Royal - Danielle Steel Page 0,75

probably closer to the queen than anyone else. She’s his best friend. I’m not sure he ever got over my mother. He doesn’t talk about it. He’s a decent father, though he probably likes his horses better than his children. Very British, you know.” It made her realize how lucky she was to have Jonathan in her life. He was warm and loving, and the only father she had ever known, and she would always think of him as her father, even though they weren’t related by blood. “I can’t really see myself settling down, not for a long time anyway. I have no role model for it. I hardly remember my parents together before she left. They were always out somewhere. He didn’t start his horse operation until after she was gone, and that’s really his first love now. I don’t think he’ll ever marry again.”

“I’m not sure I will either,” Annie said, looking pensive. “My parents had a good marriage and they loved each other, but it seems complicated. I grew up in a tiny cottage with them and my brothers. My mother was the housekeeper on the estate where my father works. Marriage doesn’t seem to work out for most people. I’m not sure it’s for me. Horses are a lot easier,” she said, smiling at him.

“Or wine, women, and song. That works for me,” he teased. But underneath the glib exterior, the good looks, and the charm, she had the feeling that he was afraid of getting close to anyone, maybe because his mother left when he was so young, or he was having too much fun now. The kind of life he led was a mystery to her and didn’t seem very appealing. But he wasn’t as arrogant as she had thought when she met him. There was a soft side to him. Outwardly, he was just the stereotype of the handsome playboy. She couldn’t imagine going out with someone like him, or with anyone for now. The hub of her life and her only interest were the stables.

He drove her back to the horse farm after dinner, and they walked into the guesthouse together. He invited her to his room for an after-dinner drink, and she didn’t think it was a good idea. She was worldly enough to be cautious about going to men’s rooms with a bottle of scotch for easy sex. She was still a virgin, and had no intention of changing that for him.

“I have to be up at five-thirty,” she used as her excuse. “I promised to exercise Flash again at six.”

“You’re the only girl I know who’d rather be with a horse than with me,” he said, laughing, and she thanked him for dinner, and went to her room. It had been a nice evening, and for some reason, even with all the trappings, the fancy car, his good looks, and the racy life he seemed to lead, she felt sorry for him. He’d had a lonely childhood and no mother to love him. She’d been better off growing up as the daughter of a housemaid and a stable hand who both adored her. It had been a simple life, but they were real, and she knew how much they loved her. She never doubted it. The life he led seemed empty to her. He was a lost boy in a glittering world that had no appeal at all to her.

In his room, Anthony poured himself a glass of scotch and wondered what would become of her. She was like a child, and a breath of air. A little too much so for him. The women in his world were more exciting, and what they wanted from him was easy to give. What you’d have to give a girl like her was beyond him, and would have terrified him.

* * *

—

Annie was back in the stables at six o’clock the next morning, and had Flash in the main ring ten minutes later. He was more skittish than he had been the day before, but her steady routine and soothing voice calmed him, and by the time she brought him back to his stall at seven, he was peaceful and easy to manage again. She saw Lord Hatton go to his office as she walked Flash back to the barn. She was at the trainers’ meeting on time, and got her assignment for the day. She heard a rumor from the other trainers that there were photographers lying