Palomino by Danielle Steel Page B

want me to have Lucia-Maria bring the television in? She can, you know.” But Sam shook her head again.
    “I have to stop watching sometime.” A tiny sigh escaped her. “I might as well stop watching right now.” It was like fighting an addiction. The addiction of staring into John Taylor’s face every night.
    “Can I offer anything to help distract you? A drink? Arival newscast? Hard candy? Some tissues to shred?” She was teasing and Samantha laughed then. What a wonderful woman she was and she seemed to understand it all.
    “I’ll be all right, but come to think of it …” She looked across the table at Caroline, looking like a very young girl with an enormous request, like Mom’s mink stole for the senior prom. And the long blond hair loose on her shoulders only helped to make her look younger in the soft light. “I do have a favor to ask.”
    “What’s that? I can’t imagine anything here you can’t have.”
    “I can.” Samantha grinned like a little kid.
    “And what might that be?”
    Samantha whispered the two magic words. “Black Beauty.”
    For a moment Caroline looked pensive, and then suddenly she looked amused. “So that’s it, is it! I see.…”
    “Aunt Caro … may I?”
    “May you what?” Caroline Lord sat back in her chair with a regal air and a twinkle in her eye.
    But Samantha would not be easily put off. “May I ride him?”
    There was no answer for a long moment as Caroline grew anxious. “Do you think you’re up to it yet?”
    Samantha nodded slowly, knowing the truth of what Josh had said: If you had it, you never lost it. “I do.”
    Caroline nodded slowly. She had watched Sam riding into the main compound as she and Bill had stood at her large picture windows. Sam just had horses in her bones.It was a part of her, instinctively, even after not riding for over a year. “Why do you want to ride him?” She cocked her head to one side, her dinner forgotten.
    When Samantha answered, her voice was gentle and her eyes had a faraway look, her ex-husband’s broadcast forgotten, along with the woman to whom he had fled. All she could think of now was the ravishingly beautiful black stallion in the stables and how badly she wanted to feel him beneath her as together they raced into the wind. “I don’t know why.” She looked up at Caroline honestly. And then she smiled. “I just feel as though, as though”—she faltered for a moment, her eyes distant again—“as though I have to. I can’t explain it, Caro. There’s something about that horse.” She smiled a distant smile, which was instantly reflected in Caroline’s eyes.
    “I know. I felt it too. That was why I had to have him. Even if it makes no sense for a woman my age to have a horse like him. I had to, just this one last time.” Samantha nodded her complete understanding and as the two women looked into each other’s eyes they felt the same bond that had always held them together, across the years, across the miles. In some ways they were as one, as though in their souls they were mother and daughter.
    “Well?” Samantha looked at her hopefully.
    “Go ahead.” Caroline smiled slowly. “Ride him.”
    “When?” Sam almost held her breath.
    “Tomorrow. Why not?”

I n the morning as Samantha poured her aching body out of bed, she only felt its pain for the first few instants. After that she remembered her conversation with Caroline, and nothing hurt anymore as she ran to the shower and stood there, with the hot water pounding down on her shoulders and her head. This morning she wasn’t even going to take the time for breakfast. She didn’t care about breakfast. Not today. All she needed was a cup of coffee from Caroline’s kitchen, and after that she would sail out to the barn. Just thinking about it made her smile. It was all she could think of this morning. And thesmile was still dancing in her eyes as she ran the last steps to the barn. Two of the men were talking quietly in one corner, but other