Taffeta & Hotspur Read Online Free Page B

These agitating thoughts had
taken her stomping toward the stables where she had tacked up her
chestnut gelding without benefit of her groom’s help.
    She led her favorite riding horse
outside and mounted him with ease. Her loose hair blew freely about
her face as the wind picked up. She walked her gelding onto the
bridle path and then put him into an easy trot, telling him all the
while she was very happy he was in a chipper mood for she was
not.
    His ears pricked to her voice as he
listened, and she reached over and patted his neck affectionately,
“There, never mind me.”
    She wanted to keep to the fields and
wooded trails, and in order to accomplish this, she was forced to
skirt the lands dividing Watson Halls from Grantham. The gate was
closed. With a silent oath, she set her pace, went into position
with her heels well down, and her body neatly poised. Her gelding’s
ears flickered alertly as he looked ahead at the jump.
    “ I know, Red Moose. You
don’t like the high jumps … truth, I don’t much either, but the
gate is closed, and I don’t feel much like getting down and up.
Let’s just take it. Right then … here we go.”
    She knew her horse loved her and he
told her so then with a soft sound, something between a snort and a
whinny. She laughed and encouraged, “I love you, Moose … come on …
pick up the pace … and we’ll do fine. Just think of it as only a
few feet higher than a log. Honestly, you could step over it …
nothing to worry about Moosey.”
    She legged him on, and he obediently
went for the jump, changed his mind at the very last moment, and
made as though to duck out and refuse. Taffy screamed irritably,
“No sir, no… You know better.”
    She went into position and drove him,
but his sharp movements shifted her position in the saddle and sent
her off balance. Her gelding did finally accede to her demand and
took the gate flying, landing heavily on the other side, which sent
her sideways in her saddle when he planted his fores on the
ground.
    She nearly lost her seat completely,
and with no dignity whatsoever, she scrambled, grabbed his neck and
mane, and managed to right herself. As she settled back into her
saddle, she told him, “Odious brute, you almost lost me there.”
Taffy however was so relieved she was still in the saddle, she
released a nervous laugh and added ruefully, “You certainly are
well named, Moose.”
    “ Damn if you didn’t make him
do it. Didn’t think he would for a moment there…” She heard the
chuckle of a male rider making his way along side of her. “I
thought for a moment I might be picking you up off the ground. Well
done, Lady Taffeta,” said the rakehell Hotspur.
    She had been nearly surprised enough
to lose her seat again, and blew out a whiff of air as she spun
around and discovered of all people, the Hotspur seated on his
horse, grinning broadly.
    She knew what she must look like—a
complete mess. As she started to speak, she discovered she was
hindered by a long tress between her teeth. She removed her hair
from her mouth, but the wind would not cooperate and blew it right
back, and she wished she had at least pinned it back. However, she
managed to draw herself up and regain her composure. She eyed him
coldly and thought, Of all people to witness a clumsy jump—it had
to be him. Grrr. She could have cried right then, but instead, she
said with an edge of haughtiness, “My lord. I thank you, but I must
admit it to have been my fault. I should have stopped Moose and
brought him back in for a better line to the gate.”
    “ Agreed, but nevertheless,
you made him take it, which he did like a rocket, and you managed
to stay put when he landed badly.”
    His grin made her want to throw mud at
his face.
    She grimaced. “He doesn’t like
jumping; I don’t know why I made him…” She patted the horse’s neck
and managed an amiable laugh. “Poor Moose, the big jumps frighten
him.” She sighed. It was over and done. He had seen her at