The Tigresse and the Raven (The Friendship Series Book 1) by Julia Donner

Author:Julia Donner [Donner, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Cassandra went for a ride the following morning, tacking up Rufus herself long before the stable staff stirred. She dearly missed her daily exercise but couldn’t have gone for a ride while pretending to be ill.

The previous evening, she overheard that Ravenswold would be busy with his secretary in the morning and then seeing to the comforts of his guests. She felt sure that she could steal the most of the day for a long and leisurely ride.

She spent all morning and early afternoon exploring the district, squandering the day to enjoy the warm weather and explore the countryside, until she noticed it would be late afternoon before she got back.

Farnsby would worry about her absence and that of the sorrel. She didn’t like the idea of forcing the groom to neglect his work to go looking for her and started back at a swift gallop across country to save time.

Due to haste, Rufus knocked down a loose fence pole in the process of a sloppy vault, his takeoff hampered by boggy turf. A herd of lazy, cud-chewing milk cows rested on the other side of the enclosure. The cows lurched up from the ground and lumbered away, loudly bawling, their unmilked bags swaying.

Cassandra dismounted, and knowing the temperamental nature of dairy cattle, hoped she hadn’t overly frightened the herd. She noted the direction the cows had taken and did her best to right the fallen pole, but it was too heavy for one person. Rufus had sustained no lasting injury, having only skinned his knees, so she reluctantly followed the cows to the farmer’s cottage, walking the horse behind her.

The sun hovered above the treetops by the time she reached the cottage. Pecking chickens and free-ranging swine noisily announced her invasion of the barnyard. Two dogs warned her off with growls and snarls but didn’t attack. They followed her across the yard on stiff legs and with hackles fully raised along their spines. They sensed what she would do to them if they got close enough and stayed out of reach. Rufus snorted, sidled and blew at the circling hounds.

A woman came out of the back of the cottage to toss slop to the hogs and fowl, narrowly missing Cassandra as she came around the corner. Cassandra yelped and leapt back, bumping into the gelding’s chest.

The dogs immediately and uproariously set upon her and the startled horse. One slashed a nasty gash in the sorrel’s back leg. Without a crop, Cassandra was in the process of kicking the vicious dogs away from her frenzied mount when the farmer came running from the barn, shouting for peace.

Rufus caught a peripheral view of a man with waving arms coming on fast and shied sideways, crashing into a woodpile. The sharp edges of the logs gouged his glossy coat with fresh wounds. The horse leaped away when the dogs came in for a second attack.

Cassandra stood in her shoddy habit, forlorn and now horseless. She’d lost the reins during the foray, an unforgivable sin for an experienced rider.

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