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He stepped in her way, one hand resting on the wall of the stall to stop her He felt vaguely nettled Why did she always have to do things alone? ‘Just let e’

‘I will,’ she assured hi one inch

Losing patience, he put his hand on her ar, but that stubbornness was irreversible

He followed her out, closing the stable door behind them, and then followed Lizzie down the line of stalls He could see her concern for her grand back tears Well, if she wouldn’t let him, he couldn’t help her He supposed too e for either of theht riled hi shut out

He wasPushing them to the limits of their endurance, hethem they would leave the class one of tays: on a stretcher, or on a flight ho him to the limit He knew this, but didn’t let up Lizzie didn’t falter, but she flashed hi them; she just didn’t knohy

‘That’s it,’ he said at the end of the class, esture with his hands ‘I’ll pin up the results of my test outside the tack room You know the drill’

They all knew that so today, and his students were subdued as they left the indoor training ring to go and rub down their horses Lizzie had dis put a head collar on her pony, she was leading him with her other ar the course, and who today see fallen off several times Not his problem He had a report to write

He didn’t see Lizzie again until that evening when she knocked on his office door He was in a better er, he had found his personal training to be rigorous, but productive, and he had thrashed his opponents on the pitch ten goals to six His injured horse ell on the way to recovery, and the beer he was currently enjoying was ice cold Sitting back in his favourite chair with his booted feet crossed, he was more than happy to receive a visit froh it began well enough, with Lizzie in the role of supplicant

‘May I speak to you for athe door behind her with her usual care

He wondered for a moment if Lizzie ever broke out of her shell these days She had done when she was younger, when she used to ride like a dedean, but perhaps life had knocked that exuberance out of her, because all he could feel from her noas tension He was instantly alert

‘Do you have a problem?’ Everyone would have read the test results by now, and he knew Lizzie wouldn’t like them

‘Yes, I’ve got a problem’

‘So?’ Spreading his arin

‘It’s not an

‘Let uess—this is about Danny’

‘Yes, it is,’ she agreed

‘There’s no one on that list you should be worrying about, except yourself You’re here on your own behalf, not to run a nannying service’

He stared at her keenly Lizzie had randmother’s steel in her, but there was more to this than a plea for a fellow student, he suspected

‘I’ve already given Danny a second chance She’s repeating the course Last year she had an excuse This year? Better I get rid of her now than dash her hopes last o, Lizzie And now I have work to do—’

‘I thought you were someone special,’ she said as he tu

rned away ‘I thought you gave people a chance, because you had been given a chance by Eduardo—’

‘That would be one chance,’ he snapped in reply, incredulous that she would argue back, and furious she would bring his mentor into this ‘No one handed me my life on a plate And in spite of what you think of me, I do kno hard it is—’

‘How hard you make it,’ she countered

He shrugged ‘So not everyone’s going toyou need to accept, especially if you intend to make a success of a business one day’

‘I will make a success of my business, but this is different,’ she insisted ‘This is unjust All I’ is that you reinstate Danny It will destroy her if you send her away And she can only i terrible—’

‘Or anything notable, either,’ he pointed out, deternore Lizzie’s plea ‘Am I supposed to wait around indefinitely in the hope that one day Danny will improve?’

‘She’s heartbroken that you’re letting her go’