Playing for Keeps Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Teaser

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Taylor Henry clicked her tongue softly and dug her knees into Prince Albert’s sides. She pressed the heels of her brown cowboy boots down into the stirrups. The black quarter horse gelding immediately moved from a walk into a smooth jog, keeping to the sides of the corral. Leaning forward in the saddle, Taylor loosened the reins a bit and signaled Prince Albert to go a little faster. “Good boy,” she praised as he broke into a steady lope.

  It felt so great to be riding again!

  How she’d missed it!

  Taylor steered Prince Albert toward Daphne Chang, who sat on the top rung of the wooden split-rail corral fence, watching. At fifteen — tall and slender with long, silky black hair — Daphne was, so far, the only instructor giving lessons at the newly reopened horse ranch, Wildwood Stables.

  For more than twenty years the once-thriving ranch had been abandoned, left to decay and splinter. Now, though, it was coming back. It was just about nine on a Saturday morning, and tradespeople had already arrived to continue the scraping, sanding, hammering, sawing, and painting they’d been working at for the previous two weeks. The dilapidated stable, corrals, and supply sheds were well on their way to being restored. Taylor recalled how, when she first came upon the place, it had reminded her of a ghost town. All that was missing were the tumbleweeds. Now she gazed at the many improvements and couldn’t resist a quick shiver of pride. She had played such a big part in getting the place reopened that she felt as if it were a part of her.

  Daphne smiled at Taylor and Prince Albert as they approached. “He rides like a dream,” she commented, “when you ride him.”

  Taylor dismounted and took off her helmet, letting her long brown ponytail swing around her shoulders. She did a quick knee bend to get rid of that stiff, bowed-leg feeling she always experienced after being on a horse. Brushing dust from her jeans and red shirt, she offered Prince Albert’s reins to Daphne. “Want to try him?” she asked. “He’s had a couple of weeks to get to know you. Maybe he won’t be so spooky anymore.”

  Daphne eyed Prince Albert uncertainly. “Are you going to behave for me, boy?” she asked, her voice full of skepticism.

  Daphne was an expert rider who preferred English, but she could ride both English and Western style. Normally, there should have been no doubt that she’d hop on Prince Albert and handle him beautifully. But Prince Albert was not behaving normally.

  Taylor stroked the side of Prince Albert’s smooth, muscular neck. “Be nice to Daphne,” she coaxed. “She’s our friend. And it’s really important that you let other people ride you.”

  Prince Albert neighed, but Taylor couldn’t tell if it meant yes or no — or anything at all — so she pretended it was a yes. “Good, I’m glad you’re going to cooperate,” she praised her horse. Taylor looked to Daphne. “See? He says you should come on up.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Daphne questioned with light laughter as she hopped down into the corral. “We’ll see about that.”

  Taylor wished she could make Prince Albert understand how crucial it was that he allow people other than her to ride him. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that nothing less than his life depended on it.

  Prince Albert sputtered nervously and turned toward Taylor. “It’s all right,” Taylor assured him, nodding her head.

  Facing Prince Albert, Daphne breathed into his nostrils. In the wild, horses did this to get to know one another. Horse trainers and owners used the method to let their horses become familiar with them. Daphne and Taylor had agreed to have Daphne try it. Prince Albert had to meet and trust as many people as possible.

  The horse seemed to be paying attention to Daphne’s breathing. Was he learning anything about her, things his keen horse sense picked up in her breath? Or was he simply memorizing her scent?

  Taylor felt a flicker of jealousy as she watched Daphne try to connect with Prince Albert. She might be sharing Prince Albert with the ranch, but his heart was all hers. Taylor loved that she and Prince Albert shared a bond. That he preferred her to anyone else was a secret source of deep happiness. It hurt a little that she would have to give up that precious exclusivity.

  Taylor knew, though, that she had to squelch her instinctive possessiveness and encourage Prince Albert to befriend other humans. The gelding needed to be a school horse, one that could be used for lessons, in order to pay for his board here at Wildwood Stables. It was the arrangement Taylor had struck with Mrs. LeFleur, who had just inherited the place. If Mrs. LeFleur couldn’t use Prince Albert for riding lessons, she couldn’t afford to keep him there for free. And if Mrs. LeFleur wouldn’t keep Prince Albert there, then Taylor couldn’t keep him at all.

  “Here goes nothing,” Daphne remarked as she put on the helmet, adjusting the strap below her chin. Coming along Prince Albert’s side, she put her foot in the stirrup and grabbed hold of the all-purpose saddle on the horse’s back. At the moment she was about to pull herself up, Prince Albert took two steps sideways, away from her.

  Daphne’s arms windmilled as she was pitched backward.

  Taylor rushed in to grab her from behind. Both of them staggered before falling backward onto the dirt.

  “Albert!” Taylor scolded, using the name she’d found on his original stall before she’d changed it to Prince Albert. “That wasn’t nice!”

  Daphne got to her feet first and offered Taylor a hand to get up. “What are we going to do with you, Prince Albert?” she asked, laughing as she dusted off her jeans.

  Daphne’s laughter was infectious, and Taylor realized they must have looked pretty funny as they wheeled backward in the corral. But Taylor’s smile faded when she looked up and noticed Mrs. LeFleur watching them from behind the window of the main building across the way. If she’d seen the way Prince Albert was acting, Taylor was sure that Mrs. LeFleur wouldn’t see anything amusing about it.

  Mrs. LeFleur approached the corral leading Albert’s friend Pixie, a cream-colored Shetland pony mare, behind her. Seeing Mrs. LeFleur and Pixie together made Taylor notice how alike the pony and the ranch’s owner were. Both were short, compact, and just past middle age. Pixie’s frizzy, unruly mane seemed like the equine version of Mrs. LeFleur’s curly hair. All Pixie needed was a pair of thick glasses and she’d be the pony version of Mrs. LeFleur, Taylor thought.

  “Perhaps Prince Albert would be more at ease if Pixie were nearby,” Mrs. LeFleur suggested as she opened the corral gate and led the small pony inside.

  “Maybe,” Taylor agreed.

  “Here’s your pal, Prince Albert,” Daphne said.

  Prince Albert went to Pixie and they nuzzled noses affectionately. “They’re so sweet together,” Daphne noted, and Taylor nodded.

  Mrs. LeFleur stroked Prince Albert’s side. “How are you today, Your Highness?” she asked him. She looked to Daphne and Taylor. “He doesn’t seem to mind me petting him.”

  “He’s okay being around people, but he only wants Taylor to actually be in the saddle,” Daphne said.

  “Want to try riding him?” Taylor offered.

  Mrs. LeFleur shook her head vehemently. “I haven’t
ridden in thirty years.”

  “You can’t own a horse ranch and not ride,” Daphne objected.

  “Apparently I can,” Mrs. LeFleur disagreed. Taylor thought she saw a distant — and sad — look come into Mrs. LeFleur’s eyes. Mrs. LeFleur’s thick glasses made reading her expression difficult, and Taylor couldn’t be certain. But a soft wistfulness had come into her voice, and it made Taylor wonder what Mrs. LeFleur’s past experience with horses had been. Why had she stopped riding thirty years ago?

  “There’s no need for me to ride,” Mrs. LeFleur said briskly, seeming to throw off the melancholy moment. “Daphne, now that Pixie is here, see if you can ride Prince Albert.”

  Daphne approached the black quarter horse once more. “Want to try this again?” she asked him in a friendly voice. “And this time, no dirty tricks, okay?”

  Taylor sucked in a quick breath and crossed her fingers. Mrs. LeFleur was being nice, but Taylor knew she was serious about having Prince Albert tolerate other riders. Her budget had been stretched thin from the start, and she’d told them that the renovations were costing much more than she’d estimated. Her only hope of keeping Wildwood Stables open was to start charging to board horses as well as giving lessons and trail rides as soon as possible.

  Daphne lifted her leg to slip her ankle-high paddock boot into Prince Albert’s stirrup, but he turned away from her.

  “Prince Albert,” Taylor warned in a voice she hoped was calm but firm. “You know better than that.”

  Daphne got back into position — and once again Prince Albert turned. Daphne huffed with frustration, putting her hands on her hips. “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?” she accused, though a smile played on her lips.

  Taylor grinned, too, despite her worries. Prince Albert’s antics would be comical — if there wasn’t so much at stake.

  “Get a chain shank and yank him,” a girl’s voice advised from behind them.

  Taylor’s shoulders tightened. She knew Plum Mason’s voice from her eighth-grade class at Pheasant Valley Middle School. Turning, Taylor faced the girl. Plum’s diamond stud earrings peeked out from her long blonde hair and gleamed in the sunlight. The leather soles of her expensive riding boots were propped on the lower rung of the corral fence, and her elbows were settled on the top.

  “You have to show him who’s boss,” Plum added. “You can’t just let him do what he wants. Every good rider knows that.”

  “He’s a little shy of people yet,” Mrs. LeFleur told Plum. “We don’t want to force him.”

  Plum shot Mrs. LeFleur a tight smile. “Is that the horse I’m going to lease?”

  “Oh, are you Plum Mason?” Mrs. LeFleur inquired.

  Taylor’s stomach clenched. Mrs. LeFleur had mentioned that Plum’s mother had called to inquire about leasing a horse. Since Prince Albert and Pixie were the only animals at the ranch, the quarter horse was all Mrs. LeFleur had to offer.

  “No!” Taylor blurted.

  Mrs. LeFleur looked at her sharply.

  “I mean … I’m the only one he’ll let ride him, so there’s no way he could be leased,” Taylor explained, more for Mrs. LeFleur’s benefit than for Plum’s.

  “Excuse us a moment, will you?” Mrs. LeFleur said to Plum. “I need to speak to Taylor a moment … privately.”

  Taylor followed Mrs. LeFleur into the ranch office. “You told me you wouldn’t lease Prince Albert if you could use him for lessons,” Taylor reminded her the moment they were inside.

  “And I can’t use him for lessons,” Mrs. LeFleur countered.

  “He just needs a little more time,” Taylor argued. “Pixie and Prince Albert have been through so much. Maybe Prince Albert only needs some more time to settle into this new home.”

  About three weeks earlier, Taylor had gone out with her mom’s best friend, Claire Black, on a horse rescue call. Claire was an animal rehabilitator, which meant that if an animal was found hurt or sick with no one to care for it, Claire got a call either from the sheriff or the person who’d found the animal.

  Taylor had gone on plenty of these rescues with Claire, but never on one involving a horse and pony. They had discovered Prince Albert and Pixie abandoned in a small stable. No one had exercised, watered, or fed them for a long time. They had been filthy and nearly starved.

  Their former owners had driven off, leaving Pixie and Prince Albert behind. When the sheriff tracked them down, they had narrowly avoided a criminal animal-cruelty charge by giving the ownership papers to Claire. Claire — knowing Taylor had always wanted her own horse — gave the ownership papers to Taylor.

  But there was one major obstacle right away.

  Taylor’s mother and father never agreed on much, which was a major factor in their recent divorce, but they were in total accord on this: They could not afford to feed and house a horse, never mind both a horse and pony. Keeping Prince Albert and Pixie was out of the question!

  And then the miracle — at least it felt like a miracle to Taylor — had happened.

  When the sheriff threatened to sell Pixie and Prince Albert at a horse auction, Taylor became desperate to find them a home. She had heard about the abandoned horse ranch on Wildwood Lane and came looking for it as a possible place to keep the horse and pony. It certainly wasn’t a perfect plan — the place was a wreck, and she didn’t know how she’d feed and groom them properly — but it was all she could come up with.

  On the evening Taylor rode Prince Albert there with Pixie following behind — the loyal pony could be counted on to follow Prince Albert wherever he went — she’d met Mrs. LeFleur, who had just inherited the place.

  Summoning all her powers of persuasion, Taylor had convinced Mrs. LeFleur to reopen the horse ranch and take Pixie and Prince Albert on as trail and school horses in exchange for their board. It hadn’t been all that hard to persuade her. Taylor had sensed that getting the ranch running again was what Mrs. LeFleur had really wanted to do all along; she just needed another voice urging her to follow her heart.

  “Why are you so opposed to letting this girl take a lease on Prince Albert?” Mrs. LeFleur questioned. “As I told you, you would still be his owner.”

  “I understand that,” Taylor replied. She knew all about leasing a horse. At Westheimer’s Western Ranch, where she had first taken lessons, they had leased horses all the time. It meant that the person who held the lease paid each month in exchange for the exclusive right to ride a certain horse whenever they chose. But that person didn’t own the horse, and the horse stayed at the ranch from which it was leased.

  “Plum leased two horses from the Westheimers,” Taylor explained to Mrs. LeFleur. “Both of them died.”

  “What?” Mrs. LeFleur cried, shocked. “Was it her fault?”

  “No one is sure,” Taylor admitted reluctantly. “One of them had colic so bad he died of it, and the other went lame and had to be put down.”

  “So it was just bad luck,” Mrs. LeFleur concluded.

  “I heard Mrs. Westheimer tell her husband that Plum rode the horses too hard and didn’t cool them down or groom them properly afterward. She fed them while they were still overheated. They refused to lease another horse to her. You heard her out there. She wanted to put a chain shank on him. I don’t even know what a chain shank is, but it sounds terrible.”

  “A chain shank is used for a horse that is not obeying commands,” Mrs. LeFleur explained. “It’s a chain that goes over the horse’s nose, and the owner tugs on it to get the horse’s attention.”

  “But Prince Albert obeys commands for me. I don’t know who it was, but somebody trained him well. He does everything I want him to do.” The image of Plum brutally yanking Prince Albert’s head down formed in Taylor’s mind and made her seethe with anger.

  “How long ago did those horses die?” Mrs. LeFleur asked.

  “It was two years ago. We were both eleven.”

  “Has she leased a horse since then?”

  “I don’t know. She went to some other ranch a
fter that. I heard she tried to lease at Ross River Ranch, but I don’t know why she didn’t. Maybe they’ve heard about her, too.”

  Mrs. LeFleur sighed and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I’ve been told that the Westheimers have old horses that they get at auction,” she said. “Prince Albert is only fifteen or so, still in his prime, so he wouldn’t be as much at risk as an old horse.”

  In Taylor’s heart, she was sure Plum was to blame for the deaths, even though she had no absolute proof. Why else wouldn’t the Westheimers lease to Plum anymore?

  “I think you’re jumping to conclusions about Plum,” Mrs. LeFleur insisted. “Could it be that you simply don’t want to share Prince Albert?”

  It was true that Taylor didn’t want to share anything with Plum — least of all Prince Albert. Plum got whatever she wanted! Why did she have to want something that Taylor loved so much? It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t right!

  “Oh, please, Mrs. LeFleur,” Taylor pleaded. “Plum’s a horrible girl, stuck-up and mean. She’s been in my class since the first grade. I know how she is. She’ll hurt Prince Albert.”

  “Taylor, dear, we both love this place and want it to succeed. That can mean making some hard choices. Obviously, you don’t like Plum, but you could be less emotional about dealing with her. I’m not so sure Plum is the horse killer you believe her to be. She may have just encountered a string of bad luck.”

  “I’m not wrong about her, Mrs. LeFleur. Believe me.”

  “Think of it as strictly business.”

  Strictly business? Taylor wondered what that really meant. Did it mean she should forget about her feelings? If that was what Mrs. LeFleur wanted her to do, Taylor didn’t think it was possible. She couldn’t believe anyone was capable of that.

  Taylor felt a lump forming in her throat, but she was determined not to cry. Tilting her chin up, she gazed at the ceiling. It was her tried-and-true no-crying technique. As she felt the urge to tear up sliding back down, she knew the method had worked.

  Waiting a moment until she was completely calm, she finally spoke. Though still hearing an unwanted quiver in her voice, she tried to sound collected and sensible. “It wouldn’t be good business if our only horse” — Taylor hesitated as her voice caught slightly, but she forced herself to finish — “died … if our only horse died.”