Riding Star (17 page)

“No!” Georgie said. “I mean, no, I don't need time to think! I would love to come back. Yes, please!”

Tara laughed. “I'll see you in my first class next term, Georgie. It's good to have you with us again.”

*

As she walked to the stables that evening, the weather was freezing cold, but Georgie didn't care. She dug her hands deep into the pockets of her non-regulation Barbour as she turned past the gateway of Burghley House and headed for the stable block.

The polo ponies had already been given their feed for the evening, but she wanted to look in on Princess. Tara had been right – the grey mare had been a total star in the rundown. She was so impressive that the gruff Winchester captain had asked Georgie if she would consider selling the mare to him, but Georgie had politely refused.

The truth was, she had been considering giving the mare back to Riley. She had felt awful about the trade they had made. Riley had clearly sacrificed one of his best horses in exchange for the total untrainable nightmare Marco. It was a sweet and noble thing for him to do, but Georgie couldn't possibly keep Princess.

“I want to swap back,” she had told Riley in the truck on the way home from the Frankfort polo grounds.

“No way!” Riley grinned at her.

“But it's not fair,” Georgie said. “I really appreciate what you did for me, but I can't leave you lumbered with Marco.”

“Well I'm not trading back,” Riley said. “Marco won his first stakes race last weekend. I'm training him up for the Oaks.”

Georgie couldn't believe it. “Are you serious?”

“Totally,” Riley said. “That horse is going to pay my way through college.”

It turned out that wilful Marco had come in three lengths ahead of the field and Riley was now fielding offers from major stables who all wanted to buy him.

So Princess remained Georgie's favourite pony in the string and she had sat proudly astride her when the Blainford Girls' Polo Team photo was taken. Georgie couldn't believe it when Mrs Dubois informed them that Mrs Dickins-Thomson was planning to include the picture in the wall of fame in the school dining hall. Georgie had to admit that she loved the idea of a portrait of her team staring down on Kennedy Kirkwood and Conrad Miller as they ate their dinner.

After she looked in on Princess, Georgie left the polo stalls and headed down to the main stable block at the back of the school. She had moved Belle back in with the eventers now. The mare's hogged mane was beginning to grow back and although it was currently in a difficult in-between stage with the hairs sticking up like the ruff of a Roman centurion's helmet it wouldn't be long until the mare looked like her old self again.

“Another month or two and I'll be able to plait it,” Georgie murmured to Belle as she leaned across the stable door and stroked the mare's broad, bay neck. “And by the time we're back in cross-country class, you'll look just like you did before.”

Belle nickered appreciatively, as if she too was pleased at the news that they were going back to Tara Kelly's class. In a way, Georgie suspected that the mare had missed jumping as much as she did. She was too well-bred and too brave over fences to live life as a polo pony. As for Georgie, she would keep playing polo. But cross-country had always been the dream, and now she was back in Tara's class where she belonged.

Riley had turned out to be right – hadn't he always said that she would find a way back into Tara's class?

It was ironic that Riley had been so determined not to get involved with a Blainford girl – yet if it wasn't for him, Georgie would never have survived her last term at the academy.

OK, maybe it wouldn't be easy trying to date a boy who didn't belong to Blainford, but Georgie didn't care. She had spent the past term so confused about her feelings, but now she knew. It was him. It had always been him. After all they had been through, she just hoped that Riley felt the same way.

It was getting dark as she left the stables and walked back down the driveway. She could see the lights of Badminton House, and there on the road, right outside the front door, she could see the front headlights of a red pick-up truck. Her heart raced as the door of the truck opened and Riley got out. He'd been waiting for her.

STACY GREGG
grew up training her bewildered dog to showjump in the backyard until her parents gave in to her desperate pleas and finally let her have a pony. Stacy's ponies and her experiences at her local pony club were the inspiration for the
Pony Club Secrets
books, and her later years at boarding school became the catalyst for the
Pony Club Rivals
series.

Pictured here with her beloved Dutch Warmblood gelding, Ash, Stacy is a board member of the Horse Welfare Auxiliary.

Find out more at: www.stacygregg.co.uk

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