Erin thought about it for a whole two seconds flat. For her precious twins, to be given such a trust at the focal point of the most prestigious show in the country…
She met Matt’s look head on, and the eyes looking back at him were bright with tears.
‘Of course it is,’ she managed. ‘If you want to, boys.’
‘If we want to?’ The twins could scarcely breathe for the enormity of what they were being asked. ‘You mean… lead him around the ring…all by ourselves?’
‘All by yourselves,’ Matt said solemnly, still watching the wave of emotion washing over Erin’s face. ‘If I didn’t think you were capable I wouldn’t ask it of you. I’ll be standing at the pavilion doors, waiting for you to bring him back, but once he’s out in the arena he’s all yours.’
Charlotte was not impressed! In fact, Charlotte was about as seriously annoyed as Erin had ever seen her.
Bradley had disappeared to take charge of his horse-his lads had done the work but there was no way
Charlotte didn’t wish.
‘If I hadn’t come in Matt’s blasted truck I’d go home now,’ she muttered as the last of the menfolk disappeared from view. ‘I only wanted to see Matt in the grand parade.’
She did, too, Erin thought as she followed her through the door to the stadium. Matt was a man who stood out in any crowd, and to sit in the stadium and casually let all around her know that there was her fiance… Well, for Charlotte it was the culmination of twenty years of effort.
Instead of which, she had to content herself with two seven-year-olds leading the bull of her fiance-and it hardly had the same impact to say; ‘Those children are leading my fiance’s bull!’
‘I guess you can always watch Bradley,’ Erin told her, determined to be good-humoured with the woman. She was feeling so cheerful herself she felt like doing a little jig on the spot. For her twins to be given such responsibility… She tucked her arm into Charlotte’s and refused to withdraw it even as Charlotte tugged sharply away.
Maybe she had to be even nicer. ‘Hey, Charlotte, I’m sorry for saying what I threatened about your poetry,’ she told her. ‘You know I’d never really tell anyone-and, in truth, Shanni burned them.’
‘We were only teenagers,’ Charlotte said, displeased to the core. As well as having to put up with the absence of Matt in the parade, she also had to put up with this disreputable member of the lower orders acting as if she was her friend. Her friend!
Charlotte plumped herself down on a seat and huffed. Not put off in the least, Erin plumped beside her. ‘It was just childish stupidity. I’d forgotten all about it,’ Charlotte added.
‘Bradley hasn’t,’ Erin told her thoughtfully. ‘You must know that. He’s always thought you were the ant’s pants.’
‘There’s no need to be coarse!’
‘Why have you always refused to go out with him?’ Erin said curiously, and got an angry glance for her pains. When Erin still looked an enquiry, Charlotte thrust out her diamond-adorned ring finger, as if that explained all.
‘Because Matt and I-’
‘Not at fifteen,’ Erin told her flatly. ‘Or even at twenty-three. If I remember rightly, Matt didn’t go out with anyone until he was seventeen, and then it was with Sally McKinley.’
‘How on earth do you remember that?’
‘I was three years younger than you and Matt,’ Erin told her simply. Her eyes twinkled. ‘Come to think of it, I still am. But then…well, Matt was school captain and a hunk even then, so whatever he did was the cause of major school gossip. He and Sally-’
‘I don’t want to hear.’
‘No.’ Erin chuckled her agreement. She paused, scanning the cattle starting to emerge from the pavilion, but there was still no sign of Cecil and the twins. More to keep her mind off what the twins might or might not be doing, she kept right on probing. ‘But I seem to remember that Bradley was good-looking, too. Why would you never go out with him?’
Silence while they both thought back, remembering.
It had been no secret that Bradley had been keen on Charlotte. The poetry had been part of years of secret notes, and Bradley’s despair, inexpertly disguised and pounced on with glee by his peers and by those younger than him.
Bradley, in his teens, was a spoiled brat and, as far as the rest of the students were concerned, his passion for Charlotte made him fair game. Especially the impoverished and scorned younger set to which Erin belonged.
More silence.
Normally Charlotte would simply ignore a question such as Erin had just posed. Normally she would just ignore Erin.
But things weren’t normal today. Charlotte’s social set weren’t here- ‘Really, darling, cattle shows, you know. Not our scene!’ Her two men were both out of reach and Charlotte had to either sit alone in the stands or pretend to talk politely to Erin.
She could do it. Erin had been grooming bulls for hours, both Cecil and others. She looked like a farm hand- someone the elegant Charlotte would employ. So she could spread her finger so the morning sun just glinted on her diamond, and give the impression that her purpose here was to discuss cattle quality with the staff.
And she was feeling so grumpy with Matt, she might as well tell all…
‘I could have had both of them,’ she confided, and Erin’s eyebrows rose. Respectfully. She was playing along for all she was worth here. She could have been a peasant, shocked to the core by the goings-on of aristocracy, and Charlotte’s carefully controlled trill of laughter through the stands meant Erin’s ploy was working.
‘Oh, not both at once,’ she continued. ‘But yes, Bradley was certainly keen. He’s still keen now. He’s asked me to marry him-oh, I’ve lost count of the times.’
‘So why not accept? Why pick on… I mean, why did you choose Matt?’ Erin asked respectfully, and once again, Charlotte laughed.
‘Are you kidding? There’s no choice. Matt’s family have had their land forever. His grandfather even had a title!’
Charlotte gave Erin her aristocrat to low life look, meaning with her level of intelligence Erin couldn’t possibly understand, but Erin did. There were still people to whom the phrase ‘old money’ meant something, and Charlotte was certainly one of them.
She chose her words carefully. ‘So otherwise, you didn’t really mind which one you chose?’
‘Of course I did.’ Charlotte simpered and waggled her diamond bearing finger some more. ‘I’m engaged to Matt, aren’t I?’
‘Of course.’
‘And…’
But Erin was no longer listening.
The twins had emerged from the pavilion doors. They were leading Cecil, and Erin was effectively silenced.
So was Charlotte. She puckered her lips in distaste as the twins proudly and solemnly led their charge around the ring. Erin knew that all Charlotte could think of was, why wasn’t Matt leading them?
And Erin was thinking of Matt, too, but in a totally different way. Her gaze never left the faces of her two little boys, and all she could feel was gratitude.
She was so grateful she felt like weeping. Damn, she was weeping!
Below her was the purest of pure bloodstock, being led by the cream of the nation’s farmers-and in their midst were her two abandoned and unwanted little boys.
They were all she could see, and she could only see them through a mist of tears. They were totally unsmiling, and solemn as judges-every sliver of concentration bent on leading their charge around the arena with the dignity he deserved.
What a gift!
Erin sat absolutely motionless, with every fibre of her being willing nothing to go wrong. Nothing did, and when
