Shane wandered into the stables with his mate, Graham, and did a double take. 'Wow. Who's that?'

Graham smiled. 'That's Karina. She started working here whilst you were in the US. Thought you'd like her!' Graham knew Shane's taste in girls well.

'Like her?! Jesus, can you get women more beautiful than that? She's amazing....'

'You haven't got a chance mate! Practically every guy in Sligo has hit on her since she arrived, but she's turned all of them down. She's unbelievably shy. All she does is work with the horses.'

'That gives us something in common then, doesn't it? God.....'

'You're wasting your time.' Graham knew Shane wasn't listening to him though.

'Whatever. I'm going to go and talk to her.' Shane wandered over to where Karina was grooming one of the horses. ‘Hi. Karina, isn't it?’ He spoke softly, as though he was going to scare her away. She looked up.

‘Yeah. Why?’ Instantly, Karina’s defences were up.

‘No reason! I just wanted to say hi. I’m Shane, by the way.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘Are you going riding this afternoon? It’s just, my mate,’ Shane nodded to Graham, ‘he doesn’t ride, and I don’t really feel like going out alone.’ Karina blushed bright red.

‘No. I don’t ride either.’

‘But you’re really good with the horses. Diamond’s usually really twitchy, but he’s totally calm with you.’

‘Maybe. But no. Look, I’ve got to get back to work.’ Karina seemed keen to get rid of Shane. Graham had been right - she was as shy as anything.

‘Yeah, right. I’ll see you around sometime.’

‘Yeah, see ya.’ She went back to grooming Diamond, and Shane and Graham wandered out into the paddock.

‘I see what you mean man. She couldn’t get rid of me quick enough! And she spoke so quietly I could hardly hear what she said. She’s beautiful though.’

‘You’ll just have to make do with staring at her then!’ Graham was teasing him now, but he could see that Shane was smitten.

Later that afternoon, Graham had gone home, and Shane was going back into the stables to hang the tack back up, after riding. He paused outside the gate. From inside, there was a beautiful, rich, mellow voice echoing. He realised that the song was ‘We Are One’. He walked in, quietly.

‘Karina!’

‘Shane! I didn’t know anyone was here. Sorry, I’ll go now.’ She looked ready to burst into tears.

‘Don’t go!’ Shane startled himself with the urgency in his voice. ‘You didn’t tell me you could sing!’

‘I don’t! I just sometimes sing to the horses when I’m working with them. They like your songs!’ She smiled, and her eyes lit up. Shane was bowled over at the shy twinkle in her eye.

‘You don’t sing?! Karina, you have one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard! Honestly. Sing something else.’

‘I couldn’t.’ Karina was so embarrassed. She had only taken the job at the stables on the off chance that she might get to meet Shane one of these days, and now that she was standing here talking to him, she could hardly string a sentence together.

‘Please? For me? I’ll sing with you if you like.’ He starting singing the first verse of ‘We Are One’ quietly, hoping that she’d join in. She turned away from him, but after a couple of lines, Shane heard that voice again. He stopped singing, and she faltered, but carried on. Her voice grew stronger as she went on. After two verses she stopped.

‘I’m sorry. I have to go. I’m sorry Shane.’ She ran out of the stables, sobbing.

‘Don’t! Come back! What did I do? Karina, I’m sorry. Please come back.’ He called after her, but she ran to her car, and within thirty seconds, all that was left of her was the dust settling back on the track.

Shane wandered home, but all he could think of was how beautiful that voice was, and how painfully shy Karina was. He was terrified he’d scared her away.