Page 63 of A Taste of Paradise

‘I’m sure the horses here wouldn’t do that,’ Naomi soothed. ‘They’re very gentle and specially trained to take people on smooth rides.’

But Holly shook her head vehemently. ‘Nu-uh, I’m not going near any horse.’

‘What about a pony then?’

‘That’s a small horse though,’ she quite rightly pointed out.

Janice spoke up then. ‘Naomi, why don’t you and Will go? He said he wanted to, and seems you’ve already booked for two.’

‘Ah no, I couldn’t,’ Will interjected. ‘Not without Holly.’

‘She can stay here with us – that’s if she doesn’t mind,’ Janice suggested, and the little girl immediately brightened up. ‘We weren’t planning on leaving the resort today either. We’re going to go to the activities centre for a basket weaving class, so Holly might like to join us?’

‘Yay, I’d love that. Can I, Daddy, please, please?’

Naomi studied the delighted looks on both faces at the suggestion and couldn’t help but think that her mother may well be feeding her own desires to be a grandmother. Judy didn’t want kids, Karen and her husband had yet to have any and, of course, the older Naomi got, the more touch-and-go her prospects would be. And especially when, as far as she could tell, kids didn’t seem to feature anywhere in Greg’s plan.

‘What do you think, Will?’ she questioned, quite liking the idea too. ‘I’d be glad of some company.’

‘Go, Daddy!’ Holly urged, and took a step closer to Janice as if to illustrate.

‘Well, seems like the decision’s already been made for me, doesn’t it?’ He chuckled. ‘But if you’re sure you don’t mind, I’d love to.’

The sun was like white gold on the sand as, a little later, Will and Naomi’s horses strode behind the pack of other tourists. Everyone was chatting animatedly or commenting on the scenery.

Naomi, while thoroughly enjoying the experience, still had a lot on her mind. She was still thinking about Greg’s excuse about that lunch. Something didn’t add up. The trouble was she couldn’t be sure what. He had no reason to lie about it either. If he had arranged a meeting of some kind while here in St Lucia, there was nothing wrong with that surely. He was always looking for an edge. It was the way he was made.

‘You doing OK over there?’ Will asked from beside her. ‘You seem very distracted.’

‘Sorry, yes, just thinking,’ Naomi told him. ‘About my friend Sam who was supposed to come with me today. I think I might have told you that she recently broke up with her partner.’

‘The one with the young toddler?’ Will replied, and she was taken aback by how attuned he was to the little details of stuff they’d talked about before.

Unlike Greg, he paid attention.

Stop it, Naomi remonstrated herself. She should not be comparing her partner and hopefully soon-to-be fiancé to some random guy she’d met on holiday.

‘Yes. I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on her for wanting to chill out really. She’ll need to soak up all that relaxation before she goes home and starts job-hunting.’

Will raised an eyebrow. ‘Brave. Parenting alone isn’t easy, but trying to do it while working too is a whole other story.’ He chuckled. ‘Take it from someone who knows.’

Again Naomi thought she needed to find a way to introduce Sam and Will to one another before they left for home. Both single parents who lived in London and on the surface could be a perfect match. Though she doubted Sam would be up for another relationship so soon after Harry. But even as she made excuses, something inside her sort of wanted to keep Will all to herself, and she wasn’t sure why.

The group rode several miles along the white shore as they basked in the sun’s warmth along the way, and watched some of the horses frolicking in the water. Eventually, they came to a spot where the guide instructed them to dismount and remove their saddles. It was time for everyone to get wet.

Naomi had prepared for this part. She wore moisture-wicking gym shorts over her bikini bottoms to avoid feeling too soaked after, and on top was a loose cotton V-neck T-shirt with her two-piece underneath.

Will had also come prepared in a cotton shirt of his own and light khaki shorts, so as they once again mounted their horses and started towards the water, neither was particularly worried about getting wet.

The water was so gentle in the bay that you could hardly see the waves coming in. Naomi was watching some of the group who were already in the sea with the horses; others had declined the ride and opted to go for a short swim instead.

‘Ready to brave this then?’ Will asked over his shoulder.

She smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. ‘Definitely.’

He assisted Naomi back onto her horse while he effortlessly made the mount on his own, before leading the way toward the water’s edge. They were one of the last few to take the plunge, and as they neared the water, she could feel her stomach flop slightly and her heartbeat quicken a little in anticipation.

The sea was vast and there was no end to it. What if the horse got swept away in the current? What then? Then she scolded herself at the ridiculous concerns suddenly filling her mind. She’d wanted an adventure and this was part of it.