As I walked down the lobby of the castle I saw several different coats of arms and authentic armor.

When I reached the bottom floor I went straight to the desk clerk and asked him If I could go horseback riding. He replied by waving over another bell boy and said "Tóg chailleann reynolds chuig na stáblaí agus cead a thabhairt di a roghnú an capall is mian léi chun turas. Ó ann léiríonn sí an seomra tack agus ansin beidh sí ag dul ar turas ina haonar"

(Take miss reynolds to the stables and allow her to choose the horse she wishes to ride. From there show her the tack room and then she will go on a ride by herself)

The young bell boy guided me to the back of the castle, to the stables. I saw some of the most beautiful horses, but what struck me the most was the breeds of the horses. There were gypsy vanners and Friesians and of course Irish drafts with a wide variety of other breeds but those were the ones that caught my attention.

I walked by all of the stalls until one in particular a Fresian by the name of scáth (shadow) caught my attention. I grabbed his halter and lead and tied him the hall. The bell boy showed me the tack room and I marveled at the beautiful works of art that were sitting in front of me. I went to the place where I saw shadows name and picked up a white saddle pad an English saddle and his bridle.

I sat the tack down and groomed shadow until his black coat was clean and shiny. I brushed out his mane and tail and feathers and to tell you the truth after a good grooming he looked fit for a prince or princess.

I slipped the bridle in to his mouth and lifted the saddle and pad over his back and tightened the girth.

I left the barn dressed from head to toe in a beautiful English outfit and a gorgeous horse to match it!

I walked out of the barn with shadow following close behind. I mounted up and walked out of the main road and into the lush greens of Ashton castle grounds.

It was such a pretty day the temperature was perfect and there was a slight breeze. Everything in the world felt right as shadow and I galloped in the beautiful meadow grass.

I slowed shadow down to a trot and went into the tree line. Under the trees there was absolute and utter peace with the little spots of light filtering through the spaces in between the leaves.

Just as I was beginning to think that nothing would happen Shadow spooked and took off as fast as he could go. The reins were yanked from my hands and things were going by in a blur. I yelled and pleaded with shadow to slow down but there was no stopping him and no reasoning.

I was helpless in the saddle until I realized that I had run into the middle of a fox hunt. I reached for shadows reins but it was futile his reins were to far down his neck and I couldn't lean that far without falling out of the saddle and perhaps getting runned over by one of the other horses. I hadn't realized that shadow had begun to slow down until I heard a voice saying "Miss Reynolds are you okay?"

I looked up to the man who had called me by name and asked if I was OK. "Umm yes I am fine shadow here just got spooked and if it weren't for you I am quite certain that he would have just kept going until there was no where else for him to go.

The young man just let out a slight chuckle and said "Then I guess I am your knight in shining armor for today Miss Reynolds." Oh please call me Victoria. "Well okay then Victoria it was very nice meeting you. Would you perhaps like to join me on this fox hunt?"

I replied yes I believe I would I have never been on a fox hunt before so I guess there is a first time for everything. " Well Victoria there certainly is." The young man informed me on how to fox hunt. " Fox hunting is quite simple Victoria you follow the hounds who keep up with the scent of the fox and go over obstacles or go around them it really depends on what you want to do."

Umm Thank you for inviting me.... Forgive me but I don't think I caught your name kind sir. "It is Leo"

With that Leo handed me my reins and we took off to catch up to the hounds.

We jumped over many obstacles bushes stone walls and many other things. As we rode I couldn't help but look at him in a way any high school girl would look at the cutest jock around. His hair was a beautiful shade of brown. He was fit and tall. His smile could make anyone melt at the sight of it and I couldn't help but admire his Equestrian skills.

There was just something about Leo that made me want to kiss him even though I barely knew him. He just had that quality but I knew that I had to try to stay calm.

As shadow and I jumped over one of the obstacles he misjudged the distance and I flew out of the saddle with a crash boom on the ground. Luckily shadow landed with out injuring himself. He walked over to me and nuzzled me. I couldn't help but laugh because his nose and whiskers tickled me. Shadow lowered his head enough so I wrapped my hands around his neck and he slowly lifted me up. As I got to the point where I had to stand on both feet I felt a sharp pain in my ankle and I fell to the ground.

Shadow stood by me but yet I heard the rumble of hoofs on the ground. The next thing I knew Leo was leaning over me and taking my boot off.

" Victoria what happened?" It took me a minute to fully process everything but I replied, "Well Leo shadow here miss judged the jump and well he didn't mean to but threw me."

I winced as he pulled my tall English riding boot off my foot. When the boot was off it revealed a red swollen ankle.

Leo took one look at my ankle tested it for mobility and scooped me up in his arms (which to tell you that truth I loved every second of it) and carried me towards his horse. He put me up on the saddle carefully and then he mounted up behind me.

He yelled to one of his men to take shadow and take care if him. Then he pulled the reins and turned his horse around toward Ashford castle and kicked his horse into a dead on gallop.

At first I thought I was gonna slide right off of Leo's horse but he just had me lean against him and held an arm tight around me as we rode back to Ashford. If it hasn't been for the rise and fall of Leo's chest and his strong arm around me I swear I wouldnt have been able to make it to ashford.

As ashford castle loomed closer and closer Leo slowed down and took me to the front entrance. He was greeted by several bell boys but completely disregarded them. Leo helped me out of the saddle and settled me into his arms. He rushed up the stairs but did it in a fashion that only a knight or prince could master. Finally we arrived at the top of the third floor stairs where Leo walked up to a wide set of doors which opened up in to the most gorgeous room in the castle.

Leo laid me on the bed and propped my head up while he ran his fingers across my ankle which was now twice it's normal size. I winced as he moved my ankle in different directions to make sure that nothing was broken. "Sorry my love I don't mean to cause you pain." My brain stopped for a second... trying to process the fact that mr mc handsome just called me love. I blew it off as some British fad, and replied
"It's okay Leo I know you are just looking after my welfare and equestrian career."
Leo looked back at me and let a slight smile play at his lips.

When Leo finished examining my ankle he said that it was sprained but that I needed to stay off of it. I let out a sigh and said "Do I have to?" He just replied with a chuckle and a smile.

"Victoria I will be right back I am going to get a bandage to wrap your ankle with ok?" Okay Leo just don't be too long and with that Leo left.

A few minutes later I heard a knock at the door.

I got out of the bed and hopped on one leg to keep the pressure off of my swollen ankle. When I reached the door and opened it a young gentleman with a thick British accent was there and was shocked to see me. "May I help you?" I said  " umm no I guess I must have the wrong room sorry to disturb you ma am." With that the young man left and went down the stairs.

I turned around and shut the door and hopped once again back to the bed. I fell once on my way there landing with a crash on my ankle. ( If you can't tell I am clumsy and accident prone.) Which did not help my ankle at all if anything it made it worse because the pain was pretty intense. I was just about to get up off the floor when I felt a pair of strong hands at my back helping me up. When I looked up I was greeted with Leo's beautiful brown eyes." "And what are you doing out of bed? I told you to stay there and by the looks of it you ended up hurting yourself more." "Yeah well Leo I am a bit clumsy and accident prone, but the only reason I got up is because a gentleman was knocking at the door. He was very shocked to see me Leo do you think he was looking for you?" "Well I am not sure Victoria but he could have been."

Leo laid me back down on the bed and wrapped my ankle and put a brace on it and of course since I still couldn't walk on it he sent for some crutches. He was so sweet and so kind and nothing but a gentleman.

We talked for hours about our lives and what they were like and where we lived and what wished we could do. In those moments I felt so close to Leo because I felt like I knew him and then before I knew it our lips were meeting and there was a sense of urgency an electrical charge between us and I knew then that we were meant to be. I didn't want this moment to end but it came to a stop when we heard a hurried knock and another young man ran in saying "YOUR HIGHNESS YOUR HIGHNESS!!" "Yes James I am in the bedroom."

That was all I had to hear because I picked up the crutches and hobbled out of the room as fast as I could because everything I knew about Leo thus far was a lie. Everything he had told me was a lie. My head ran and ran stupid stupid stupid girl it kept saying, you barely knew him. Before I knew it I heard a voice calling after me.

"VICTORIA WAIT!!! I CAN EXPLAIN."  Tears streamed down my face as I hobbled away from Leo the liar. When I finally got down to my room I opened the door and shut it behind me. I made it to my bed and threw the crutches aside and plopped down crying my eyes out in the pillow. When I finally settled down I realized there was a note on the night stand. I picked up the note and read "sorry song I am unable to make it to Ireland i hope you can forgive me. After we landed I had an urgent call to go tend to one of my business ventures .  Love Elle.

I sat the note aside wishing that my friend could be here to help me through this but I also didn't what her to see what a mess I was so I sucked it up grabbed my crutches took a shower and called for a maid to turn down my bed.

Then I slept. I slept the night away not wanting to think of him or how dreamy he was or the electric spark I felt with him.