Part 5 (1/2)
”It's been happening all year. I'm not stupid, J.T. No matter what you think about me otherwise, you better not think that.”
His gaze dropped away. ”I don't know what you're talking about.”
”Yes, you do.”
Almost twenty-eight years of marriage lay between them, but instead of the comfortable familiarity of old lovers, they were separated by a huge wall of disillusionment, distrust, and betrayal.
”Zach Tyler would destroy you,” J.T. said. ”He's a snake in the gra.s.s.”
”Well, at least he's not in my bed, like you are.” She slid out from under the sheets, grabbing a blanket and a pillow. ”If anyone is going to destroy me, it will be you. Think about what I said, J.T., and remember-one more fight, one more affair, one more humiliation, and I'll be on the phone to Zach Tyler faster than you can spit.”
”You're bluffing. You'd never sell out half of your family farm to Zach Tyler.”
”Try me.”
”Let's try him in the gate now,” Zach said to the exercise boy who had breezed Rogue around the training track at Stanton Farms. It was barely 6:00 A.M. and the dirt track was soft and moist, the heavy morning mist still clinging to the nearby trees, giving the area an almost eerie appearance. Zach loved the early morning workouts. Here in this mist-shrouded world, he felt like anything was possible.
The exercise boy walked Rogue over to the practice gate where another man was waiting. Rogue should have been used to the gate by now, but no matter how many times they practiced, he still got testy when the gate closed behind him. And this morning was no exception.
”Get in, Rogue,” Zach muttered as the horse balked at entering the gate. ”I'm going over there.”
Sam Jamison put a hand on his arm. ”He's got to do it without you, just like he will at the track.”
”He's a stubborn son of a b.i.t.c.h.”
”Just like you, doesn't want to do what anybody tells him to do,” Sam said, chewing on a straw of gra.s.s as he leaned over the rail. ”Gotta have it his own way.”
”If you have something to say, why don't you just say it,” Zach replied, his gaze still focused on Rogue. Thankfully, his big ugly baby finally went into the gate and came out of it without a hitch. He motioned for the exercise rider to take Rogue once more around the track at an easy pace. Then he turned to Sam, who was regarding him with kindly, amused eyes. ”What's stuck in your gut?” he asked.
”Rogue needs to be at Churchill. We should have taken him straight there, instead of letting him think he could get comfortable and lazy here at home.”
”He likes being here, and we've got plenty of time to get to Churchill.”
”Rogue needs to get used to the barn there, the atmosphere, the track.”
”We've got two and a half weeks.”
”Why are you stalling? Colin would like to see Rogue there by this weekend at the latest, but he told me you're thinking the following week.”
Zach shrugged. ”Rogue gets special attention here, my attention and yours. I think it's better for him.”
”You're babying him.”
”I'm heating him carefully, that's all.” Zach walked along the rail as the exercise boy took Rogue off the track and headed back toward the barns. There were a dozen more horses to be worked, but he could leave those workouts to Sam.
He needed to get back to the barns where the early morning ch.o.r.es were in full gear. It took several dozen employees to keep the farm operating at its peak, and Zach was in charge of making sure none of those employees screwed up.
While he would have liked spending all his time with Rogue, he had a job to protect as well as a dream to chase, and Stanton Farms was almost as important to him as Rogue.
Sam jogged along behind him, stopping now and then to bark instructions at the exercise riders taking the other horses around the track.
”Wait up, Zach,” Sam said as they reached the first barn area.
”I've got things to do,” Zach complained, but still he stopped. He'd been following Sam's orders since he was sixteen years old, and even though their positions were now on equal footing, he still respected Sam enough to listen to whatever he had to say.
”I want you to think seriously about getting Rogue to Churchill this weekend.”
”It's too early. He'll get stale.”
”What are you afraid of?”
Zach hated to admit that he was afraid of anything, but he was. ”Once Rogue gets to the track, everyone will be watching him, clocking him, gossiping about him. You heard the talk at Keeneland. Without that stumble at the gate, he would have won, and everyone knows it. They're itching for another look at him. At Churchill there will be distractions and new faces. I want Rogue quiet, rested, ready to go.”
”Rogue knocked around the barn in Florida and you almost had to scratch him. He stumbled at Keeneland because he didn't like the crowd or the gate. He's fidgety away from home. He didn't get settled in at Keeneland or at GulfstreamPark. The only times he's won were the times he got to the tracks early. Think about it.”
Zach didn't have to think about it. He knew Sam was right. He knew he was making excuses. Now that the Derby was so close, he was getting nervous, thinking maybe he wasn't ready yet, maybe Rogue wasn't ready yet.
”You used to think your horse couldn't lose,” Sam said. ”Then you saw that it could happen. Now you're not so confident, and neither is Rogue. That's why you're both skittish. The moment of truth is about to arrive, and you're not sure you're ready.”
Zach sighed and looked into Sam's wise old eyes. ”How the h.e.l.l do you read my mind?”
”Easy. I know you. I know how much you want to win this race.”
”The moment of truth,” Zach echoed quietly. It was true. He was afraid to find out what was going to happen, afraid that he would fail. But this time was different. He'd searched for the right horse for years, and when he'd found Rogue, everything had come together, the perfect horse for the perfect dream finish at Churchill Downs on the first Sat.u.r.day in May.
He could see it all in his mind-Rogue taking the last turn, sprinting down the stretch, the Stanton colors of burgundy and gold a bright, dazzling sight of brilliance, and Rogue crossing the finish line, going into the winner's circle, the roses draped across his back.
Zach knew it could happen. It had to happen. He'd invested every part of himself in Rogue, until he barely knew where the horse ended and he began. Sam had warned him not to let the Derby mean everything, but how it could mean less? It was the ultimate in horse racing, the most exciting two minutes in sports.
Two minutes. That was all it would take to send him higher than a kite or cras.h.i.+ng to the ground. Zach couldn't afford to make any mistakes, and every time he thought about the Derby, all of his insecurities came rus.h.i.+ng to his mind.
He'd thought once or twice in his life that he had a chance to make it, really make it, and each time he'd lost. What if it happened again? What if Rogue wasn't good enough? What if he wasn't good enough?
”Rogue has what it takes.” Sam read Zach's mind again with uncanny perception. ”But he needs to know it. He needs to be around the other horses. He needs to feel the excitement leading up to the Derby.”
Zach looked over to the ring where one of the grooms was hot-walking Rogue to cool him down from his workout. Rogue was still antsy, high-stepping, tossing his head in the air. He was the kind of horse who had to make sure you always knew he was the boss.
”I believe in Rogue,” Zach said. ”You're right. He needs to go to the track. I'll make arrangements to take him down on Sunday.”
”Good boy. Now, if only I could get you to believe in yourself and have some courage. You're as yellow as my aunt Edith's face without her makeup.”
Zach laughed. ”Haven't you done enough for one morning?”
”Maybe you ought to take a chance and give that sweet, reckless blonde a call. See how she's feeling. See if she needs some company.”
Zach frowned at him. ”I have work to do, a lot of it. Besides that, it's six o'clock in the morning. I don't think that city girl will be up before noon.”
”Now you're making excuses for yourself. Maybe Rogue could teach you a thing or two about confidence.”