Beauty for Ashes by Dorothy Love

Author:Dorothy Love
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2012-01-09T05:00:00+00:00

Griff led Majestic into his stall and removed the tack. The horse nickered and nuzzled his trainer, looking for the sugar cubes Griff kept in his pocket.

Griff grinned and gave Majestic his reward. “Good boy.”

He took his time brushing the horse, enjoying the cool quiet of the autumn evening and the companionship of the magnificent animal. He ran his hands over every inch of the horse’s flesh, teaching Majestic to trust his touch, feeling for anything that might cause discomfort. He checked each hoof for signs of abscesses. They could form fast if foreign matter became lodged in the horse’s shoe.

Majestic quivered and jerked and Griff found the culprit—a small stone that had worked its way beneath the curve of the shoe. Griff dug it out with a hoof pick and made a mental note to check the hoof again before tomorrow’s ride. With only three weeks to go until Race Day, he didn’t want to risk even the slightest injury that might hamper the colt’s chances.

He bent to retrieve his brush, and the telegram he’d received earlier in the day fell from his pocket. There was still room aboard the California Queen, the ship’s agent in San Francisco had wired, leaving for Australia on the first of November. A ticket would be held for him until mid-October.

He stuffed the wire back into his pocket and filled Majestic’s feedbag with oats. Amazing how quickly a man’s priorities could change. He’d come here intending to collect a debt and move on, but now he felt strangely connected to Hickory Ridge. He wanted to win the race not for the thousand dollars in prize money, but because the people here needed something to cheer about. Something to hope for.

And Lord help him, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the widow Daly. The news that she had decamped from her hotel and returned to the Bell farm left him feeling lonesome. Until she left, he hadn’t realized how much he’d come to count on seeing her leave the Verandah each morning with her basket of fresh bread for the church charity, her reddish curls shining in the morning light. She was a sight for sore eyes, all right, lovely in a quiet, refined kind of way. The polar opposite of the brash and beautiful Rosaleen.

He frowned. What on earth had the new Mrs. Chastain come here to find?

She was up to something. He could feel it in the same way he could feel when an opponent was holding a winning poker hand. But Rosaleen never did have an ounce of patience. She’d tire of life in Hickory Ridge before too long, and then she’d be gone.

The bookseller wouldn’t know what hit him. Poor devil.

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