A Volume in Vengeance by Audrey Shine

Author:Audrey Shine [Shine, Audrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Audrey Shine
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Oh, no. I’m going after him myself!” The aunt’s irate voice resounded from behind Juliet in the damp morning air. With a surprisingly athletic leap, the aunt also vaulted over the fence, her apron whooshing aside to reveal strong, sturdy legs in dark blue jeans, and brown leather shoes. She landed with a thump on the grassy path, and then she and Juliet began racing neck and neck in the direction that Travis had fled.

There was no sign of him on the twisting bridle path, and Juliet was seriously worried that he would end up outrunning them. After all, he was a young, fit man with long legs. She wasn’t the world’s best runner, and although she had oodles of determination, the aunt was not built for speed or endurance. Already, she was puffing hard and starting to lag behind Juliet.

“You’re going to regret it when I catch up with you!” she yelled out in threatening tones. Juliet knew that really should have been ‘if I catch up with you’.

Rounding another bend in the bridle path, she lost sight of the aunt completely. Now she couldn’t see her or Travis. Her lungs were burning, and so were her legs, and she had no idea how long she could keep up this frantic pursuit along the shady path. Just now, she was going to have to stop for air. The grass was damp and yielding, and it wasn’t easy to run along at all.

She could hear footsteps ahead of her. They were definitely footsteps and not horse hooves, and that gave her a flare of encouragement. She was closing in on the running man at last. The path twisted again, curving around a knot of trees, lined on one side by a thick hedge, and on the other, by the trees themselves. And ahead, Juliet saw a muddy patch.

And immediately, she realized she had a chance.

On the other side of the muddy patch was a rider on a horse, looking irate, as she tried her best to persuade the animal to put its feet in the mud.

“Go on, Binky!” she yelled. “It’s only mud, for heaven’s sake. You see enough of it in your field every day. Why is this mud different?”

The chestnut horse, with its head up and its eyes rolling, was clearly quite convinced that this mud was different, because it wasn’t putting its hooves anywhere nearby.

And the horse was blocking the trail.

Travis was rooted to the spot on her side of the mud.

“Please, don’t move. Just stay where you are,” the rider yelled at Travis. “If you move, you’ll scare Binky. Just stand still until I’ve got him past this mud?”

Now, Travis was whirling around to see her, his face contorted in anxiety. He was trapped between an unpredictable, giant sized chestnut horse who was snorting and shifting its dinner plate sized hooves, and Juliet.

She saw his shoulders sag in defeat. He moved off the trail, breathing hard, and so did she. Marching up to him, Juliet grabbed his arm.

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