A Horse for Cinderella (Dream Wishes Book 1) Read online

  A Horse for Cinderella

  Dream Wishes Book #1

  Nancy Radke

  Bedrock Distribution LLC

  Contents

  Dedication

  Author

  Book Description

  Praise for books

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  A Note from the Author

  Other Books by Nancy Radke

  About the Author

  Dedication

  Dream Wishes Book #1

  To my lovely granddaughters, may you find a handsome prince of a man who will give you a “happily ever after.”

  Author

  Nancy Radke

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Copyright © 2019 Nancy Radke

  Created with Vellum

  Book Description

  She is not a thief! He has two horses, why does he think he also needs hers?

  After her stepmother throws her out, Elle needs her horse to survive. Who is this handsome man who took her horse and is now calling her a thief because she took it back?

  Praise for books

  Praise for Nancy Radke

  “When I want to read a true romance book, without all of the gobbledegook, I turn to Nancy Radke. I enjoy watching her characters grow and their relationships form, with a believable storyline.”~ LDL

  “Another exciting story from Nancy Radke. The women in each series are strong, loving and loyal. THE storyline keeps you reading and leaves you wanting more. Sure hope Miss Nancy never gets tired of writing cause I never get tired of reading her books. More please.... :-)” ~ Snooze

  “Nancy Radke always delivers romances that are beautiful, sweet, and clean! You feel the rush of new love's awakening and how it can quickly blossom!”~ KPBaudoin

  USA Today best-selling Author

  Kindle Top 100 Best seller

  Chapter 1

  "Stop the car!" Prince Nathan said, reaching over to grab the arm of his good friend, Robert Spencer. He had just seen what to him was an impossible feat, a horse clearing a fence that looked to be over seven feet high.

  "Why?" Robert asked, as he swerved to the shoulder and hit the brakes.

  Nathan jumped out of the car almost before it had stopped. As Robert joined him, he pointed at the long and narrow field below them that paralleled the highway, surrounded by trees tinted with autumn colors.

  "See that fence? That horse just jumped it."

  "For sure? The white horse?"

  "Yes."

  "Can you tell who the rider is?" Robert asked.

  "Not from here. I want you to find out. As soon as you drop me off at the airport, drive back here and ask around until you locate that horse. Buy it. I don't care what it costs, buy it. Take it to my stables and get it used to the training areas. I want to ride it in the October Hunt."

  "That's less than a week away."

  "Right. Which is why I have to get started as soon as this visit with Alistair is finished. I'm glad it's just overnight. If I can't get my brother to change his mind, I don't know what I'll do. In the meantime, I want that horse ready for me when I get back. And go measure that fence first. Make sure there wasn't a gate there, or some other way it was lower at that point."

  "I'll start right away. There's a farm in this area that puts out excellent show horses. I'll ask there."

  They both knew the plane was waiting for Nathan, so hurried back into the car. Traffic was almost non-existent this time of day, and Robert drove swiftly along the winding highway, the Mercedes roaring its passage.

  Elle Bridges urged her mount toward one more fence, this one leading to the country lane she rode daily. She worked extra hours in the morning and night, so that she would have the noon hours to ride. She loved riding, the feeling of freedom that it gave her as her horse surged across the fields, his powerful strides carrying her distances that she could never run herself. Her weight balanced perfectly in the stirrups, so that it was as if the horse running beneath her was barely touched.

  She loved her country, one of the smallest in Europe, with its sweeping mountain slopes and tiny villages. Most folks didn't even know it existed, but it had been a separate monarchy for several hundred years, almost too insignificant for Bismarck and Hitler to do more than pass through. But they had done their damage on the population, and now every citizen had a stockpile of guns at their home. A civilian army, ready to defend the country if it was ever needed again. Elle hoped not, but it would be foolish to think that peace would remain forever. There always seemed to be a country wanting to be bigger, and ready to swallow its smaller neighbor.

  It was late October, and the high mountains were already covered with snow. Even in the area where she rode, there was a dusting of snow, heavier in the trees where it hadn't melted yet from last night's storm. In a month it would be too deep to ride in the forest, and she would have to stick to the plowed roads and covered arenas.

  Elle looked at the high rail fence, willing her horse over it. She was the only rider Caesar had ever known, and the horse responded to her slightest signals. A delicate motion with her hand, a tightening of one leg and a slight twist and lean to her body, and Caesar understood perfectly where she wanted him to go, and what she wanted him to do.

  He judged the fence as he approached, squaring himself to it, then soared like a mountain eagle up and over the barrier, clearing both it and the small stream on the other side. She had come up one day and fixed the top rail so that it could be knocked free, if Caesar ever hit it, but so far he had never even nicked it.

  Galloping up to the area where she usually turned around, Caesar tossed his head, making his silky mane ripple like a fur coat when it’s shaken. She felt him slacken his pace, anticipating the stop before she had signaled him to do so.

  "That's not good," she said, and urged him onward a hundred more yards before making the turn. Caesar pranced as he spun around, tossing his head again and lifting his feet high, wanting to run once more. He loved their rides as much as Elle did. They kept him in superb athletic shape.

  Her father, Brian Bridges, had raised show horses, mainly Westphalian show jumping horses. After the death of Anna, his wife and Elle's mother, from an aneurism, her father struggled against depression, and instead of growing closer to Elle, he pulled away from her.

  When Caesar was born, he saw how Elle and Caesar bonded, and he gave him to his daughter to raise and train. Caesar helped Elle recover from her mother's death, and she spent most of her time with him.

  Two years later her father married a widow around his age, with twin daughters in their teens, just a few years older than Elle. He told Elle that he wanted to give her a mother and some older sisters, and Elle looked forward to being in a happy home again.

  She welcomed them gladly into her life, but soon discovered that her stepmother's warmth was given only to her new husband and her own daughters. Elle was cut off from her father even more than she had been before his new marriage.

  She was struggling to make things work, when, a year later, tragedy struck again. Elle's father was training a raw colt that suddenly threw itself over backward, carrying Brian with him, breaking Brian's neck. He died before they could get him out of the paddock. Elle, now seventeen, felt her world completely collapse.

  Without her father's guidance, the farm quickly lost money, and during the first year, Elle's stepmother, Carlotta, sold off the breeding stock, keeping only the girls' horses, and the
one given to her by Brian. As her expenses outstripped her income, Carlotta looked for more and more ways to get money, selling the sheep and all but one cow, and then the farming equipment. Some things she just got rid of, like the painting of Elle, Brian, and Anna, that disappeared one day to be replaced by one of Carlotta and her two daughters.

  Elle had always helped her father around the farm, and after the farm workers left, she took over the chores. She loved the work, but it was too much for her. This past week, she had been forced to spend less and less time with Caesar, and hadn't ridden him for several days now.

  Caesar was a horse that needed riding, or he would start tearing down the sides of the barn. She didn't dare let him out by himself in the paddocks, since fences were nothing to him, and she would spend more time trying to find him than if she had just exercised him. But something had to be done, for she could not keep up with the farm work.

  Now, as she turned Caesar around and started home, Elle decided that if the farm was going to survive, she needed advice. The roof leaked in the barn, and she didn't know how she was going to get it mended before the weather made it impossible. An early winter was predicted, so she needed to act soon.

  From here she could go home by another route, a longer one than she usually took, but which led past the home of one of her father's old workers.

  She let Caesar run for a bit more, then brought him down to a trot, then a walk, as she took the lane leading to the home of the old stableman whom she had always affectionately called, "Uncle Mark." Riding up to the old man's house, she gave a shout out to the door, and heard his response.

  "Over here, on the side," he called. "Sitting in the sunshine."

  Dismounting, Elle tied Caesar to a ring fastened to one of the wooden posts that stood there for that purpose, and walked around the narrow pathway to the side. It had been three months since she had last come, and she mentally kicked herself for not coming more often. She loved the small alpine cottage and used to ride over all the time before her stepmother came, and her workload became so heavy.

  "Ah, Elle, girl. Welcome, welcome. What brings you here?" He stood up as she walked around the corner, an innate courtesy he always gave her, and that made him rank high in her estimation. He had the narrow hips and wide shoulders of a rider, and his erect stance and clear green eyes gave no indication of his age. He had been her father's head trainer and taught her almost everything she knew about horses. He had also been her source of strength during her father's years of depression.

  She sat down on a long bench that had been shaped from a log, feeing the brilliant beams of the fall sunshine soak into her in the high altitude. The cottage wall acted like a windbreak, keeping the light breeze away. She relaxed, feeling safe and welcome here in his rustic cottage home. "I'd like to say, 'Just visiting,' Uncle Mark, but I need advice."

  He resumed his seat beside her and stretched out his legs. He still wore riding boots, even though she knew he didn't ride as much anymore. "What for?"

  "I have to figure out a way to bring in more money for the farm. I'm selling eggs and cheese, butter and milk to the village inn, but most people have their own supply. It doesn't pay enough to buy hay for the horses and food for us."

  The old man nodded.

  "Now there's a leak in the barn roof that will get worse unless I hire someone to fix it. Or climb up there and fix it myself. It has to be done before the heavy winter snows." She wasn't afraid of heights, but the roof was pitched steeply to let the snow slide off, and anyone on it was in danger of sliding off, too.

  "You stay away from that roof. You'll break your neck. Carlotta shouldn't have sold the breeding stock. Those animals were the life blood of the farm."

  "She was offered good money for them, so sold them. I tried to stop her, but she'll sell anything that isn't tied down. I'm afraid she'll sell the farm. Then where will I live?"

  "Those two daughters of hers. Have they looked for jobs? They're in their early twenties, I reckon."

  "Yes, they are. And no, they haven't."

  He tapped his leg with one finger, thinking. "And you? How old are you now?"

  "I'll be twenty in four days."

  "Let's see. That's just before the October Hunt."

  "Right. The Hunt Ball will take place on my birthday."

  "They're offering some big prizes. How high can Caesar jump? I bet he could win several contests."

  "I'm already entered him in both the jumping and the cross-country events. He'll be six this year. Father never wanted the young colts show jumping any younger. Their bones aren't completely developed until six, and he wouldn't take chances with them."

  "That's correct."

  "But I need a steady source of long-term money. Like a job. I've asked around, but I'm too young for many of them. Most employers who pay good wages want their staff to be at least twenty-one. Or experienced."

  "Your father wanted you to go to college. He had money set aside for you."

  "It's gone. Carlotta spent it."

  "She did?" He scowled. "That money was yours. A sizeable amount too, I expect. She had no right to take it."

  "She said she needed it to keep the farm going, although I don't remember any of it being spent on the farm. Anyway, college was my father's dream. I never wanted to go."

  "Are you sure?"

  Elle nodded. "I've always wanted to raise horses. And train them." She had never considered doing anything else.

  "You know how to do that, all right. But you should take a business course in one of the trade schools. That would help with the farm books."

  "No money for that. I'm hoping for winnings at the Hunt."

  "No money at all?"

  "Not for me."

  "At least she's letting you live at the farm. What will you do later on?"

  "I don't know."

  "How about a husband? And children? You're at that age."

  "Everyone wants children."

  He chuckled. "I hope you do."

  "I've always wanted them. A family of my own. It's my biggest dream. But you've managed, and you've never had a family, Uncle Mark. Or did you?"

  "I never married."

  "Why not?"

  "My brother and I were in love with the same girl. She chose him. No one ever came close to her."

  "Did you look?"

  "Not very hard. When they died, I raised their son. So in a way, I do have a family."

  That was curious. She thought she knew everyone from around the stables. "Do I know him?"

  "Yes. Don't you remember Bobby? He used to saddle your horse for you, when I was too busy to do so."

  "Bobby? Oh, yes. He was always so nice to me." He was probably the reason she had started calling the old man "Uncle Mark," as that was what Bobby called him.

  "He's eight years older than you. But he doesn't work with horses very much anymore. At least that's what he tells me."

  "If Caesar does well in the Hunt, maybe I could keep making money jumping him."

  "It would also get your name out as a trainer. Let me see him now." He stood up and walked around the house to where Caesar was tied. Elle followed, noticing how his stride had not shortened. He had worked on the farm until Carlotta came.

  "He's so big, he probably doesn't even know you're on his back when he's jumping," Mark said. "I remember the stallion and mare he came from. Both great jumpers. He's got the blood."

  "Blood is so important."

  "And Carlotta sold them! Cretan!"

  Elle agreed, silently, with just a nod of her head. "Well, the mare was already past her breeding age, but the stallion, Julius, was worth a lot of money. I tried to explain to Carlotta that we could continue to hire him out as a stud, but she could only see the immediate cash. She sold the lot while I was out riding."

  "She's an expensive woman to keep. I don't know what Brian saw in her, but she hid her true nature from him. Well, you and Caesar must go into the showjumping circuit. If you place well in the Hunt events, they would ha
ve to take you seriously. You could enter the Grand Prix."

  "My Hunt winnings would pay for the entrance fees."

  "That's the way to think. Let me know if you need any help. I haven't been doing much since Carlotta fired me."

  "She fired you?" Elle gasped in astonishment. "She said you just quit."

  "No. I was even willing to take less pay. She didn't want me around."

  "Oh. I didn't realize..."

  "I see that you didn't, Elle. But there was nothing you could do about it. I thought that she was just saving money, once she sold the stock. I didn't realize how greedy she was. Or how mean she can be. I thought she was treating you like one of her daughters. You never said anything."

  "I didn't want to sound ungrateful. At first I thought that she just didn't have any business sense."

  "Same here. Now if you haven't done so already, go online and look at the jumps used in some of the past events. You can put some together and get Caesar used to them in the next few days."

  Returning from her ride, Elle unsaddled Caesar and put him back into his stall, the large roomy one that used to be the stall for their stallion, Julius. She had found out that Caesar needed room to move. He also needed a stall with a secure latch on it, or he would let himself out. Where he had learned that trick she never knew, but his stall door had to be almost locked before he couldn't get out.