Sophie swung her right leg over the horse and slid to the ground. She tightened the reins in one gloved hand, her tan jodhpurs nearly mud-spatter free.

Sammy wriggled to break free of Elise’s grasp.

She tightened the pressure to keep him from slipping away. “Oh no you don’t. Goliath bites when he’s spooked. Stand back and let him make friends with you first.”

Reaching inside her riding jacket, Sophie removed a baby carrot and offered it to Sammy. “Would you like to feed him?”

“Yes.” Sammy bounced, his cowlick waving on the back of his head.

“Goliath’s rather greedy, so keep your hand flat and let him take it from you. That way, he won’t bite your fingers,” Sophie instructed.

Elise shook her head in awe. Her sister was a natural with animals and children. In two seconds flat, Sophie had Sammy eating out of her hand.

Sammy stepped forward with the carrot. Goliath swung his head in Sammy’s direction and wiggled his mouth, exposing enormous yellow teeth. The boy laughed.

“Don’t make any sudden moves,” Sophie warned while she rubbed the horse’s neck.

Sammy’s body stilled while Goliath sniffed his hand, then gobbled the carrot. Goliath snorted and nudged the boy with his head.

“Now you can pat him. He knows you’re a friend.” Elise smiled, forgetting her earlier frustration.

“He wants more.” Sammy glanced at Sophie with the same hope-filled expression in his eyes as the horse.

“He’s had plenty. Do you like horses?” Sophie asked.

Sophie’s question had clearly distracted Sammy, because he nodded and ran his hand up the horse’s neck, patting Goliath’s chestnut coat.

“Someday, I’m going to have a horse of my own.”

“Just one? You look like a man who would want a stable full of them.” Standing only a head taller than Sammy, Sophie wasn’t much bigger than her father’s jockeys. Sophie grinned at Elise. “He seems verra keen. I’d be happy to give him horse riding lessons while he’s here.”

“You would?” Sammy’s eyes rounded.

“I’d clear it with his father first before I offered, Sophie,” Elise warned with a meaningful look.

“Sorry, I didn’t think.” Sophie’s face fell.

“Harry will doubtless agree,” Elise said.

“Dad will say yes. He loves horse riding.”

Elise folded her arms and clamped her mouth shut. When she had brought Sammy outside to wait for Harry, she’d been ready to pull out her hair. Sammy’s sudden flip to angelic behavior, after he’d been an absolute devil all day, only cemented the fact that she’d make a perfectly horrid mother. Perhaps her accident had been a mercy.

A huge lump formed inside her throat, and she swallowed past the painful mass.

“If he agrees, come see me at the stables,” Sophie said.

“I will.” Sammy fairly danced with excitement.

Sophie turned and took in Elise’s folded-arm stance.