The Loner (17 page)

Lucy laughed. ‘Not if he’s got any sense, he won’t.’ Though she had her fingers crossed behind her back, and every nerve in her young body was aching for Dave to say yes. And when he did, she could hardly believe it.

‘Thank you, Mr Thomson, yes – I’d like to come and work for you. But first, I’ll need to find lodgings.’

Lucy was quick with an answer. ‘I’m sure we can help.’ She turned to her father, asking hopefully, ‘We can, can’t we, Daddy?’

Frank hesitated for the briefest moment while he discreetly scrutinised Dave; he had wanted a son, but it was not meant to be. He had wanted his wife to grow old with him, and now she was not here. But Lucy
was
here – and she was everything he imagined a daughter would be, honest and loyal, and born with the same fierce love of the land as himself. Whatever she wanted, he would give her, if he could.

‘Daddy?’ Lucy’s anxious voice shattered his thoughts. ‘We can find lodgings for Dave, can’t we?’

‘Well, yes, I imagine so.’ He addressed the lad. ‘First we need to get back, so’s you can have a look around. I’ll ask Seamus Macintyre to show you the ropes. He’s my head groom, and what he doesn’t know about horses isn’t worth knowing.’ He turned to Lucy. ‘Isn’t that so, love?’

The girl gave a small smile, and though her father missed the way she dropped her gaze to the floor, Dave was quick to notice the change in her manner. He couldn’t help but wonder whether she had any liking for this man called Seamus.

‘For all we know, you may not want to stay,’ Frank was saying. ‘The job may not be what you’re looking for. And if it turns out that way, I won’t hold you to anything. So – is that a deal?’

Dave was grateful. ‘Fine by me, Mr Thomson.’ And they promptly shook hands on it.

Lucy had a favour to ask. ‘Will you let
me
show Dave round, Daddy? I know the stables and yards as well as Seamus.’

‘All right, but don’t make an issue of it with Seamus. You know how protective he is of his little empire.’

‘I won’t say anything,’ she promised. ‘But Seamus has a way with him, and I don’t want him to make trouble for Dave.’

‘I’m not sure what you mean by Seamus making trouble. If he seems worried by Dave being about the stables, tell him you’ve agreed it with me. As long as Dave gets shown the lie of the land, I don’t mind who does the showing.’

‘Good. That’s settled then!’ Hardly able to hide her excitement, the girl stood up, ready to leave. Right from the first, she had felt drawn to Dave.

And the longer she spent in his company, the closer she felt to him.

As they went through the house and on to the kitchen, where he was to meet Ted Baker’s widow, Dave was amazed at the sheer size and beauty of this great house. Every room was flooded with sunshine, and he could imagine the laughter and joy that must have echoed from those walls. ‘We used to have lots of parties, when I was little,’ Lucy informed him as they travelled through, ‘but not for a long time now.’

Dave assumed the parties must have stopped when Frank’s wife was lost to them.

‘This is Mummy.’ As though reading his thoughts, she drew him to a beautiful painting hanging above the fire place in the drawing room. For what seemed an age, she fell silent, looking up at the woman she had known for such a cruelly short time, and whom she still missed terribly. ‘She was lovely, don’t you think? Dad told me that in He brew, Ruth means ‘‘friend’’, like the Ruth in the Bible, and that’s how I think of her, as my friend.’

When she now turned to him, and he saw the tears bright in her pretty eyes, Dave’s he art swelled with sympathy. He knew how sad she was feeling, for didn’t he feel the same way about his own mother?

In that peculiar, intimate moment he felt a great affinity with her; a need to hold and protect her and takeaway the pain.

‘This is Dave Adams.’ Lucy quickly stepped off the sheepskin rug, while behind her Dave bent to brush the flattened areas where he and Lucy had been standing. ‘He was the one who saved Daddy from Madden, and now he might becoming to work here.’

‘Hmh! It’s a pity he didn’t let that lunatic horse carry your father over the hills and faraway. It might have taught the silly old fool a lesson.’ With that she ushered them out of the room and falling to her knees, began a thorough inspection of her precious sheepskin rug.

‘Crikey!’ Dave felt as if he’d been through the wars. ‘For a minute there, I thought she was about to horse-whip the pair of us.’

Lucy laughed. ‘When you get to know her, you’ll find Maggie is more bark than bite.’

Dave watched as the mare paced the stable. ‘She’s magnificent!’ he exclaimed. ‘Can I get in with her?’

‘I don’t know if you should,’ Lucy answered guardedly. ‘She can be a bit temperamental, especially now she’s in foal and near her time.’

‘Best not disturb her then.’ Through his travels, Dave had learned a great deal about horses, and she was the finest he had ever seen. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her.

On reflection, and considering how he had safely stopped the stallion in his tracks, Lucy told him to go in. ‘She’ll be fine, I’m sure.’

Slowly, and with great care, Dave went in with the mare. For a time he kept his distance, talking softly to her and holding out his hand. ‘You’re a real beauty, Molly,’ he murmured. ‘No wonder you’re the boss’s favourite.’

Slowly, slowly, the horse came to him, at first snorting and hesitant, but then trusting Dave implicitly, she stood before him, allowing him to stroke her neck and seeming to enjoy it.

‘BACK UP, YOU DEVIL!’ The sharp crack of a horse-whip startled them both, and when the whip was flicked over the horse’s rear end, the pregnant mare went up on her back legs, lashing out at anything in her way.

Taken by surprise, Dave had neither time nor space in which to calm the animal, and with her being in foal, his best option was to scramble out of there.

‘What the hell d’you think you’re doing?’ The man who spoke was in his mid-twenties, thickset and strong-featured, with piercing dark eyes and a surly manner. ‘Who in blazes gave you the right to go in there?’

‘You crazy fool, Seamus!’ Shaken, Lucy turned on him. ‘It was me who told him to go in. You could have killed him, doing what you did.’

‘How was I to know he was a friend of yours? I didn’t see you in the shadows,’ he lied. ‘All I saw was this stranger in the stable with your father’s favourite mare. What was I to do? If anything happens to Molly, your father will have my hide.’

‘And he’ll have your hide if I tell him how you flicked that whip against her rump! It’s a wonder she hasn’t harmed herself. She could even have lost her foal.’

‘And will you tell your father?’

‘I can’t think of any reason not to!’

Lowering his voice, he told her to go ahead. ‘And while you’re at it, you’d best tell him how you let a stranger into the stable with her, unsettling her and making her jumpy. She was terrified – you must have seen how she was trembling?’ Seamus was very clever with words when it suited him.

Taking an instant dislike to the man, Dave duly apologised. ‘It was my fault, not Lucy’s.’ He sought to protect her. ‘But you’re not altogether blameless. It was you who sent the horse into a panic with that damned whip! Were you never told ‘‘whip a horse and you’ll whip up the temper in him’’?’

The groom laughed in his face. ‘Wherever did you hear such rubbish?’

‘From an old gypsy, who knew more about horses than you or I will ever know.’

Seamus gave a sly little smile. ‘So, you’re a gypsy, are you?’ The smile gave way to a sneer. ‘Why am I not surprised?’

‘I’m no gypsy. Neither am I an expert. But I’m always ready to learn from the masters. So, if I do come here to work, I won’t be looking to
you
for advice on how to treat a horse.’

Seamus was taken aback. ‘You, working here, in my stables? Huh! Not if I have my way, you won’t.’

‘That’s not for you to say,’ Lucy angrily intervened. ‘Don’t pride yourself on being anything but a hired hand.’

‘I’ll not forget this,’ came the reply. ‘In fact, I reckon it’s my duty to tell your father what’s been going on here.’

‘Feel free!’ With that, Lucy led the way out of the stables, leaving him quietly fuming.

Once outside, Dave muttered, ‘I’m sorry. I seem to have caused trouble for you.’

‘You haven’t. Seamus was the one who caused trouble – he can’t help himself.’ Though he could becharming one day and moody the next, she had never seen him so incensed. ‘Strange, that,’ she murmured. ‘He’s not usually so aggressive to strangers.’

Dave had known immediately why Seamus had gone for him like that. ‘He’s obviously fond of you. Maybe he saw me as a threat.’

‘That’s silly!’ Lucy was shocked. ‘He has no reason or right to be jealous. Oh, he may have partnered me to our annual barn dance last year, but that’s all. I’ve never given him any encouragement, and I never would.’

Dave wisely changed the subject. ‘What if he tells your father about me going into the stable?’

‘He won’t. And even if he did, he would tell a different tale from the truth.’

‘But would your father believe him?’

Lucy thought for a moment. ‘He might. Dad has a great deal of respect for Seamus. He took him on about nine years ago, when Seamus was seventeen, and so far he’s never put a foot wrong with the horses.’

‘What would he say if he knew how Seamus had laid the whip on the mare?’

‘He’d raise the roof – probably sack him on the spot.’ She gave a worried little smile. ‘But it won’t happen. Seamus is far too clever to get caught out. He would spin such a tale, even I wouldn’t be able to persuade Father of the truth.’

Dave was concerned, not for himself, but for Lucy. ‘I can explain, if you like? I’ll tell him how I went in with the mare, and that I did it without you knowing.’

Lucy was adamant. ‘But that would be a lie. Look – it might be best if we just forget it happened. Thank goodness that Molly is all right. And besides, whatever we say, Seamus would still twist it his way. He’s a nasty, cunning sort. Father doesn’t know what he’s really like.’ She sighed deflatedly. ‘I don’t expect you’ll want to work here now.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well, because of Seamus and what’s happened. If you do agree to work here, he could make your life a misery.’

‘Oh, Macintyre doesn’t bother me.’ In fact, for the horses’ sake if nothing else, Dave was ready to take him on. ‘I’ve worked with nastier men than him.’ Thoughts of Brian Moult crossed his mind.

‘So, does that mean you’ll be staying, after all?’

His smile confirmed it. ‘Looks that way, don’t you think?’

‘Oh, Dave, that’s wonderful!’ Flinging herself into his arms, she hugged him long and hard. ‘You won’t regret it.’ And neither will I, she thought, dreamily. Neither will I.