She could see him in the strengthening light, riding in the distance, riding fast. They still had a lot of ground to cover. She understood that he had needed space after her revelations. He was doing what she had tried to do, which was to ride the sorrow out. Reining in, she watched him cut a path through the flatlands in a cloud of dust and thunder. At full stretch on horseback, Dante was a stunning sight. It was an image she’d always keep etched on her mind.
With a wistful smile, she sucked in a breath. This was Dante’s home. At one time it had been her home too, but nothing stayed the same, and now her horse was chafing at the bit, impatient to be free. She knew how that felt.
‘Okay,’ she whispered, leaning low to reach his ears. ‘Go get him!’
Her mount responded eagerly with a surge of speed that thrilled her as he set off after his stablemate.
Dante had reined in and he turned in the saddle when she trotted up alongside him. His expression was unreadable, and she tensed immediately, wondering what he was thinking now. She concluded the only thing she could do was break the ice.
‘I’d forgotten how much I love it here.’
‘The city didn’t fulfil your expectations?’ Dante queried, searching her eyes keenly.
‘I thought it had until I came back here,’ she admitted honestly. It was a struggle to keep everything except an open smile off her face. She gestured around to give herself a moment. ‘The city could never compete with this.’
She was putting on the act of her life. When Karina looked into his eyes he could see her pain, however hard she tried to hide it. He responded with a swell of emotion he had thought he was dead to. Underneath her bravado and her professional veneer Karina was the same girl he had known all those years ago, but she was wounded now.
‘Is there any of the ranch left to see after our tour yesterday?’ she asked him brightly.
Some people might have expected more grief from her after the dreadful news she’d shared, but he knew Karina. He knew her strength, and now he knew her weakness. She had been keeping secrets for so long she didn’t know how to share them. ‘There’s plenty left to see,’ he told her truthfully. ‘We’d better get on.’
He had to do something to help her, but there wasn’t time to do more than watch over her now. Her work had saved her, he guessed, just as Team Thunderbolt had saved him. The team had become his family, giving him a safe outlet for his youthful aggression.
The team had also given him back his sense of pride after his father had stripped it away, and a satisfaction in his work that his father had always denied him. Team members prided themselves on their loyalty to one another. If one of them hurt, they all hurt. If one of their loved ones hurt, there wasn’t a team member who would stand by and do nothing. And this was Karina. How much more did he want to help her to reclaim the joie de vivre she had once enjoyed and spread around? But he could do nothing for her while she was keeping secrets. And no one knew better than he that Karina Marcelos had the strength to keep those secrets for the rest of her life if she chose to do so.
‘Don’t scowl, Dante.’ She flashed him a look of concern. ‘Life is full of twists and turns, and we just have to stay on our feet.’ Closing her eyes, she demonstrated her intention to carry on with the job as if she wasn’t breaking up inside. Throwing back her head, she murmured, ‘It’s such a beautiful day.’
He nodded curtly when she opened her eyes and turned to look at him. He was capable of nothing more in the face of her strength, because that was the same strength that was destroying her. Clicking his tongue, he led the way forward, hoping Karina would find some outlet for her trapped emotions in the beauty of the pampas so she could turn her back for good on shadow and doubt.
CHAPTER TEN
THEIR NEXT STOP was a group of buildings that could best be described as rustic rather than ritzy.
‘This is the accommodation for visiting children, teachers and guardians,’ Dante explained.
Now they were getting to it. She remembered Nicky’s remark about Dante’s plan, but why hadn’t he been more forthcoming? If he needed long-term plans for the children it was going to be a much bigger job than she had bargained for—and in the time available he was stretching her to the limit.
‘I think you’d better explain,’ she said. ‘Is this more than just about the Gaucho Cup? Because, if it is, I need to work out how I’m going to splice in your plans for an ongoing programme with my plans for the polo cup.’