Lord Longshanks: A Tapestry of Love Romance by Rebecca Ward

Author:Rebecca Ward [Ward, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: White Glove
Published: 2014-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The colonel was not the only one in trouble. His fall had unbalanced his horse, and the black gelding took his jump clumsily. Patricia cried out as the animal stumbled, fell, then slid helplessly down the hillside.

Freddy rode around the wall in time to see Lord Longe dismount and kneel beside the colonel. “Is he d-dead?” he asked.

Lord Longe’s voice was dry. “Hardly.”

He got to his feet as Captain Farell topped the wall and came cantering up. Dismounting, the young officer hurried up to his chief. “Sir, are you all right?” he cried.

The colonel twitched and groaned. In the same dry tone Lord Longe explained, “It’s unwise to drink before a hunt.”

“That worthless screw threw me,” the colonel accused.

He sat up and glared down the incline. His geld-125 ing had managed to regain its feet. Patricia was on her knees examining its right foreleg.

Ignoring the colonel’s sputterings, Lord Longe strode down the slope of the hill toward Patricia, who said, “There is something the matter with its right knee.”

The duke’s son ran his hand lightly over the beast’s elbow and knee. Patricia watched him anxiously. “Is it broken?” she wondered.

“Useless bone setter.” Leaning on his secretary’s arm, the colonel was making his way down the hillside. He made a sorry picture. His hunt coat was covered with grass and splashed with mud, his hat had fallen off, and his cravat had come undone. His square face had a slightly greenish tinge to it as he growled, “To think that I paid three hundred guineas down for that worthless puffer.”

Then he stopped complaining and scowled at Lord Longe. “Here, what’s he doing with my horse?”

Patricia explained coldly, “Lord Longe is trying to determine whether its leg is broken.”

The colonel snorted. “Any fool can see that it is. I’ll have to shoot the miserable screw.”

Lord Burgess, who had reluctantly doubled back to see what had befallen the colonel, nodded. “Yes, poor beast. Nothing for it but to put it out of its misery, hey?”

Lord Longe now said, “That mightn’t be necessary. I can’t be sure, but I believe that it’s only a matter of a sprained tendon.”

“Have you turned horse doctor now?” the colonel interrupted nastily. “But perhaps you’re more concerned with beasts than you are about men.”

Something flashed in the depths of Lord Longe’s eyes. Patricia, seeing that deadly light, clenched her fists. Do it, she wanted to cry. Give him the thrashing he deserves.

She watched hopefully as Lord Longe set down the gelding’s foreleg and straightened to his full, powerful height. “You had better explain that remark, Charteris,” he said.

The colonel looked around him for support but found none. Lord Burgess was contemplating the doomed horse and mournfully calculating its value. Captain Farell looked uneasy. Freddy, openly hostile, snapped, “I’d think you’d c-care about your own horse.”

“You are beginning to try my patience, Charteris,” Lord Longe continued.

Colonel Charteris blustered. “This is not the time or place.” Then, when the duke’s son began to move in on him, he mumbled, “I don’t feel well.

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