Free Flame and the Rebel Riders by Stacy Gregg Page A

Tottie’s tail and Verity is on the warpath looking for you! She says Cassandra will be here soon!”
    Issie felt a wave of panic. “I better go!” she told Aidan. “I’ll see you later, OK?” She didn’t even wait for his reply, and grabbed her bucket.
    Natasha wanted them to run back to the truck, but Issie couldn’t with the heavy water bucket. “I saw Araminta’s truck,” Natasha explained as she scurried along beside Issie, urging her to walk faster, “and I figured out straight away that was where you’d be! Ginty is going to hit the roof. She won’t care that Aidan is your boyfriend. In fact that makes it worse! As far as Ginty is concerned they’re the competition. That’s like being a traitor!”
    “It’s not!” Issie laughed. “And Aidan’s not my boyfriend any more. We split up months ago.”
    Then again, the way that Aidan had flirted with her that morning…OK, so he was only joking when he said the stuff about kissing, but it had still left Issie feeling confused. Did Aidan want to go out with her again?
    All happy thoughts of Aidan were wiped from her mind when she saw Verity. The head groom was standing beside Tottie, and she looked utterly furious.
    “You took long enough!” Verity exclaimed. “Did you have to dig your own well or something?”
    “I’m sorry,” Issie said, “I ran into an old friend by the—”
    “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Verity said, clearly having no interest in hearing the story. She looked really stressed out. “Can you hurry up and clean Tottie’s tail, like, now? Ginty’s going to be here any moment with Cassandra.”
    There was barely enough time to shampoo and rinse Tottie’s tail. Issie was just combing out the wet, silvery strands, when Ginty and Cassandra arrived back at the truck.
    Issie wasn’t sure what she had been expecting Cassandra Steele to look like, but this woman with Ginty certainly wasn’t it. Cassandra looked like a bulldog in a trouser suit. She wore a high-collared Chanel tweed jacket, which exaggerated her short and buxom physique and pushed up against the fleshy folds of her face. She had a tight-lipped expression and inquisitive eyes.
    She looked at Issie, assessing her from head to toe, as if she were inspecting a pony that she was interested in purchasing. Not saying a word to Issie, she simply turned her attention to Tottie and spoke directly to Ginty.
    “How’s my wonderful girl doing?” she asked in a booming voice that was far too large for her little body.
    “Tottenham Hotspur has been doing extremely well in her training,” Ginty replied. “Verity is riding her today, and I think you’ll be really pleased with her progress. We’re expecting big things from this mare.”
    “So you must be Verity, then?” Cassandra turned now to Issie, who was still combing through Tottie’s tail.
    “No, I’m Issie.” Issie almost felt like she should bow or curtsey or something when Cassandra spoke to her.
    “Isadora has just come on board as one of my new junior riders during the school holidays,” Ginty explained. “She’s got great potential.”
    “I see,” Cassandra said. “And who were you riding for last season, Isadora?”
    “Ummm,” Issie didn’t know what to say. “I was at Chevalier Point Pony Club.”
    “Really?” Cassandra raised an eyebrow as if she had just bought an apple and discovered there was a worm in it and wanted her money back. “Pony club, you say? Well, this must be a big step up for you. I hope it’s not too big.” She focused her attention back to Tottie.
    “As you can see, we’ve got her in brilliant condition,” Ginty said enthusiastically.
    “I should hope so too!” Cassandra said. “That’s why I’m paying you so much money, isn’t it?”
    Issie began to giggle at this and then realised her mistake and immediately shut up. It was clear that Cassandra hadn’t intended this to be a joke.
    “And how is Quebec?” Cassandra asked, moving on to the dun pony that was tied