Native Silver (18 page)

She nodded, eyes wide, dark hair swinging.

“You need to train him, don’t you?”

Again she nodded.

“Bring him over in the morning. You’ll get training, plus advice from Allison’s coach. I’ll see to it.”

Over Allison’s dead body
, she had no doubt. What was he, crazy?
 

“That’s impossible,” she breathed.

He shook his head. “Nothing’s impossible,” he said
softly. “When are you going to learn that?” He
touched her chin with his finger. “It’ll do Allison
good to have a little competition around. She needs
some incentive. She’s getting lazy.”

So that was it! He didn’t think she had a chance.
Her natural pride reared up and she flashed back, “I’m going to beat your sister, you know.”

His grin showed how little credence he gave her
boast. “Good attitude,” he said. “But I hope you’re a
gracious loser. You may be good, but you can’t be that
good.”

She wanted to throw something at him. “I
wouldn’t come and train at Rancho Verde if it was
the only . . .”

His hand cupped her chin, forcing her to stop,
and his frown gave evidence that he was losing patience. “You ask for a lot from me, Shawnee,” he
said evenly, his eyes piercing hers. “Every time I see
you, you’re making more demands. And yet you
refuse to do this one thing for me?”

She was speechless. What was he talking about? What had she ever demanded of him? Except that
he let her grandfather keep the land he’d lived on for forty years. She stared back at him. Was he
suggesting that he might relent in that area if she
did as he asked and came to train with Allison? Did
Allison really need that sort of spur so much? Or
was there a deeper purpose to his request? She had no idea. His fingers tightened on her chin.
 

“All right,” she whispered. “I’ll come.”
She wasn’t sure why she said that, but it satisfied
him.
 

His face relaxed and he dropped his hand. “See you tomorrow,” he said, lifting the picnic
basket and walking quickly towards his car. She watched him go, more confused than ever. The last dust devil made by his car’s passage had died away
before she turned back to look at the hill. The two
riders were gone.

CHAPTER NINE

TRAINING DAYS

Shawnee could think of a thousand very logical
excuses for not showing up at Rancho Verde the next morning. She went over every one of them,
weighing each, and at times her hand was actually
on the telephone, ready to call and tell David she
wouldn’t be coming.
 

But in the end, she had to go.

If only she knew what David had meant by what
he’d said. Was this some sort of bargain he was striking? What did he really want with her? And
what was she willing to give up in order to get David
to let her grandfather stay on his dusty acres?

She didn’t know the answer to any of those
questions, and so she went to Rancho Verde, her
pulse pounding in her throat, to see what she would
find there.

The house looked beautiful with the early morning sun washing the walls a creamy golden color.
Allison was already mounted and in the yard. David stood with a short, dark man watching
Shawnee ride up on Miki. And a very beautiful,
very blonde woman sat on the stone bench near the
entryway to the house, a warm mug of coffee in her
hand. This, Shawnee was sure, must be Megan
Reilly.

Every pair of eyes but David’s was watching
Shawnee with cold hostility, and even David’s
glance wasn’t very warm. He seemed to be assess
ing things, looking her over. A deep, primitive
instinct made her want to turn Miki and head for
the hills, but she swallowed hard and forced a smile
instead.

“Good morning,” she said with false cheer. She wanted to go on and say something subtle but
cutting about their lack of hospitality, but looking into the three icy faces, she didn’t feel quite brave
enough.

“Don’t you have a proper Western riding outfit?”
was Allison’s greeting.

Shawnee looked from Allison’s highly polished boots, velvety suede waistcoat and flawless felt hat to her own ancient cowboy boots and stone-washed
jeans. She did have a set of regulation Western
wear, but only one, and she was saving that for the
show.

“We’re just about the same size,” Allison went
on, sidling her horse closer. “I’ll give you some of
my old things if you like.”

Did she consider this a kindness? Shawnee re
alized, with surprise, that she just might. No
matter how it was meant, though, it was impossible
to accept.

“No, thank you,” she said, chin high. “I feel more
comfortable in this.”

Allison’s smile was just this side of malicious. “I’m sure you do, dear. But you’ll have to learn to rise above that.” She turned and gestured towards
the short, dark man. “This is Horst Haver, my
coach. David wants him to give you some help with your horse.” She let her cold glance travel over Miki
for barely a moment. “And it looks like you need
it.”

It was obvious that, though Allison wasn’t enth
usiastic about sharing a few training sessions with
Shawnee, she felt in no way threatened by her. She
probably considered it an act of charity. Shawnee
resolved to ride conservatively. There was no point letting them know how good Miki really was.

“I don’t need advice from Mr. Haver,” she said
stiffly, after nodding to the man. “David asked me to come and try out your facilities, but I
wouldn’t dream of interfering with your training
session.”

David hadn’t said a word. He’d been acting like a
spectator, but now he finally entered the fray. “I’ve told Horst to give you pointers if there’s anything
he sees that you could use improvement on. But he
won’t be breathing down your neck. You’re on
your own. Use the place any way you want to.”

That was something of a relief. Although she’d
told herself it might be just as well to let Miki work
in front of the coach and test how well they were
able to hide his blindness from an expert, deep down, she’d been dreading it. She turned to thank
David, but before she could get a word out, he’d
swung on his heel and was walking toward
the golden girl. From the way she was smiling,
Shawnee knew his look to her must be full of promise.

It took a moment to settle her concentration. But
she’d come to work, not to moon over David. Hadn’t she? And work she did.

Allison had a training field set up more elaborately than any show-ring Shawnee had ever seen.
She had everything—barrels and bales of hay
stacked in different configurations for jumping
practice, wooden rings and poles laid parallel for agility and practice in backing and maneuver
ability, wood for dragging, artificial streams for
practice in fording, gates of every description.

Shawnee felt like a child given a key to Disney
land. She and Miki tried everything once, then
went back over the places where they’d been a bit
ragged again and again, usually making sure they
were working at a part of the field as far away as possible from where Allison and her coach were
training. At the end of an hour, Shawnee drew Miki to the side to rest and watched Allison perform.

What she saw made her want to look away. The
woman was a marvelous rider, and the horse she
rode had the grace of a ballet dancer. From all she’d
heard, this was her main competition, and it was
very tough.

The coach, Horst Haver, might present a problem as well. He hadn’t said a word, but she’d seen
the look in his eyes. He didn’t seem to have realized
Miki was blind, but he had realized he and Shawnee
were good. And he wasn’t about to give her any
pointers, no matter what David had told him. Not unless David came out and ordered him to.

But that was just as well. She didn’t want
pointers from him. She knew what she was capable of, she and Miki. And together they would do what
they could.

“Do you find the facilities adequate?” Allison
asked when they’d both dismounted and she’d
dismissed the coach.

“Of course,” Shawnee replied. “Overwhelming is
probably a better word.”

Allison smiled thinly. “It has been a chore pre
paring for Western classes. I used to ride that way as a child, of course, but lately I’ve been concentrating on English equitation. A much more civilized way for a horse to operate, don’t you agree? I
do wish they would stop this antiquated clinging to the Western style for Californio Days. I’m going to
have David propose a change for next year to the
board.”

Shawnee shook her head, hiding a smile. Allison
had about as much chance of switching the local
affections to English classes as she would have of bringing back cockfighting.
 

“You do ride mag
nificently,” she said with simple fact, “in either style.”

Allison looked surprised, then pleased. “Thank
you,” she said, and for a moment she looked unaffectedly open. “You’re a pretty good rider your
self.” She glanced over at Miki. “And your horse is quite good. With work, you two might provide me
with some excitement next month.”

She turned away, but Shawnee had seen a flash of
vulnerability, and for just a moment, she’d had a
hint that there might be an Allison hiding inside this
woman who would be nice to know.

She took Miki across Rancho Verde on the way
home, taking every sidetrack that might help his conditioning. She saw David riding with Megan Reilly off to the distance, but she avoided them,
telling herself she was glad David had a woman to keep him occupied. Now he would leave her alone
and let her keep her mind on her goal. Wouldn’t he?

But when she answered her cell phone that
evening, it was David’s voice on the line.

 
“Did you get anything out of your workout?” he asked.

She hesitated, then decided she might as well tell the truth. “Yes,” she admitted. “It was very helpful. I appreciate . . .”

“Be back tomorrow morning,” he cut in. “Same time, same place.”

“What? But David. . .”

“I mean it, Shawnee. I want you to have the best training facilities available, and since they’re here at Rancho Verde, that’s where you’ll have to train. In fact, you might consider boarding that horse here with us. It would make everything more convenient.”

She shook her head, totally bewildered. He wanted his sister to win. She was sure of it. So why would he give Shawnee this opportunity?
 

“Why?” she asked simply. “What do you get out of it?”

There was the suggestion of a smile in his voice when he answered. “I get to watch you ride,” he said cheerfully. “Believe me, that’s compensation enough.”

Those confused feelings were surfacing again. Why did he do this to her? “I don’t think I should. I think it would be best if I stayed as far away from you as possible.”

“What’s the matter, Shawnee?” he taunted playfully. “Can’t handle it? Afraid you’ll be unable to resist the temptation to throw yourself into my arms?”

She gasped. “David Santiago . . . !”

“Be there tomorrow,” he ordered, and hung up.

What did he want? Why was he forcing her this way? And what did he mean by implying that she would get what she wanted from him if she did what he asked?

That had to mean Granpa Jim and the land. What else could he be talking about? But she was ready to do anything she could to get David to leave the twenty acres where they belonged. So she went back the next morning, even though it meant having to see David with Megan again.

“Just who is Megan Reilly?” she couldn’t resist asking her sister that evening.

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Lisa admitted. “But you can bet I’ll find out by this time tomorrow.”

True to her word, she arrived the next evening brimming with information.

“Megan Reilly’s father owns a huge international shipping line and half of San Francisco,” she announced.

“Impossible,” Shawnee scoffed.

“Well, maybe not that much, but they own a lot. A connection with them would consolidate Stewart Santiago’s place in the Napa wine country and give the Santiagos an edge on the international wine market.”

Shawnee shook her head. “Wonderful. But who is Megan Reilly?”

Lisa sighed. “A good marriage prospect for David. That’s most important. He doesn’t seem to be tempted by love-at least not yet. So why not go for business advantage? The smart money’s betting on it.” She studied her sister’s unhappy face for a long moment. “She’s also the daughter of Allison’s best friend from her boarding-school days. She wasn’t so hot scholastically, but she was voted homecoming queen in her senior year at Markington Prep. She calls herself an actress. There’s been talk about Hollywood. But she’s crazy about our boy David, and has said publicly that marriage to him would be better than starring opposite Matt Damon.”