White Tiger

screwed up her face. ‘I’m hungry .’
    ‘Why don’t you call Ah Yat and tell her to have something ready for you back at the house?’ John said.
    Simone concentrated. ‘I asked her to make some tea for you too, Daddy.’
    Come on, Emma, she said straight into my ear, and I jumped. Let’s go.
    ‘I can see that in the very near future I will really regret that you’ve learned this,’ I said.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
    J ade’s face spoke volumes when she returned with Simone’s and my riding gear. She’d done well to find mine in the disaster area that passed for my wardrobe. ‘It’s mine,’ I said.
    ‘I’m not saying anything, ma’am,’ she said with a small smile.
    About mid-morning Bai Hu turned up with three horses, two ponies and five grooms to help. The horses were superb: pure-bred Arabs, two steel grey and one black, all small and solid with gorgeous dish-shaped faces. Simone grinned in delight when she saw the ponies and raced to try them. The smiling grooms helped her to mount.
    ‘She’ll be fine. Those ponies are completely bombproof,’ Bai Hu said. He waved a hand and one of the grooms brought the black Arab mare to us. She stood just over fifteen hands, and when the groom stopped with her she remained completely still, watching us with huge, intelligent eyes.
    ‘I have chosen this one particularly because she is the Dark Lord’s colour,’ Bai Hu said. ‘She’s slightly small for you, my Lady, but she can carry you easily. She is well-trained, sound and has a very even temperament.’
    ‘She’s gorgeous.’
    Bai Hu vaulted onto her. He pushed her into a trot and she stepped out beautifully. He flung her into a fullout gallop. She was magnificent; her tail went up and her long silken mane flowed as she ran. He stopped her about thirty metres away, spun her around and galloped back; going direct from gallop to halt in front of us. The horse stopped dead and didn’t move a muscle.
    Bai Hu saw my face. He rode like a Mongolian—all arms and legs and loose reins flying. My pony club instructors went berserk at him in my head.
    He turned the horse and galloped her away again, arms and legs flying. He stopped about fifty metres away and spun her on her haunches.
    He straightened in the saddle, took up the reins and pushed her into one of the nicest collected canters I had ever seen. He performed two turns on the haunches at the canter, then dropped her into a trot. He trotted her sideways in a near-perfect half-pass. He half-passed both ways, then brought her, still trotting, to a near standstill: a flawless piaffe. He cantered her forward and changed legs every stride, showing off.
    He stopped her. She stood perfectly still in a square halt. He made her leap straight up into the air and kick out behind her in mid-air, all in faultless control: a perfect capriole.
    ‘War-trained, as he said,’ John said. ‘I love the colour.’
    ‘No way am I good enough to ride that,’ I said. ‘That was Grand Prix stuff. That last bit was Spanish Riding School stuff.’
    ‘Don’t worry about that, all the Tiger’s horses are like that. You can do what you like with her; just ride her out on the trail with us if you want.’
    The Tiger threw himself off the horse and brought her over. ‘I think this one is the pick of the bunch. Have a try.’
    I touched the horse’s head and she didn’t move. ‘Isn’t she scared of you? Doesn’t she know that you’re a tiger?’
    ‘These horses have been trained not to be scared of anything, not even a tiger. Most untrained horses are terrified of me.’
    I scratched the horse between the eyes and she sighed with pleasure. ‘Is she really just an ordinary horse? She’s not some sort of supernatural creature?’
    ‘Perfectly ordinary Arab mare, just trained by the best in the world.’
    ‘What’s her name?’ The horse dropped her head and nudged me affectionately.
    ‘Black Jade.’ Bai Hu’s head shot up and he glanced at John. ‘What?’
    ‘That’s the second encounter Lady Emma has had with black jade in three days,’ John said. ‘The earrings she chose for the ceremony were also black jade.’
    The Tiger stood very still for a moment. ‘I don’t like the implications of Lady Emma being presented with so much black jade. Let’s look at the other horses instead.’
    ‘You will tell me what all this is about later, John,’ I said.
    ‘Is that an order?’ His eyes were alive with amusement.
    ‘Damn straight it is.’
    The Tiger burst