Read Online A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade - Free Book Online

the ingredient Lyndie thought of as heart , then that horse would never achieve glory on the track. A horse had to have the will to win.
    “When he was young, Bo and I believed he was full of promise.”
    “I can see why.” Silver Leaf ambled over to them and lowered his regal neck just enough so that Lyndie could rest her palm on his forehead. She stayed that way for long moments, joined to the horse through touch.
    “By now, I would have retired any other horse who’d run as poorly as he has,” Jake stated.
    “Why didn’t you retire him?”
    “I wasn’t willing to give up on him after his three-year-old season. There was something about him that appealed to me.”
    “What about after his four-year-old season?”
    “I’d have retired him if it hadn’t been for Meg.”
    Lyndie waited for him to elaborate.
    “Meg shares everything she has with Bo,” he said. “But, technically, she owns this whole place. The ranch, the barns, all the horses.”
    “I’m guessing she’s a great owner to work for.”
    “She is. In all the years I’ve worked for her, she’s only come to me with one request about a horse. She asked me not to give up on Silver Leaf.”
    The stallion stepped back a few paces and peered at them as if he knew they were discussing him. “Meg loves Silver Leaf,” Lyndie guessed.
    “Yes. Silver Leaf was a yearling when her father died. He was her father’s favorite.”
    “I see. So Silver Leaf links Meg to her father.”
    Jake nodded.
    “But he won’t run.”
    “No. Meg stills hopes, or still wants to hope, that he has potential. But it’s my job to be practical.”
    Lyndie found herself wanting to hope in Silver Leaf’s potential, too.
    “I told Meg,” Jake continued, “that I’d put him back into training and give him two more races. This is his last chance.”
    Lyndie’s life with Mollie had cultivated in her a tender heart. She’d always been sensitive to those who were weighed down with difficulty, like Jake. Or who were considered a disappointment, like Silver Leaf. “Oh,” she whispered.
    “Oh what?”
    “Nothing.” But her oh moment had not been nothing. She could see, suddenly, that the trainer and his horse were tied together. If she could improve the outlook for one, she just might be able to improve the outlook for the other. “I’ll do everything I can,” she promised, “for Silver Leaf.”
    The horse’s dark eyes measured her.
    Jake and Bo were excellent horsemen who’d carved out successful careers for themselves in the world of Thoroughbred racing. If the secret to Silver Leaf’s refusal to run were easy to diagnose, the brothers would have done so. “Once I’ve finished riding for the day, is it okay with you if I hang around and spend some time with Silver Leaf?”
    A frown line appeared between his brows. People found her odd at times. She was an artist, after all. “If you want to.”
    “I want to.” In order to unlock Silver Leaf’s mystery, she’d need to take a crash course on the statuesque gray stallion. She’d start the best way she knew, with observation.

    Silver Leaf behaved as if he had more royal blood coursing through his veins than Prince William himself. The big and beautiful Thoroughbred treated Lyndie the way a king would treat a guest who’d come to call. That is, formally and politely.
    When she mounted up in the mornings, he stood completely still, his neck arched in an elegant line. He never danced nervously beneath her or showed signs of skittishness. In fact, when other horses on the track or in the shed row exhibited that sort of behavior, Silver looked down upon them with disdain. He allowed Lyndie to lead him through his exercise regimen with indulgent good humor, as if, could he have spoken, he’d have said, Certainly, Ms. James. I acquiesce to gallop.
    His behavior would tempt anyone to believe that he possessed the right sort of disposition to handle the excitement of the racetrack. Which only made the oddity of his