Free Barefoot by Ruth Patterson Page B

each year. Hang out. I don’t do the whole shopping bit.’
     
    ‘How’s Grace?’
     
    ‘Better. I’ve been reading a lot about working with horses the natural way. Trying out the exercises.’
     
    ‘How are you getting on?’
     
    Toni didn’t want to admit she wasn’t making as much progress with Grace as she had hoped. ‘It’s harder than it looks.’
     
    ‘You’ve got to be patient.’
     
    It began to rain again and she pointed to a tent. ‘What about that place? It’s undercover.
     
    The tent was crammed with people sheltering from the rain and there were no free tables, so they stood at the back. Cal had a coffee. Black, she noticed. With two sugars. He was at least a head taller than her and she had to look up to meet his eyes as they talked. The rain increased to a downpour, hammering on the canvas overhead, causing the crowd to swell as more people dived inside for shelter.
     
    Toni began to wonder if the cross-country would be cancelled altogether. They were pushed closer together and she was acutely aware of the heat of his body, as she found herself pressed close against him. He smelled earthy. Like a horse.
     
    For a wild moment she thought he might kiss her. But he pulled away and frowned instead. ‘Time to get out of here, I think.’
     
    Toni looked at the sea of people between them and the entrance with growing unease. ‘How?’
     
    Cal bent to where the tent joined the ground and pulled back a flap. ‘This way.’ He ducked down under the canvas and she followed him outside into the rain again. With her head down she didn’t see the trap she had walked into until it was too late.
     
    ‘Toni!’ Beth, the temporary groom, stood in her way, wearing a jacket emblazoned with the name Arabella De Carteret . ‘There you are.’
     
    Toni stopped dead, shocked. Cal stopped too, and turned, the question evident on his face.
     
    ‘Did Arabella find you?’ The girl asked innocently.
     
    Toni shook her head. Cal had walked back over and was listening.
     
    ‘She’s furious Polestar fell,’ Beth prattled on. ‘Well, you don’t need me to tell you what your mother’s like. Have you got a lift back?’
     
    ‘I’ll be fine,’ Toni mumbled, scarlet now. She registered the look of shock on Cal’s face.
     
    ‘If you’re sure.’ The girl moved off, leaving them standing there facing each other.
     
    All the easy intimacy between them had vanished in an instant.
     
    ‘Arabella De Carteret is your mother?’ He seemed stunned.
     
    Toni nodded miserably.
     
    ‘So the real reason you are here today is to cheer on her winners?’ He sounded sarcastic now.
     
    Toni refused to rise to the bait. ‘More like losers today, actually.’
     
    Cal shook his head. ‘It’s like finding out you’re a member of the Royal Family. When exactly were you going to tell me?’
     
    She shrugged, helplessly. ‘I don’t know. When it felt right, I guess.’
     
    He was silent.
     
    She tried to read his face. ‘Does it change things?’ she asked. ‘Between us.’
     
    Cal looked grim. ‘There is no us really, is there? I obviously don’t know you at all.’
     
    He turned and was swallowed up by the crowd, leaving Toni devastated. She retreated into the gap between the tents and stood there with her shoulders hunched against the rain, filled with self-pity. Arabella, as usual, had ruined everything.  She controlled every aspect of her life. What she did, how she rode, who her friends were. And now she had even managed to ruin her relationship with Cal by her very existence.
     
    As a man pushed his way past her, Toni flattened herself against the canvas, becoming aware of the noises around her again. In the distance, the applause and roar of the crowd.  She wiped the rain from her face.
     
    How dare he assume I’m like my mother!
     
    Gradually, Toni began to feel angry instead. She was nothing like Arabella. Nothing at all. And she was going to make that clear to him. She set off