Her Billionaire Prince Page 3

  “Let’s go see what’s up with Diamond, shall we?” Talia said, leading Eula out of the stall.

  With each clip-clop on the walkway, Talia’s worry increased. She could hear more high-pitched whinnies. Eula must have sensed this, too. She was getting antsy, picking up her hooves and marching to the beat of an anxious drum. By the time they reached Diamond’s stall, Eula was downright unmanageable.

  “Easy, Lady,” Talia soothed.

  Just above the half door that opened to her pen, Diamond’s eyes were ringed with red, and her nostrils flared with pain.

  “What’s wrong, girl?” she murmured.

  Diamond shied away from Talia’s attempt to pet her.

  Talia leaned over the door and checked Diamond’s body for any sign of injury. Her glance swept over the floor of Diamond’s stall.

  She felt faint.

  Bloody hoofprints covered the straw.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Talia fidgeted on the bench in the stable.

  “The police and vet are on their way,” Jay said. His tone implied, “And you’d better stay put.”

  She’d found Diamond and alerted her groom, Ernie, and this was how Jay wanted to repay her for her vigilance? Where else was Talia going to go? She wished she could just breeze Eula, but staying for this was more important. Talia had been the only witness to a crime that seemed so simple but was so devastating. And even then, she only saw the aftermath.

  “A nasty nail through her frog,” Ernie said, holding up the horrid culprit with a pair of pliers.

  “Ouch.” She studied Diamond’s leg and wondered aloud, “Will she be able to race?”

  Bernie’s mouth twisted. “I hope so. But the nail was in pretty deep.”

  A man and woman entered the stable. They were cops, by the looks of it, with their dark pants and white shirts, sweltering in the warming weather. Or was she just imagining that it was a furnace in the hot seat? She couldn’t force herself to look at Jay. His eyes held an accusing expression.

  “Good afternoon,” the male cop said. “I’m Detective Allred.” He pointed at the blonde woman. “This is Detective Fields. We’re from the Lexington PD. What seems to be the problem here?”

  Ernie showed them the nail and Diamond’s wound. Blood had pooled on the ground, turning nearly black.

  “Who has access to this barn?” Detective Fields asked.

  “Everyone,” Jay said. “The grooms, the jockeys.” He glanced at Talia, and then his eyes skittered away.

  “I was here this morning,” Talia confessed. “And so was Jay.”

  “Jay?” Detective Fields said.

  “I meant Prince Jamal,” Talia said.

  “I go by Jay,” he clarified.

  “So, Prince,” Detective Allred said with obvious disdain. “What time were you here?”

  “Talia and I arrived at the same time. Sunrise. Sixish.”

  The male cop raised his eyebrow, speculating.

  “I was making my way over,” Talia said. “Jay was asking about the horse I’m training, so we went together.”

  “You didn’t notice anyone else?” Detective Fields asked, scribbling something down in a little spiral notebook.

  “No,” Talia admitted. “But I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the other stalls. Someone else might have been around.”

  “Someone else had better have been around,” Detective Allred said, jutting his chin out. And he had a lot of chin. “Or that makes both of you suspects.”

  Irritation rose in Talia. “Why would we want to hurt a horse in our barn?”

  “I don’t know,” Detective Allred said. “You jockeys are all the same. A fairly competitive bunch.”

  “Diamond belongs to Green Gable, the same barn that owns the horse I’ll be jockeying,” Talia pointed out.

  Detective Allred put his hand on his waist. “You mean the same barn where arson happened just weeks ago?”

  Talia looked at Jay for help, but he had averted his eyes. She followed his gaze directed out the window of the stable.

  Did Jay think I had something to do with that too?

  “What does that have to do with what happened today?” Talia asked.

  Detective Fields shut her notebook. “Seems that someone wants to scare the Greens into folding their horse operation. Diamond was favored to win the Kentucky Oaks.”

  Talia had nothing to say to that. She was upset they would actually think she was capable of harming an animal. She wasn’t that competitive. Nor was she cruel.

  Standing up, she asked, “Are we done here?”

  The detectives looked at each other, and Allred nodded. “Yeah, we’ll draw up a report. If you know or hear of anything new, please let us know.” He handed Talia, Jay, and Bernie a business card each.

  Talia was halfway across the courtyard when she heard Jay call after her. “Hey, Talia, wait up.”

  Talia paused in midstep and didn’t turn her body fully toward him. She was still fuming at his attitude toward her.

  “You’re upset,” he said.

  “You bet I am,” she exploded. “You pretty much painted me to be the bad guy.”

  He raked his fingers through his black hair. “Now, wait a sec. You actually think I thought you did this?”

  She faced him now. “Well, what else did your tone imply?” She mimicked him. “Well, we were the only ones here, so maybe she did it.”

  “I wasn’t saying that at all.” He paced and then looked at her. “I merely care about the animals, and I…good heavens. That wasn’t it at all.” He took a deep breath. “Listen. It’s been an upsetting morning. I’ve been trying to stay a few paces ahead, and my mind has been jumbled. I’ve already been thinking of how to tighten security around here, plus a million other things before the Oaks. I’m a little preoccupied.”

  Her tone softened. “Sorry. I’ve been kind of antsy too. Instead of working with Eula, I was trying to take care of all that. And poor, poor Diamond.”

  “There’s the vet right now.” Jay pointed at the truck that was pulling in.

  “I’ll let you go, then,” Talia said. “I’ll work with Eula later. Maybe I’ll grab some lunch, just to clear my head.”

  He looked like he wanted to say something. In the end, he simply nodded. “See you later.”

  Climbing into her truck, Talia expelled a huge sigh of relief to be done with all that questioning. She hoped Diamond would feel good enough to race. Most of all, she hoped nothing else would happen, with the Oaks less than two weeks away.

  She turned the key in the ignition, but it just made a couple of weak sounds before petering out. Frowning, she squinted at the gas gauge. It still had some gas, so that couldn’t be it. She tried to turn the key again, but the truck didn’t respond.

  “Dang,” she said, slamming her hand on the steering wheel. She glanced up through her windshield and noticed that Jay was approaching her.

  “Car troubles?” he asked through her open window.

  “Looks like it.” Talia pounded her steering wheel lightly.

  “I can have my chauffeur look at it,” he offered.

  “Oh, no, that’s okay,” she said, embarrassed. “I can fiddle with it some and get it going, I’m sure.”

  “You?” He scrunched his nose.

  “That’s a bit sexist, isn’t it?” she huffed.

  “Well, I just didn’t think you also dealt with that kind of horsepower.”

  “I’ve had to. When you don’t have much money…” Her words trailed off. Of course he wouldn’t understand.

  As though reading her mind, he said, “Sure. I once fixed up an old car.”

  It was her turn to say, “You?”

  “It’s kind of a hobby of mine. At one point, anyway. I hardly do it now. Too busy in Boston. But seeing your truck gives me the itch again.”

  “Yeah, I can’t see you doing car repairs on a Boston street. Well, maybe out in that place where the guy wrote the woods book.”

  “Oh, you mean Henry David Tho
reau?”

  “Yes.” She nodded.

  “Not quite that remote,” he said, chuckling. “I have an apartment in downtown Boston.”

  Talia got out of the truck and opened the hood. She studied the fluid levels, her heart sinking. Nothing seemed obviously off. It would be something hard to diagnose. Meanwhile, her stomach grumbled loudly.

  “How about joining me for lunch?” he offered.

  “I can eat at home later,” she said.

  His eyes narrowed. “You’re very stubbornly independent, aren’t you?”

  She smiled. “Yep.”

  “Well, then, at the risk of being rejected, how about if I take you home for lunch?”

  “I’ve got stuff in the back of my truck that would get your car dirty.”

  “Eddie can clean my trunk.”

  Talia bristled. Either he was being obliviously showy, or he was being a show-off. “Up to you,” she said. “I like to bring my saddle with me, just in case Stormy wants to go for a little ride.”

  “Is Stormy a horse or a person?”

  “An old gelding.”

  “Will he mind a visitor?” Jay asked, his eyes dancing.

  “Only if you pester him.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Thanks, Eddie,” Jay said when his chauffeur delivered the Maserati from the garage.

  “Of course, sir,” Eddie said, opening the passenger door for Talia.

  “Nice car,” Talia said, slipping into the seat.

  “Thanks.” Jay turned to Eddie and motioned for the keys. “Why don’t you take the afternoon off?”

  Eddie’s expression didn’t waver. Jay guessed at his thoughts. He was used to his boss taking the car and a beautiful lady for a spin. A lady jockey today. There was always a first time for everything.

  Jay hoped Eddie noticed that this one was special. She was everything most of his other dates were not: down-to-earth and real. No airs whatsoever and naturally gorgeous to boot.

  Jay got in, and Talia gave him directions. He drove out the long driveway of the estate and flicked his turn signal to head up a little hill. The sports car confidently bit into the asphalt, which unspooled like a dark ribbon along the pastures of neighboring estates. He felt his body calm and relax, sitting beside this beautiful girl.

  She melted into her seat and raised her arms so her hands hugged the headrest behind her. Jay shot a lingering glance at her and then looked away. She had a well-toned, attractive build, but he certainly didn’t want to be caught ogling.

  She said, “What language do you speak in…in…?”

  “Mondragón?”

  “Yes.”

  “Spanish, mostly. English too.”

  “Your English,” she said, “you hardly have an accent.”

  “I’ve been shipped around the world a lot. I can do Brit if you want.” He nailed the accent. “My second home is in Boston. My main home, of course, is Mondragón. And you, where are you from?”

  “Colorado.”

  He looked at her with interest. “Which city?”

  “More like a town, really. Sunnyridge.”

  “Sorry, never heard of it.”

  “That’s okay. Most people haven’t.”

  He winced. “I can relate. Most people don’t know where Mondragón is, either.”

  “I don’t,” she admitted.

  “It’s off the coast of Spain. A principality built around what used to be an active volcano.”

  She gave him a skeptical look. “Are you sure the volcano’s no longer active?”

  “I’m pretty sure,” he said, smiling. “Because of its geological formations, it’s one of the world’s best sources of diamonds.”

  “Nice.”

  He maneuvered the car around a bend in a smooth motion. “What brought you out here?”

  She didn’t answer for a long minute, and he wondered if she’d heard. Finally, she said, “I just decided it was time to live my dream.”

  “And that is?”

  “To be a world-class jockey.” She sat up straighter, and with a tinge of excitement in her voice, she said, “We’re here. Turn right, but be careful. It’s a bit tight.”

  She wasn’t kidding. The lane was overgrown, and it seemed that his tire hit a log or something. Many of the fence posts were rotting and falling off, and he tried not to quail at the general disrepair of the property. What it lacked in order, it made up for in charm. Wildflowers bloomed to the side, and there were puddles in the dirt, reflecting the late spring sun like pockets of liquid gold.

  Jay let his car coast into the next pothole and was glad for good shock absorbers. “How’d you find this place?”

  “Online somewhere. Someone told me about it. Tagged me, I think. The time seemed right. I had just finished a training job with someone, and I was free and clear.”

  “A horse training job, I take it?”

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes lit up, and he followed her gaze to a pasture next to a small cabin. A gray horse looked their direction, one of his ears pricking up.

  “There’s Stormy,” she said, affection evident in her voice.

  “Gray as a storm.”

  “Yes, like the clouds in a thunderstorm.”

  A smile played on her lips, and it hit him that he wanted very much to get to know this woman.

  He could smell horse on her faintly, and there was dirt on her face and shirt. But he was drawn to her child-like excitement―the way her pink lips parted and how her expression warmed at the sight of Stormy, who matched her unusual gray eye color.

  Jay turned back to observe the gelding, noting the swayback and outline of ribs. “He looks old.”

  “Yes, he’s twenty-five. He was the first horse who schooled me.”

  Jay parked in a general depression in the wild grass, not so much of a parking lot, and cut the engine. “As in, the first one to buck you off?”

  She turned to him, squinting at his words. “Oh, no. Not that. I meant I learned how to ride on him.”

  Their gazes collided and held. He pictured her as a little girl, freckles on her nose and brown from the sun. Happy and carefree on this horse.

  “I bet you were cute,” he said.

  He didn’t mean for it to be flirtatious, but his voice had deepened, and he couldn’t help but notice the flattering blush that suffused her face. Her smile faded, and some invisible connection traveled between them. He yearned to kiss her.

  He reached up and touched her jaw. Her skin was soft and smooth.

  She swallowed visibly, and her lips parted as Jay coaxed her forward. She moved pliantly in his direction.

  Thud.

  The sound made them spring apart.

  Jay wondered out loud, “What was that?” He couldn’t see anything behind her, but he could have sworn the car moved.

  “Oh.” She put her hand on her cheek and pulled back. “It’s my wild and woolly dog, Rascal.”

  Rascal made his presence known, slobbering all over Jay’s closed window. He looked like some sort of a sheepdog. He probably had eyes under those long white bangs.

  “I’m so sorry,” Talia said, turning red. “He needs manners.”

  “It’s okay. My car needs some washing anyway.”

  She cast her eyes down, as though she didn’t believe him. As she shouldn’t. The car was always spotless if Eddie had his way with it.

  They got out of the car, and Rascal put it upon himself to be the welcome committee and stranger deterrent, all-in-one.

  “Down, Rascal,” Talia said.

  “Fitting name,” Jay said as the dog nearly bowled him over. He petted Rascal’s wild shag, and the dog leaned into him, making happy noises.

  “Well, it looks like you’ve got a friend for life,” Talia said.

  “You’ve got yourself a nice little place here,” Jay observed as he patted Rascal.

  She stared at him and then burst into laughter. “You are such a liar.”

  Jay’s jaw dropped. “What?”

  �
�You live in a McMansion, and you think this is ‘nice.’”

  He glanced around. He couldn’t see any other home nor stable for miles. “You’ve got a lot of privacy here, for one, and lots of room to roam. Plenty for a dog and a horse, anyway.” He leaned against the fence rail and immediately moved away at the cracking noise. “Sorry. Did I break it?”

  She laughed and then sobered. “My own little kingdom, all right,” she said wryly.

  “Ranchdom.”

  “That sounds…itchy.” She giggled.

  “At least it’s not roachdom.”

  “Ugh. Yes. Although, I have seen a few roaches.” She pursed her lips. “I can tell I’m impressing you by the minute.”

  His gaze intensified. “I don’t care about your house. I’m interested in you.”

  “But you’re a prince.”

  He frowned. “So?”

  “Don’t you have rules or something about flirting with commoners?”

  “Yes. Rule number one: If you find a beautiful commoner, you must court her.”

  She scrunched her nose. “Don’t you need to marry royalty to carry on the official succession?”

  “We’ve modernized with the times. I can actually marry whomever I choose. So long as…”

  “So long as what?”

  “So long as my mother approves of her. She made my father sign that into law before he passed on.”

  “Well, that rules me out then,” she quipped.

  Did he just imagine the shadow that crossed her features? “There’s time to win her over,” he murmured.

  She blushed. “I was just kidding, you know. Don’t worry; I’m not trying to land a husband or anything. I like being footloose and fancy-free.”

  He studied her lovely face. A shame. All that wasted beauty. “You don’t want to get married?”

  “Not yet. I just want to advance in the jockey circuit. I don’t have time nor room for romance.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think you’re the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met. And I would love to ask you out, as you Americans say.”

  His words hung between them. A long moment passed, and the air thickened with a delicious tension. He liked her. A lot. He wanted to get to know her more. And man, did he want to kiss her.