What Price Love? by Stephanie Laurens

Author:Stephanie Laurens
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-08-21T11:16:11+00:00

The next morning, Pris came down to breakfast to find Patrick hovering in the dining room. She stared at him. “Did you find them?”

He grinned. “I did.”

She sank into her chair; ignoring Adelaide’s and Eugenia’s exclamations, she demanded, “Where?”

Patrick told her.

Ten minutes after she’d consumed a hasty breakfast, she was in the gig, the reins in her hands, Adelaide beside her, as she tooled them down the lanes to call on the house hold at Hillgate End.

They switched the black fillies late last night.” Pris unfolded a map she’d drawn. “It’s a tiny cottage, more a hovel Patrick said, but there’s a lean-to stable alongside big enough to hold two horses.”

She laid her sketch on Dillon’s desk; he, Rus, and Barnaby crowded around. The General had been present when she and Adelaide had been shown in. Dillon and Rus had frowned, signaling with their eyes; they hadn’t wanted Adelaide involved.

She’d felt like she would burst, holding in the news while Adelaide shyly greeted them, then started chatting with Rus; he’d just returned from his first session working with Flick and seemed both exhilarated and stunned. But then the General had risen to the occasion and claimed Adelaide’s attention and her arm for a stroll about the garden. Mentally blessing him, Pris had lost no time imparting her news.

“There.” She pointed to a cross some miles northeast of the Rigby farm. “It’s little more than four walls and a chimney on the other side of this stream.” She traced a squiggly line. “There are trees along the rise behind it.”

“Which horse will it be?” Barnaby looked at Rus.

He shook his head. “Sometimes it was a day between switches, at other times three.” He glanced at Dillon. “I’ll go there and check which horse it is.”

“Not in daylight,” Pris said. “Harkness might see you out riding. Who knows what he’ll be up to?”

Rus grinned. “Actually I do know, at least for a few hours every day. This afternoon he and Crom will be overseeing the string exercising on the Heath.”

“Can you be sure?’ Dillon asked.

“Without me, unless Harkness has managed to hire another assistant trainer—and how likely is that in Newmarket just before a major meet?—then he and Crom both have to attend the training sessions. Cromarty has a good few horses entered, and aside from the substitution, he doesn’t like to lose any more than any other owner.”

“Right, then.” Dillon straightened. “This afternoon it is.”

Pris bit her tongue; they did have to know which horse was where, and only Rus could be certain which was which—and she couldn’t think of any way to argue him out of what she, nevertheless, viewed as a dangerous journey.

She met his eyes—amused yet understanding—and pulled a face at him. He laughed, hugged her, and wisely made no comment.

She and Adelaide stayed for luncheon. The General seemed delighted by their presence; he confessed he missed having young ladies around. “Flick was here for years, and even though she’s just across the fields, it’s not the same.”

He glanced down the table at Dillon, old eyes twinkling.

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