Love, Lies and a Flash of the Past

Chapter 55

               “Apologise to her. And you better pray you didn’t hurt her or scare her or so help me-”

               “Haden! It’s alright,” I whisper. “He didn’t mean to, I’m sure.”

Richard nods his head in agreement eagerly and Haden narrows his eyes at him. Haden takes a couple of deep breaths and nods his head.

               “Don’t let it happen again,” he mutters, wrapping his arm around my waist.

He leads me to the cubicle he was in and I hang back a little, waiting for him to reprimand me. But he doesn’t.

Instead he walks over to the majestic looking black horse and pats its head affectionately.

               “This is Prince. He’s my personal horse and I like to take care of him, though I’m not around very often. Richard is in charge of the stables and he takes care of Prince when I’m not around,” Haden volunteers.

               “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

He turns to face me, raising an eyebrow.

               “Aren’t you mad at me? You seemed kind of pissed off just now,” I mumble.

               “I’m not mad at you, silly. I was mad at Richard for trying to be funny with you. Though...now that you’ve brought it up, can you do me a favour and not wonder around alone? Not even in the palace grounds. The men here may be loyal to me and all, but as soon as a pretty girl like you comes into the equation, most forget their place,” he explains.

I nod my head, dropping my gaze.

               “Why are you down here, my love? Is Connor alright?” he continues, back to patting his horse.

               “He’s still weak. But thank you for helping him out Haden. It means a lot to me,” I whisper.

               “I know. I did it for you. Everything I do is for you,” he says softly. “Come here and meet Prince.”

I shake my head, taking a tiny step backwards.

Haden smirks and holds a hand out for me. “I promise he won’t hurt you.”

I take a deep breath and take Haden’s hand. He pulls me towards himself and takes my left hand, gently holding it to Prince’s body.

Prince neighs at my touch and gets all agitated, but Haden forces my hand to remain. And after a couple of minutes, the horse calms down.

               “He likes you,” Haden whispers into my ear, making me shiver. “Do you want to ride him?”

I quickly shake my head, pulling my hand back. “Don’t you know what happened to the guy who played Superman? He fell off a horse and broke something and now he’s paralysed!”

Haden chuckles at my terrified expression and kisses my forehead. “Prince is gentle. He won’t hurt you. I promise. And riding is amazing! Besides, you look like you could use a distraction.”

               “Will you be nearby?” I squeak.

               “Yeah. I’ll ride one of the older, more aggressive ones. Prince will behave. He likes you,” he repeats.

I bite my lower lip but nod my head anyway. Haden’s face lights up in a beautiful grin as he takes my hand and leads me out of the stable.

               “Richard, saddle Prince for me,” he orders.