What a show off the man was! Lucy turned her eyes determinedly back to Kevin’s ruggedly handsome profile, but it was hard to concentrate with Guy playing to the crowd like that.

The sooner this farce was over, the better, she decided, and was relieved when it seemed to be Guy’s turn. They had found him a horse. Someone would give him a boost into the saddle, he could hold on long enough to go round the ring, and she supposed she would have to give him credit for having tried when-

Oh.

Fully expecting him to bungle mounting his horse, Lucy was taken aback when Guy swung easily into the saddle in one fluid movement. Astounded, she watched him manoeuvre his horse behind the barrier and wait while the calf was released from the chute and given a ten second start.

Alarmed by the unfamiliar surroundings, the calf blundered round and round the makeshift arena, looking for a way out until the barrier was raised, and Guy spurred his horse forward, keeping pace with the animal at an easy canter.

Lucy watched, blue eyes gathering wrath as he rode with effortless grace, detaching the lasso from the pommel and testing its weight in his hand as easily as if he had spent his whole life in the saddle.

I can ride. He had told her, but she hadn’t believed him. He had known that she wasn’t going to believe him, and so he had let her think that he was joking. And now there he was, twirling the rope experimentally before sending it snaking through the air to land neatly over the calf’s horns.

Around the ring there was a burst of applause and Guy was instantly in showman mode again, grinning and waving his hat to acknowledge the cheers.

‘Not bad for a Pom,’ said Kevin.

‘No,’ said Lucy tightly. Logically, she knew that Guy couldn’t possibly have set her up to make a fool of herself, but that was how it felt.

‘Come on,’ she said abruptly, having had enough of Guy Dangerfield for one afternoon. ‘Let’s go and find the others.’