Jeremy's Girl - Entire First Chapter!

Chapter 1 

 “Shit! Get off me, you heffalump!” Anna grumbled as the big, bay gelding she was brushing shifted his feet and planted his heavy hoof directly on top of her booted foot. “Get off!” she ordered again, shoving the horse with her shoulder until he stepped sideways, freeing her trapped foot. “Damn boy, you weigh a ton,” she muttered, lifting her foot off the ground gingerly, wriggling her toes inside her boots to check that they all still worked. “Now that I’m back for good I’m going to have to get me some steel capped boots.” 

Crack! She jumped a mile in the air as a riding crop connected with her butt. Clutching the seat of her jeans with both hands she spun around to face the culprit, and found herself staring into the eyes of none other than Jeremy McCrae. 

“Language!” he admonished, a stupid grin on his face. In his right hand was the offending riding crop, and balanced on his left arm was a saddle, blanket and bridle. 

“Jeremy!” Anna shrieked, flinging her arms around his neck, laughing as Jeremy hugged her back awkwardly around the gear he was carrying. “I can’t believe you’re still here! It’s so good to see you!” 

She took a step back. Jeremy was just as ruggedly handsome as she remembered. Maybe even more so, if that were possible. He stood just over six feet tall, with broad, powerful shoulders, smouldering dark eyes, and black hair curling at the nape of his neck where it poked out under his hat. He’d always been good-looking, and he’d only improved with age. In the four years she’d been away at university in Wellington, all the way down at the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand, he’d gotten taller, filled out more, somehow gotten even more muscular, and grown a goatee on his chiselled jaw. She didn’t remember him ever being quite so sexy. 

“Of course I’m still here,” he told her, looking at her as if she was daft. “Where else would I go? I grew up here just as much as you did.” 

Anna nodded. “True.” 

Jeremy had worked for her father for years. He was a couple of years older than her, and had been working here with the horses both before and after school, and on weekends and school holidays since he was twelve. It had been so long, she could barely remember a time when Jeremy hadn’t worked at Bracken Ridge. He’d been here for so long he was part of the fixtures. They had pretty much grown up together, as every spare moment Anna had, she was working with the horses too – mucking out stables, cleaning gear, and riding. Most teenage girls had a group of girlfriends they hung out with, chatted on the phone to, went shopping with. Anna had Jeremy. It wasn’t that she was unpopular, or a loner, it was more that she preferred the company of the horses to people, and Jeremy was the same. She had plenty of friends at school, but outside of school she’d much rather be with the horses. She’d been gutted to lose touch with him when he moved away, but Jeremy had an aversion to social media, and Wellington was a long way away. 

“I’m the stable manager now. Got promoted last year. I’ve moved into the flat at the far end of the stables.” 

“Stable manager?” Anna asked in surprise, her face dropping. She fought to keep the jealousy and bitterness out of her voice, but it felt like she’d been punched in the guts. Jeremy being promoted to manager was like a betrayal, almost. It’s not Jeremy’s fault, she told herself, but she didn’t entirely believe that. It was his fault – of course it was! He could have moved on at any time, but no. He’d stayed right here, in her childhood home, taking the place that should have been hers. 

She could still hear her father’s lecture from the night before echoing in her ears, telling her in no uncertain terms that she was not walking into a management position at Bracken Ridge, even if she had spent her entire life, bar the last four years, here. You need to work your way up to the top and not expect it to be handed to you on a silver platter, her father had told her. And she understood that, she really did – but working for Jeremy? He was barely any more experienced than her!

Anna had assured her father that she didn’t mind working for the stable manager – but it would be easier to swallow if the boss was old and unknown to her, instead of her childhood friend, Jeremy. 

“Yep.” Jeremy winked. “I’ll catch you later, aye?” 

As Jeremy continued on down the stables to do whatever it was he was going to do, Anna stared after him longingly, watching his gorgeous butt for a moment, before turning back to the horse she was grooming. 

It’s not fair, she thought bitterly. Why hadn’t her father told her that her supervisor would be Jeremy? Had he feared she would turn down the job? Anna snorted. No chance of that. She’d come home to Bracken Ridge because she was out of options; she’d been broke, unemployed and homeless. She’d had no idea how hard it would be to get work as a new Psychology graduate, and no way did she want to resort to something menial like stacking supermarket shelves. She’d pick mucking out stables and grooming horses over that any day. Ideally, she wanted to work with children, but right now, she’d settle for working with anyone. But working with somebody and for somebody were two completely different things. She could work with Jeremy fine; she’d done so for years. But could she work for him? Only time would tell. 

 *** 

Anna was at the stables bright and early the next morning, introducing herself to the three other hands. Two girls and a boy, they were all high-school students in their late teens, and they all worked part-time, much the same as she and Jeremy had done when they were still at school. Jeremy glanced pointedly at them as he walked past holding two lead ropes, and when he returned several minutes later, leading two horses, Anna and the other staff members were still standing there talking.

“Chop chop!” Jeremy called. “There’s work to be done!” 

“Keep your knickers on, Grumpy-bum!” Anna smirked at Jeremy, wanting to remind him that she belonged here, this place would be hers one day, and she wasn’t about to start taking orders from him. 

Making sure he saw, she winked at the other staff members. Jeremy frowned and she poked her tongue out at his retreating back. The young stable hands cracked up with laughter. They all quickly dispersed when they saw Jeremy returning to the stables sans horses, and as he approached he beckoned to Anna. 

“My office please,” he ordered. 

Anna sighed, but followed Jeremy down the corridor. He shut the door behind them. 

“Have a seat,” he invited, indicating the chair on the side of the desk closest to the door. He went around behind the desk to the black leather swivelly chair, and stared across at her. 

Anna pulled a face at him then smiled. “Am I in trouble, mister?” she teased him playfully, looking up at him from under her long lashes, as she leaned back in her chair casually and crossed her ankles. It was weird, being in this office under these circumstances. 

“You could say that,” Jeremy growled. “I take it your father told you that you will be working for me? I am the boss.” He emphasised the word ‘I’ just slightly, and Anna noticed it. “So you will refrain from undermining me in front of the other staff members, and you can get rid of that attitude. You are no different from any of the other staff members who work here, and you will follow my orders. Got that?” 

“Well I kind of am,” she argued. “I mean, I grew up here. This will be my place one day! Come on Jeremy, you know that!” She hated the whiny tone in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. Jeremy being stable manager hurt. 

Jeremy raised an eyebrow and glared at her sternly. “As far as the other staff members are concerned, no you’re not. You follow my orders, just like them, until your father says otherwise.” 

Anna nodded, swallowed, then took a deep breath. “I’ll try. But it’s not exactly easy for me to suddenly accept you as my boss. You’ve been my friend forever.” 

“I know mate, but you don’t have a choice.” Jeremy sounded surprisingly compassionate. He reached over his desk and patted her on the shoulder. “It’s your father’s orders, not mine.” 

Anna sighed. “I’ll try. Okay? It’s the best I can do.” 

Jeremy nodded, just once. 

Anna looked at him and grinned. “You’re quite sexy when you do the stern thing. Did you know that?” 

A rakish wink was his only answer. 

“Okay, boss.” She stifled a smile and stood up. “I take it we’re done here?” 

She left Jeremy’s office as he nodded, leaving the door wide open behind her intentionally, as a sign of her rebellion. 

 *** 

“Take it easy aye? Stay in the yards!” Jeremy called to Anna as she mounted the first horse she’d been on in years. “I don’t want you coming off! There’s too much paperwork if you hurt yourself.” 

“I won’t come off,” Anna insisted. “But how rude! I should fall off now, just to spite you. Make you spend hours in the office.” 

Jeremy groaned. Health and safety rules, and the incident reports that had to accompany every injury, were the bane of his life. Fortunately, there was as much chance of Anna falling off the horse she was expertly trotting around the arena as there was of him winning the lottery: slim to none. Anna had always had a special gift with horses, and so far he hadn’t seen a horse that she couldn’t ride. She was fearless, but it was more than that. She had a gift for bringing out the best in every horse, for being able to communicate with the animal easily, and for gaining its trust quickly. She looked so natural on horseback, as though she’d been born in the saddle, and Jeremy supposed she just about had. She could ride before she could walk, and she’d grown up here on Bracken Ridge, working with the horses every day. Training horses was in her blood. Her father’s reputation as a fantastic horseman was the reason Bracken Ridge was so successful, with people in every part of the equine industry, all over the country sending their horses there, and paying high prices for Bracken Ridge bred-and-trained four, five and six year olds. 

 *** 

Anna finished working with the young horse she was riding, and after cooling him off and wiping him down, she turned him out into the paddock next to the barn with the others, and caught the next colt she intended to work with. Leading him out to the round pen to work him, she caught sight of Jeremy working with another youngster and stood still, watching him. She’d always liked watching Jeremy ride. He looked impressive in the saddle. He looked impressive no matter what he was doing, she corrected herself. He was one sexy specimen of manhood. Her father always said Jeremy had a way with horses, and there was no doubt he did. Jeremy himself doubted his gift, he’d told her so many times; but it was clear to her, watching him now, that he had something special. The horses warmed to him so quickly, and seemed eager to obey him, eager to please him, especially the youngsters. Maybe it was his confidence around them, his unrelenting calmness that helped, she didn’t know. But whatever it was, it worked. 

Shaking her head to bring herself back to reality, she took a tighter hold on the lead rope and carried on to the round pen, the young colt dancing lightly along beside her. 

A couple of hours later, she sat back on the hay bale outside the barn and sipped her water, taking a quick breather. Working the young horses in the round pen always exhausted her, both physically and mentally. Connecting with them the way she did took intense concentration, and she didn’t stop moving for a moment. 

It was just herself and Jeremy at the stables at the moment; her father had accompanied her mother into town, and the part-time staff would arrive later in the day, when school was out. Now that they were getting older, her parents spent less and less time at the stables; she guessed her father was trying to ease into retirement gently. And that suited Anna just fine. With nobody else here, she could ogle Jeremy completely undisturbed. 

Coming back from the paddocks, Jeremy rounded the corner and came to join her. 

“Shove over,” he said as he sat down on the hay bale next to her. 

Electricity surged between them as his thigh touched hers. Had Jeremy had felt it too? Or was it her imagination? Did he have any idea of how she felt about him? She’d always had a crush on Jeremy. All through her teenage years, she’d considered herself to be madly in love with him. There’d never been any hint of romance between them though, even though she didn’t know whether or not Jeremy had ever had a girlfriend. If he did, she had certainly never met her. 

Anna had tried so hard to leave her childhood crush on Jeremy behind. And she thought she’d succeeded, down in Wellington. They hadn’t kept in touch and she’d kept herself so busy she’d barely thought of him at all. But now, seeing him in the flesh, and seeing how sexy maturity had made him, that crush was back with a vengeance. 

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Sweat glistened on his forehead and he leaned back against the wall of the barn momentarily, his eyes shut. By the looks of things, her crush was one-sided. Just like it had always been. She forced her feelings aside. They were friends, nothing more. 

“Do you fancy being a track rider again?” Jeremy reached for the water bottle she was holding and took a swig. 

“Sure, I guess. Do we have racehorses coming again?” Anna snatched her bottle back and wiped the sipper on her shirt, before taking another drink herself. 

“Yep.” Jeremy nodded. “You don’t have to do the track work though, we can hire someone, if you don’t want to do it. It’s up to you. I think this will be your dad’s last lot; he’s trying to retire.” 

Anna grinned. “I know. Do you reckon he’ll ever retire properly? I can’t see it, myself.” 

Jeremy grabbed her water bottle again and took another long swig. “I dunno. Your mother wants him to, she wants to go travelling. So who knows? The horse industry will lose a good man, if he ever gives up the game completely.” 

Anna grinned, as she snatched her bottle back again. It was just like old times. Best mates, sharing everything, and talking about the goings-on at Bracken Ridge – the place that had always consumed their lives. 

Anna stood up. “I’ll do it. I used to quite enjoy it, riding track. It will be good to get some nice fast work again. I love training the youngsters, but I miss galloping.” 

Jeremy stood up too. “Okay, I’ll sort it out then.” 

 *** 

A week later, the three flighty young thoroughbreds arrived in a brand new shiny silver horse float, towed by a huge black four-wheel-drive wagon. The middle aged woman driver looked frazzled as she stopped the vehicle in the centre of the huge turning circle and got out, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head. Anna’s father went out to greet her, shaking her hand warmly. Jeremy and Anna weren’t far behind. 

“This is Jeremy, my stable manager,” Anna’s father introduced them. Jeremy stepped forward, shaking hands with the woman. 

“And this here is Anna, my daughter. She does the track work with the racehorses. She’s very good – experienced, gentle, with good balance and light hands. I think you’ll be impressed with her work.” Anna stepped forward to shake hands too, but the woman sniffed and looked away. 

Okay then, Anna thought as she dropped her hand to her side and took a step back, closer to her father and Jeremy. She obviously has issues.

Anna’s father motioned for her and Jeremy to get about their work, and they excused themselves quietly. 

“Is there a problem?” Anna heard her father asking diplomatically, as she walked with Jeremy back to the stables. 

“What’s her problem, I wonder?” Anna mused aloud, not really expecting a reply. 

The rebuttal had mildly offended her – she’d thought the horse racing industry had gone way beyond thinking women couldn’t do the job as well as a man. 

But to her surprise, Jeremy answered her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively. “Who knows? She’s a horsewoman, involved in the racing industry. Could be a number of things. They’re a weird lot, those people. I wasn’t all that thrilled when your father mentioned the racehorses to me, flighty crazy beasts that they are. But it wasn’t my place to object.” 

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Anna said. “I like riding track.” 

With a quick squeeze, Jeremy wandered off in the other direction, leaving Anna to her thoughts. 

Half an hour later, Anna’s father walked into the stables, lighting up a cigarette, looking pleased with himself. 

“Put that disgusting thing out, Dad. It’s gross!” Anna objected, turning away from the horse she was grooming to face her father. 

“Leave your old man alone Anna,” he said gently, a smile creasing his weathered, lined face. “I just managed to convince that woman that you’re the best there is at riding track. She had it in her head that another woman riding her horses would upset the bond she has with them, and that she would come here and do the track riding herself. Either that, or I was to find a male track rider. I told her that was not a possibility, that you are the track rider here, and she was welcome to find another trainer if she didn’t agree with my methods. She came around to my way of thinking.” He winked at her proudly. “So there you go – you’re back in the saddle.” 

Anna smiled at the praise, but bitterness flooded her at the same time. Why won’t you let me run the place then? Her inner voice snarked. If I’m so good, why is Jeremy my boss? But before she could voice her thoughts, her father walked away.

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