Chapter One

      As Georgie Parker stepped aboard the plane, she felt like a total imposter. She was about to enter a world that was far too glamorous for a girl from Little Brampton – a tiny horsey village in the middle of rural Gloucestershire. Up until a couple of months ago when she had first arrived at the Blainford Academy, the closest she’d ever come to being taken anywhere by a boy was when Adrian Baxter had given her a double to the shops on the handlebars of his bike. Now, here she was, being whisked away on a private jet, about to spend the mid-term break with the impossibly gorgeous James Kirkwood.

      Try to act casual, Georgie told herself. Pretend you spend all your time on board private jets.

      “Sorry we got stuck with the little plane today,” James apologised as he threw their luggage into one of the overhead lockers. “Dad and The Stepmom are using the big one. I guess we’ll have to make do!”

      Georgie took in the sleek interior of the jet and couldn’t keep up her act any longer. “Ohmygod, James,” she said as she sat down on one of the enormous white leather seats. “This is totally amazing!”

      “Do you want a drink?” James said as he walked to the back of the plane and opened a wall cabinet to reveal a fridge. “There’s lemonade, Coke or juice.”

      “Juice, please,” Georgie said. She peered out the window of the plane. The airstrip was located at the back of the school grounds, so from here she had a rear view of the red brick Georgian buildings of the academy. To the right, she could make out the roofline of the stable blocks in the distance, where earlier that morning she’d said a tearful goodbye to Belladonna.

      She wouldn’t see her horse again until after the mid-term break. “You don’t know what it’s like,” Georgie had complained to her best friend Alice as she locked the loose-box door for the last time. “You’re so lucky – getting to take Will home with you for the holidays.”

      “Oh, please!” Alice had laughed. “You cannot seriously tell me that you would rather stay here with Belle than go away with James for five days?”

      No one had been more surprised than Georgie when James Kirkwood had asked her to spend mid-term break with him at his family’s mansion in Maryland. James was a whole year ahead of Georgie and even amongst the world-class riders at this exclusive equestrian boarding school he stood out. He was a gifted showjumper, handsome and talented, the shining star of the Burghley House polo team, and heir to the Kirkwood millions.

      The only downside of spending the holidays with James was his sister. Kennedy Kirkwood was a first year at the school, just