His Lord's Soldier by Renee Dahlia

Author:Renee Dahlia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical romance, gay romance
Publisher: Renee Dahlia
Published: 2021-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

After a terrible night’s sleep, James parked the car beside the stable block. His good sprinter, Sunshine Joy, had been soundly beaten by Diadem in the July Cup ten days ago, and had arrived home from the trainer’s stables to spell. He stepped out of the car, ignoring Rafe, and walked through the archway towards the main office. Rafe had insisted on coming with him to inspect the horse, then hadn’t spoken at all on the half-mile car ride from the main house to the stables. James didn’t know why he bothered, and to be honest, he was still confused about their discussion last night. Did Rafe want him or not?

James tried to ignore the burr of irritation, like a stone in his shoe. He needed to focus on work. They’d lost a lot of staff to the Spanish flu and between that and the war it was difficult to employ new people to take their spaces. Poor old Frank was doing the work of three men, although lucky the foaling season had ended a couple of months ago, and the current workload was less than in spring. During the spring, James had mucked out boxes and helped sweep up after the end of the day. He wished he could do more; having to use his cane for balance meant he couldn’t carry feed or water buckets.

“Frank. How is she?”

Frank walked quickly towards him with a big grin on his wrinkled old face. “She was galloped on during the Cup and one of those cuts is going to take a while to heal.” The old jockey had fallen too many times in his career and now his body was stiff where all the old injuries had healed, although he still walked at a decent clip. He was an excellent judge of a horse and James trusted his opinion. When Frank had caught the Spanish flu last autumn, James had nursed him back to health in the main house. Of course, Frank’s cottage was clean and warm, but he lived alone there now, having been widowed a few years before. Stewart hadn’t been happy about bringing the illness into the main house—well, those days were gone now, and Frank was still with them. Thank God.

“Foster said as much. He thinks she’ll be fine for a short autumn campaign.”

Frank scratched his head. “I’m not sure. Perhaps you should retire her. She’ll make a fine broodmare.”

“You don’t agree with Foster?” James had worked out the timing and even with a month off now, Sunshine Joy would be ready for a race in late November. She could have a short campaign before a longer spell, then be back for another crack at the July Cup next year.

“I think she’ll be fit enough again by late autumn, but she’s never been much good on a wet track, so why push her?”

“Good point.” James could send her to a stallion in early January and she’d have a nice early foal the following season. If he

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