A Gallant Gamble by Jackie Williams

Author:Jackie Williams [Williams, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Cozy, Animals, Historical, Romance, Regency, Teen & Young Adult, Historical Romance, Mystery & Suspense
Amazon: B00Z5MYYRS
Published: 2015-06-07T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Tempers and Temptation

The sweet smell of fresh hay hit his nostrils first. Horseflesh followed quickly behind it and Geoffrey breathed it all in deeply, suddenly realizing how much he missed the warm, heady atmosphere of the stables at Ormond. A soft nicker caught his ear and the responding whinny was music to his ears. Clearly these were well kept animals in a clean and comfortable stable.

He glanced down at Charlotte as she stepped delicately over the cobbles and peered with great interest through the stall rails. After their argument of the previous night, they had maintained a forced cordiality at breakfast and at luncheon with the Duchess, though it appeared she noticed nothing amiss. The older lady kept losing track of the conversation and sighed as she stared off into mid air while her sausage remained poised on her fork and her eggs grew cold on her plate. In the afternoon, while Olivia pleaded exhaustion and sent her apologies to the Prince, Geoffrey and Charlotte climbed into the royal conveyance and carried on to the palace with Louise trembling in her seat as she sat as chaperone.

They had sat in stilted silence until being ushered through the guarded gates, and after stiff greetings with the Royal household they had left Louise in the care of the Prince’s staff and made their way to the palace stables. They had taken a tour of most of the animals, all of whom appeared to be so well looked after that Geoffrey thought that some of them appeared fat and bored. Charlotte had glanced at him several times and her expression tightened as each following animal appeared to be more rotund than the last. A stable lad walked past them heaving a huge bucket of mashed oats into one of the stalls. A greedy looking grey shoved his nose into the bucket and began chewing. Charlotte raised her eyebrows, conveying her own thoughts to Geoffrey as clearly as if she had spoken them while she remarked aloud to the Prince.

“I cannot think that there are finer animals in the land, Your Highness. I had thought that my own stallion, Lightning was a contender for the prize in Lord Davenport’s race, but now I can see how wrong I was to assume such a thing. Your stable masters do you credit.” Charlotte tilted her head toward the Prince as she alluded to his matchless, if a little overweight stock.

The Prince gave a superior smile at her flattery.

“And so they should, the amount I pay them. We will move on to my most prized possession in a moment. I’m sure that you won’t find him lacking in any way.” He smiled at another young man struggling with a huge bucket of feed. The man’s eyes widened in surprise before he let go of the bucket and gave his Royal master a low bow. He didn’t stop bowing until the Prince’s party had passed.

A few stalls along, an older man lifted his head from where he wiped down a magnificent animal’s legs.

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