Kiss and Tell by Walker Fiona

Author:Walker, Fiona [WALKER, FIONA]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780748121168
Publisher: Liitle, Brown Book Group (Digital)
Published: 2011-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 46

The January weather was as changeable as a chameleon running across a chequered floor. Frequent snow showers gave twenty-four hours of picture postcard white before melting away in one sunny day. The ridge above Oddlode resembled a Swiss mountain-top one moment and a Toblerone bar the next.

Determined to cash in on her Boxing Day encounter with Dillon Rafferty, and egged on by Mama, who had returned from Slovakia hellbent on a spring wedding, Sylva stayed put in the loathsome fake château in Upper Springlode with her children and the inner circle of family helpers, and started riding again. Every day she poured herself into ultra-tight baby blue breeches and took out two of Jules’s horses: Gaga, a sturdy go-anywhere cob with hooves like snowshoes, and an amazing little Icelandic pony called Björk for Zuzi, the thought of which terrified Hana who was convinced that the girl might get hurt.

With an eager Zuzi on the leading rein, Sylva explored the bridlepaths around Dillon’s farm. They were mostly very dull and muddy. By the second week Zuzi was bored stiff and no longer wanted to go on their chilly rides. Sylva explained to her that they were on a secret mission.

Zuzi brightened at this, seeing a point behind all the interminable plodding. ‘What do I do?’

‘If anybody tells us that we are trespassing – remember that English word, it is important – trespassing, then you must fall off your pony and pretend to faint.’

‘I might get hurt.’

‘You’ll be fine. Watch, I’ll show you how.’ She subtly slipped her feet out of her stirrups, pressed her hand to her forehead, let out a few fake groans and slid elegantly to the ground, making sure that her arms were around Gaga’s neck all the time, to allow her to swoon safely.

For the first time since she had arrived back in England from her New Year holiday, Zuzi giggled.

Sylva opened one eye and stared up at her, holding out her arms. ‘Now your turn.’

A couple of dog walkers in Broken Back Woods reported to their families afterwards that they had encountered the strangest woman and child there, repeatedly sliding off their horses and dissolving into fits of giggles before remounting and starting all over again.

But, despite their many rehearsals, Sylva and Zuzi failed to make a positive sighting of Dillon in coming days, let alone stage their performance. It was like hunting the elusive Scottish wildcat. Yet Mama insisted they keep trying, unaware that he and Nell had secretly jetted off to the Caribbean straight after Christmas to try to melt the cold war between them.

Mama’s plans were often doomed to failure. Even Sylva’s documentary team had stopped bothering to turn up if they knew that she was going riding.

Sylva saw an advantage in this. She’d also tired of the Dillon plan, but knew there were other places in the area to explore on horseback, some thrillingly forbidden. She missed the excitement of dangerous liaisons. Since her brush-off from Hugo Beauchamp on New Year’s Eve she’d hungered for the ruggedness of a tough, no-nonsense man.

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