The Next Duke

Five

Lillian was walking down the stables the following afternoon. She was attracted by the smell of fresh grass.  She had always been interested in horses being the term horse power was more often than not mentioned. She had to sigh, as she viewed one fine specimen after the other. The horses came in various sizes and possibly age. Though she did not know a thing about horses.

She walked down the rows of stalls each one housing a magnificent equine specimen. They all came in different sizes, age and color. But one particular horse caught her attention. It was the one standing alone in the center stall. She noticed it was the largest stall in the stables. She heard the soft sounds of horse and when she took a peek, she spied upon the most beautiful white stallion in the stable. It stood fifteen hands high and the proud horseflesh looked like a mixture of Arabian and something else. 

The horse turned to look at her and immediately saw the apple she was eating. The animal focused on the treat and went to her. Lillian noticed his intent and slowly she held out her hand. The horse took the apple, his lips grazing her palm tickling her. She gave a soft chuckle and wished the horse would allow her to touch him. As though reading her mind, the horse lowered its head and walked closer to her. She smiled widely and reached behind his ears and gave him a good scratch as though she was touching a dog. Pretty soon, she was hugging and scratching the horse's neck and she was playing with the powerful animal.

Henry froze as he heard the joyful sounds coming from the last stall. He hurried to the horse that pretty much put every stable hand into the hospital.

He opened the stall gingerly and saw Dr. Cortez scratching the animal. She was giving the horse a good rub down and the animal was actually letting her. Black Demon was even nudging her and not biting and kicking her, "Miss Lillian."

Lillian looked up and smiled at Henry. "Henry, what are you doing here?"

"I also take care some of the horses here, Miss, how did you end up here?" he asked.

Lillian laughed as the horse nudged her again. "Oh, do stop it, sweet, you can't keep doing that, it's not polite. Not very English." She admonished gently.

Not very English? Henry thought in his head. He kept quiet for a while and watched the two, clearly, the horse was enamored with the girl. "Miss Lillian?"

Lillian put the brush down and gave the horse a kiss on the cheek. "I think you've had enough. I will come and see you tomorrow after class. I hope you're still here." She said and left his stall. "Pleas stop calling me Miss Lillian, plain old Lillian is just fine," she said with a smile.

Henry shook his head, "What were you doing inside that stall? There are other stalls, Lillian. Didn't you see the sign?"

Lillian turned to look and saw the sign. She was surprised to see the horse's stall had a danger sign on its door. "What did the horse do? It would seem impossible to believe that the horse would hurt anyone. He's very sweet."

"No, he isn't, That horse has placed more than half of the stable hands ever hired since his lordship got him.0He is distrustful of any human other than his lordship," he added in disgust.

Lillian shook her head. "If he is dangerous, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. In the twenty minutes I spent with him, I haven't witnessed anything violent," she defended.

The man sighed and looked at her worriedly. "You are the first person he hasn't tried to hurt upon seeing for the first time."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I bribed him," she admitted sheepishly.

"Bribed him with what?" he asked.

"The apple that I was eating," she said and looked back at the horse."