Bitter Business by Hartzmark Gini

Author:Hartzmark, Gini [Hartzmark, Gini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16

I swung my leg across the saddle and slid down to the ground, feeling suddenly short after having surveyed the world from the top of a horse for the last two hours. Following Peaches, I led my mount up to the hitching post, not surprised to find that I’d developed the rolling cowboy gait that I knew preceded a pair of very sore legs. Standing with one hand on the saddle horn and the reins in the other, I was startled to see Eugene Cavanaugh charging across the stable yard toward me, his face distorted with fury.

“Who said you could ride that horse?” he demanded furiously.

I was completely taken aback. It was Peaches, emerging from the shadow of the bam with a bridle over her arm, who answered him.

“I asked Tom to saddle Scarlet for Kate,” she answered with a steely edge of warning to her voice.

“That’s Dagny’s horse! How dare you take it out without permission!”

“Whose permission?” Peaches inquired with studied sweetness. “I was under the impression that all of these horses belong to your father, or am I wrong? Maybe you and I should go back up to the house and ask him whether it was okay for me to let Kate ride one.”

Eugene stood mutely rigid, furious at the rebuke but unable to reply. Peaches may have married into a nest of vipers, I reflected, but it was obvious that she was more than able to defend herself.

A battered pickup appeared around the bend in the road and pulled up to the bam. Two men in overalls and baseball caps jumped out of the rear, the backs of their necks sunburned from hours behind the wheel of a tractor.

“Howdy, Mr. Cavanaugh. We just come back from checking the road over by the grave just like you asked. I’m thinkin’ maybe we should put down some of that sand we’ve got bagged up in the yellow barn on account of there’s bad mud in a coupla spots, but it’s up to you.” Peaches took the reins from my hand and led my mount into the bam. I followed her, not eager to be caught in further conversation with Eugene.

“Sometimes I just can’t abide any of them,” Peaches announced from between gritted teeth as she bent to unbuckle the double straps of Scarlet’s girth. “He thinks that because when he says ‘jump’ the factory workers all answer ‘how high?’ that he can order everyone else around as well. It’s sickening how they’re all always assuming----And it’s not just Eugene. Take Philip. It’s true that he’s going to be the boss after Jack’s dead, but the greedy little bastard just can’t wait.”

I reached up and pulled the saddle off my horse’s back with a grunt, staggering a little under the sudden weight.

“It goes in the tack room, over there. You’ll see the spot,” Peaches instructed, clipping a lead line to the horse’s halter and leading it toward the paddock behind the barn. I lugged the saddle into the dusty tack room and followed her outside, blinking in the sunlight.

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