tries not to worry about it too much. Fantasies are totally natural. He just has to make sure they don’t get in the way of reality.
D
AN
quickly settles into a routine around the farm. He’s working a lot, more than he did in Kentucky, even, but it’s not like he has anything better to do. He can only ride so many hours in a day before even his workhardened legs give out, and the barn is well-staffed so he doesn’t have to worry about chores. But there’s still lots to keep him busy, and most of it takes longer than it should because he’s doing it for the first time and figuring it out as he goes.
He and Evan had agreed that the horses should be competing, if only as a way to build up the reputation of the stable. There’s no hurry to sell, which is refreshing—Dan doesn’t want to see Justin’s horses going for a bargain price to someone who might not even appreciate them just because the economy’s bad. But they’re going to want to start selling eventually, and the Kaminskis are starting a new barn, so they need to get a name for themselves, and competitions are the way to do it. But Dan has never really been in charge of picking the shows before, or registering or arranging transportation or any of the other little details. And he’s not really familiar with the California equestrian scene. He thinks about getting in touch with Jeff, but he feels like that would be imposing. Jeff was an incredible help to Dan in Kentucky, and he’ll never forget that, never stop being grateful, but Jeff’s making it pretty clear that whatever Dan might have thought was happening is not going to carry over to California, and Dan has to respect that. And if there’s no personal connection, then there’s really no excuse for Dan to expect his boss’s boyfriend to help Dan do the job he was hired for. So Dan consults with Michelle, the other assistant trainer, and even with Tatiana, since she’s done at least some showing in the region. It’s not ideal, but he is doing the best he can.
On the first Saturday morning, a week after he arrived, Dan reaches the barn at his usual time and finds Tatiana already there, helping with the feeding. She beams at him when she sees his surprised look. “It’s the start of my summer vacation! So I wanted to come down early and see the horses first thing. I want to spend the whole day here, so I can really understand what happens in the barn. You know,
everything
.”
She sounds like she’s anticipating some sort of high drama, and Dan hopes she isn’t disappointed. “Well, live it up. Your brother isn’t going to miss you?” Dan hasn’t seen Evan since his visit on Monday night, but he remembers Evan saying that he tried to keep his weekends mostly free for family stuff.
Tatiana just snorts. “He probably won’t even notice that I’m gone. He’s super busy at work, and then he’s over at Jeff’s all the time, trying to get ready for his art show, or, you know… whatever.” She blushes a little bit, and then brightens. “But that’s okay, because I’ve got twenty-four new friends at the barn!” She cuts her eyes to Dan. “Is it okay that I counted Smokey? I know we don’t
own
him, but he’s still a friend, right?”
Dan just grins at her. “It’s fine that you included Smokey, but I’m a little insulted that you didn’t include any of your new
human
friends in the total.” He looks over at Robyn, who shakes her head sadly.
Tat’s eyes widen. “Oh, of course I count you guys! So… twenty-nine new friends! Who needs a stupid old brother?” She heads off happily to help Robyn take the horses outside, and Dan remembers back to his own teenage years. He figures that the fact that she can chat and joke about her brother probably means that she’s actually pretty secure in the relationship, even if Evan does occasionally get preoccupied.
A couple of hours later, Dan’s riding Chaucer, and Tat is on Sunshine, and both are working in the dressage ring. He’s pretty much on autopilot with Chaucer, just working through transitions and trying to get the horse to pay closer attention to him, so he has some extra attention to spend on giving Tat advice. Between the two horses, though, Dan is pretty focused, and he doesn’t notice their audience until Tat does, and waves. Dan looks over to see Jeff and Evan standing by the rail.
Tat trots to the fence and starts raving about Sunshine, and offers to show Jeff what she can do. Jeff nods and stands back to watch, and Dan flashes back to the first day he’d met these three, not that long ago but somehow in a different lifetime. It throws him off a little, thinking about all the changes since then, and he decides that Chaucer’s had enough training for the day. Maybe he’ll take Monty out. He’s challenging enough that he’ll keep Dan’s mind from wandering.
Dan cools Chaucer down at the far end of the arena while Tatiana shows Sunshine off, and then when Tat pulls her up and starts talking, he takes Chaucer up to the gate, near where the others are standing. He sees a tension between the three of them that he’s never noticed before, and just sketches a wave and jumps off to open the gate, hoping to not interrupt. But he’s not that lucky.
Evan tries to sooth her. “Tat, we didn’t say we didn’t want to spend time with you. We just thought you might want to do it somewhere else. Like shopping, or… or anything, really.”
Dan hears the “
anything but this
,” and he’s almost as confused as Tatiana. But he’s quieter about it. She’s almost yelling. “Yeah, great! So you know exactly what I want to do, and then you say you don’t want to do it, ’cause you know I’ll stay, and then you can have the day to yourselves. Nice.” She shakes her head. “You know what? Fine. Go ahead. I’ve got stuff to do here, and I’ve got twenty-nine new friends to do it with.”
There’s only one reason Dan can think of for Jeff and Evan not wanting to be in the barn. Robyn had said that they spent a lot of time there while the new horses had arrived, but this is the first time all week that they’ve been down. The first time since Dan got here. He doesn’t really know what he’s done to make them feel that level of distaste for him, and he’s not really sure he cares. He knows he was going to be businesslike, wasn’t going to try to drag them back into his personal drama, and if they think he’s that weak, he guesses that’s their problem. He’s almost to the barn now, and he can’t hear what they’re saying. He thinks about calling back to them, saying that he was going to take the rest of the day off, but that might make things more awkward, so he keeps going. Let them sort out their own issues. He’s just going to do his damn job.
He leads Chaucer down the aisle and the sign on Smokey’s stall catches his eye. People have been adding names to it as they think of them: there’s “Smoke on the Water,” “On Top of Old Smokey,” and “Smokin’ Hot.” There’s also “Smoke Frog,” which Dan doesn’t really get. He hopes it’s not some California drug reference that the guardian of a fifteen-year-old might not appreciate. But in general, the new names calm him down a little. At least some people have welcomed him and his horse into the barn and are making them feel at home.
He pulls Chaucer’s tack off and runs a hand down his chest to check for heat. The barn’s hot-walker is still on order, one of the few things that isn’t complete yet, but it’s a warm day out with hardly any breeze, and Chaucer isn’t really hot, just warm, so he should be okay out in the paddock. Dan thinks about taking him outside. He’s not sure whether the Fighting Kaminskis are still at the dressage arena or if they might have moved. He sneaks up to the door a little and tries to peer out, and jerks his head back quickly when he sees all three of them on their way in, not ten feet away. He scurries back to Chaucer and grabs the lead rope, busying himself with putting it on. He’s sure that Jeff at least saw him sneaking— not really the way to impress someone with your “strictly business” attitude. Damn. He turns Chaucer around and heads for the doorway, and the three visitors stand to the side for him to pass. Jeff isn’t looking at Dan, as usual, but he’s pretty sure he can see a little snicker twisting the corners of his mouth.