Free Leaping Hearts by J.R. Ward Page B

stall and checked a clock hanging on a side wall. If she rushed it, she could get over to Sutherland Stables, pick up all her things and still not have to deal with Peter. He’d be playing squash at his racquetclub and wouldn’t show up for work until later in the morning.
    When A.J. drove up to the compound, she was relieved that his sleek sedan was indeed nowhere in sight. In a smooth motion, she pulled the eighteen-wheeler into its parking space and hurried into her private tack room. In the course of packing up her gear, other riders stopped by, their curious eyes telling her that many had no idea why she was leaving. She found it difficult to answer their inquiries with anything other than shrugs and wobbly smiles. Her own complicated feelings did not fit easily into simple answers.
    When there was a leaning pile of tack and supplies stacked up in the doorway, she brought around her car. The cherry red Mercedes convertible had been a birthday present from her father and, if truth be told, she didn’t like it very much. The slick European design and racy engine were all well and good if you were just going out for lunch but they didn’t mean squat when you had to move an entire horseload of stuff. What she really needed was a wide-bed truck but she knew it would have broken her father’s heart to give his gift back, so she’d kept the car.
    Measuring her load of gear and the size of the backseat, A.J. shot an envious look at a pickup parked across the way. She quickly realized the only way everything was going to fit was if she put the top down. When she finished, there were horse blankets, leg wrappers, saddles and bridles sticking out of the backseat and draping over the sides of the car.
    It looked like a bizarre rendition of Santa’s sleigh, she thought, sliding into the leather bucket seat. And in this case, Rudolph had high beams.
    As A.J. headed out between the pillars, she was ready to go straight back to Devlin’s but she paused before getting on the main road as one more complication occurred to her.
    She was homeless.
    Where was she going to sleep? Her bedroom at the mansion wasn’t any more of an option than it had been the night before. She just couldn’t go back to her father’s house. Notyet. Getting sidetracked by a family that was right out of a
Dynasty
rerun wasn’t going to help her get through the Qualifier in one piece.
    The thought of a hotel filled her with dread. Doing the math in her head, she knew she wouldn’t have much cash left over after she made the transfer from her savings account to cover the check for Sabbath. And she wasn’t going begging to her father.
    Her fingers went to work on the diamond as she pondered the situation. With a tight laugh, she found it ironic to be sitting in a Mercedes and worrying about how to pay for things. Abruptly, she considered selling the convertible but shrugged off the idea. She needed a car and knew it was probably in the Sutherland’s name anyway, given Peter’s affinity for business deductions.
    Devlin McCloud’s couch had several selling points. It was cheap, close to the stallion and close to the man. The idea of the two of them holed up in that beautiful old farmhouse was captivating. Cool nights, fires in the fireplace. Some wine…
    Wait a minute, she told herself. Back up the love bus. Just because the man had offered to train her didn’t mean he was going to have her jumping anything other than fences in the ring. No matter what her libido hoped to the contrary.
    A.J. glanced down at her jeans in disgust.
    One thing was clear, she decided. Whether it was McCloud’s Unwitting B and B or a motor lodge, she couldn’t spend two months in one set of clothes. The damn things would be walking on their own in a matter of days.
    She’d have to go to her father’s house.
    Grimacing, she threw the car into drive and traveled the short distance to the mansion.
    Looming at the top of a private road, it was a grand house with a formal