A Roll in the Hay, стр. 20
“Susann-ah?”
“That’s…what I said.” Tess was blushing redder than the checks on her plaid shirt. “Anyway, I’ve just arrived at a farm. Work to do!”
“Right, right. Wouldn’t want to keep you from frolicking in a meadow or whatever you get up to there. Anyway, if you feel up to it, you can always pop down for the wedding. I always think it’s healthier when exes do that. Real closure, you know?”
Tess glared at the phone. It was getting harder to remember why she ever liked Caroline in the first place, let alone loved her. “Yeah, sure. Shoot me an invitation. Gotta go!”
She ended the call and hit her head against the steering wheel a couple of times. What was wrong with her lately? Maybe moving into her own place would set her right again, get a bit of stability back.
With one last bang of her head for good luck, Tess accidentally sounded the horn. It sent birds scattering from a nearby tree and startled the old farmer who was walking towards the car. Not a great start.
She grabbed her bag and jumped out. Time to turn the day around.
Chapter 6
After a jam-packed morning, Susannah decided on an indulgent afternoon ride to clear her head. Billie Jean was no trouble to saddle up and get going, having one of the sweetest dispositions that Susannah had ever been around.
“Come on, girl,” Susannah urged her horse as they got back on the flats on the far west of the estate. There was nothing much out this way, just a meandering route to the old Edinburgh road that nobody used much anymore, and a few scattered farms that weren’t part of the estate. Maybe it was time to reach out again, buy them out and keep the families on as tenants. It was something Jimmy had talked about, and it was certainly possible without derailing her own plans. Or maybe it was time to accept that she had enough on her plate instead of looking for trouble.
Billie Jean ate up the easy ground with her long strides, and Susannah bobbed in a perfect rhythm with her. The breeze was whip-fast and crisp as it came at Susannah, a refreshing smack in the face when her waning attention levels needed it most. The sun had struggled out from behind the clouds, and it made all the difference to the rolling greenery that expanded in every direction. This was the place Susannah had fallen in love with.
The ground became patchier as they skirted the edge of the farthest field from the house, marked with a big red boundary line on all the maps up in the office.
“Whoa, bring it down,” Susannah urged, tugging on Billie Jean’s reins to slow her to a brisk canter. “Don’t want you overdoing it. We need to go back too, remember?”
As always, the horse responded like she understood English perfectly. There was never any need to tell her twice or override any willful attempts to do the opposite. It was only as they approached the next gate that the poor girl slowed down without prompting, almost limping to a stop.
Panicked, Susannah slid right out of the saddle, landing hard on her feet. Her first priority was lightening the load if Billie Jean was in any pain.
“What’s up, Billie?”
The horse whinnied softly, but that didn’t tell Susannah much of anything. Patting gently, Susannah made her way from one side, up around Billie’s head and back down the other. Checking the fetlocks, she swore under her breath about the mansplaining vet. If anything, Billie Jean was favouring one of her front legs, the hoof hovering just above the grass.
“Let’s get you some help, hmm? Stay here for me, okay?”
The reins looped around the gatepost probably weren’t necessary, but Susannah knew that injured horses were more prone to being spooked or acting erratically. She pulled out her phone only to be greeted with a complete lack of signal.
Great. Just great.
Surveying her options, Susannah reckoned the nearest farmhouse was a safer bet than wandering around trying to get reception on her phone. There were cars in the drive, a couple of bodies moving around in a field with the cows, so some kind of help was at hand. It was really just across the road and a bit of a jog from here.
“I won’t move you just in case.” Susannah pressed her face against Billie Jean’s muzzle. “You stay here, old girl, and I’ll bring us help.”
She took one last look, trying to reassure herself the leg wasn’t broken. Although there had been so many advances, a bad break was still a death sentence for a horse, especially one who’d been ridden hard for racing. There was no way of telling how much damage Billie Jean was already carrying, but Susannah couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. The horse might just have been her closest friend, apart from Finn. That was sadder than she wanted to consider.
It only took a few minutes to get to the cars, and Susannah’s stomach plummeted as she recognised the sporty SUV. Of all the vets in all the world…
She couldn’t even turn back now, because Tess and the farmer who owned the land were almost back at the cars too. They must have cut back across as Susannah had been heading up the long path.
“You here alone?” Susannah asked Tess, and it came out much too haughty. Damn it. She was never going to quite get the hang of being one of the people at this rate. Most times she didn’t overly care, but it mattered when it