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and if wasn't so
    nauseating, it would be ridiculous. Your first attempt at matchmaking
    worked, so be content with that. There'll never be another. Eliot Lang is the
    last kind of man I'd ever want to be involved with. His—type revolts me. If
    he ever touched me—I'd die!' She stopped with a little gasp, looking
    anxiously at her father, but he seemed perfectly composed.
    'Well, if that's how you feel, I'll say no more.' He picked up a paperweight
    carved in the shape of a horse, and began to toy with it. 'But there's no
    accounting for taste, I must say. He's got my Beattie eating out of his hand
    already,' he added with a faint grin. 'But you're going to be civil to Eliot, and
    you can start by showing him round the yard—and the flat.'
    'Is that an order?' she asked huskily.
    'If it needs to be,' he said genially. 'Now, off you go.'
    Eliot was waiting by the tack room. Leaning against the door, his hands in
    his pockets, enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun, he looked relaxed and
    very much at home.
    'Ah,' he said lazily. 'My guide.' He looked at the bunch of keys dangling
    from her hand. 'Shall we have a look at the flat first?'
    She was taken aback. 'But don't you want to see the yard—the horses?'
    'I've done my homework,' he said drily. 'I know what horses are in training
    here, what they cost, and what the next season's hopes are. Any more I want
    to know on that score, I can ask Wes Lovett, when he comes back for
    evening stables. I don't want to intrude on his time with his family.'
    'I can tell you anything you want to know.'
    'All right,' he said. 'Tell me, Mrs Drummond, what makes you tick. And why
    I'm so clearly not the flavour of the month.'
    Natalie looked past him, remembering Grantham's strictures, and measuring
    her words accordingly.
    She said abruptly, 'You were—a shock. I had no idea Grantham was
    planning to take on an outsider as a partner.'
    'Then what did you think he'd do? Carry on as if nothing had happened? As
    if that attack had been a figment of his imagination?'
    The note in his voice stung her, and she flushed. 'No, of course not. But there
    was an alternative.'
    'What was that?' he asked. 'As a matter of academic interest, of course.'
    She said baldly, and ungrammatically, 'There was me.'
    There was a long silence. Then Eliot said, 'Everything suddenly becomes
    much clearer. Well, well. So you see yourself as a trainer of champion
    'chasers, do you, Mrs Drummond?'
    'Yes, I do. For years I've been begging my father to give me a chance—ever
    since I left school. When he was ill, 1 thought it was an opportunity to show
    him that I wasn't—a useless female, but prove I could run things here.'
    'I see.' He gave her a meditative look. 'I'm glad to hear natural concern for his
    well-being wasn't allowed to stand in the way of your ambition.'
    Her voice shook. 'You're deliberately misunderstanding me. Of course I was
    worried—worried sick. But it wouldn't have improved Grantham's chances
    of recovery if I'd simply—sat back and let the yard go to pot.'
    He nodded. 'And on the strength of that, you expected to be made a partner
    in equal standing with your father in these stables.' He gave her a long look.
    'Lady, you're living in a dream world. You should know, none better, just
    how many million pounds you have on the hoof in this place. Do you
    imagine, in the long run, the owners are going to entrust their treasures to the
    care of an inexperienced girl, however eager to learn? How old are you, by
    the way?'
    'I'm twenty-three,' Natalie said stormily. 'And you couldn't be more wrong.
    When Dad was first taken ill, a number of the owners got edgy and started
    talking about removing their horses, and I talked them out of it. I persuaded
    them I knew what I was doing. So some people were prepared to have faith
    in me, even if you and Grantham want to—shut me out.'
    He said quietly, 'Calm down, Mrs Drummond, and take a firm grip on
    yourself, because I'm afraid I'm going to have to