At Long Odds (A Racing Romance) Read Online Free Page A

unbiased.
    ‘He’s going to be a winner, Ginny. I can feel it,’ he enthused, as if he was trying to convince himself as well as his daughter. Beth tutted as if this was something she had heard a hundred times already but Jim didn’t appear to hear her. ‘Shanghai Dancer might turn things round for us this season but Caspian’s the one for the future.’
    ‘Why are you so sure?’ Ginny asked.
    ‘I don’t know. It’s his attitude, you know? Just Kidding was the same. They’ve both got that – I don’t know, that look in their eye.’
    ‘So you think he could win the Derby like she won the Oaks?’ Ginny said, unable to keep the skepticism out of her voice.
    Jim heard it too and sighed, shaking his head.
    ‘His Derby is still over a year away. A lot can happen in between. In the meantime though, maybe the Dewhurst Stakes later this year.’
    Ginny nodded, more in sympathy than anything else. The Dewhurst Stakes for two-year-olds was one prize Jim had always yearned for but never won. It was also the richest and most sought-after juvenile races in Britain.
    ‘When we start faster work, we’ll see what we’ve got,’ Ginny reassured him. She found herself hoping her father was right not only for his sake, but to bring a certain Frenchman down a peg or two as well.

Chapter Three
    After a thankfully uneventful week that had allowed Ginny to find her stride, Friday started like all the previous days. Ginny sat in the racing office toying with the idea of returning the call she had received yesterday evening. A message had been left from some self-important secretary, on behalf of one of their owners, Basil Forrester, requesting that she ring back as soon as was convenient.
    Having only got his answering machine yesterday evening, Ginny was dreading their eventual meeting. Kerry had already described him to her: Jabba the Hutt in human form, saying she wouldn’t have been surprised if he had a Princess Lea chained up in his Kensington detached home. Jim hadn’t inspired much confidence in her either, telling her about the man’s bullying strategy that had shoved him up the social and financial ladder. He was, however, one of their best owners, calling the shots on the futures of three of the yard’s most talented horses: Shanghai Dancer, Storm Chaser and Shaman. She turned to the paperwork on her desk, deciding she needed a bit more courage before returning the call.
    As she idly flicked through entries for the first meetings of the season, a flash of colour and movement through the office window caught her attention. Three lads were slinking into the yard. Wondering if they were here looking for work, Ginny stepped outside to meet them.
    ‘Hi, can I help you?’
    The oldest of the three looked uncomfortable and wouldn’t quite meet her eye. Ginny recognised him as the head lad from Julien Larocque’s yard. She looked at him with fresh suspicion.
    ‘Hi, Miss Kennedy. We’ve, er – come to collect the horses…’
    Ginny’s heart rate trebled as an icy feeling slithered down her spine.
    ‘Horses? What horses?’
    ‘Basil Forrester’s three.’
    Panic blew the lid on Ginny’s patience and she stared at him in bewilderment.
    ‘What?’
    ‘That’s all we been told,’ he shrugged.
    ‘Wait here,’ she instructed and hurried back into the office. She snatched up the scrap of paper with Basil Forrester’s number on it and stabbed the numbers on the telephone keypad.
    ‘Forrester Corporate Holdings, how may I help you?’ a receptionist chimed.
    ‘Please put me through to Mr Forrester.’ Impatiently, she tapped her foot as she was transferred. Through the window she could see the Larocque lads ignoring her instructions and sloping across the yard, looking for the three horses. Head collars dangled ominously from their hands.
    ‘Mr Forrester’s office,’ carolled the same prissy secretary who had left the message on the office voicemail.
    ‘Please put me through to Mr Forrester. It’s Virginia