Free The Fall of Lord Drayson (Tanglewood Book 1) by Rachael Anderson Page A

that they’re good, sturdy hacks, but that’s the extent of it. Better suited names would be Daisy and Bouncer, or, seeing as how you are a vicar’s daughter and their manes are in need of a good trimming, Samson and Delilah, perhaps?”
    Lucy had to bite her tongue to keep from pointing out the earl’s hypocrisy by allowing his own Arabian to be called Darling. “Do you think, Collins, that a person, or a horse, can become what he or she is called?”
    “If you are implying these horses have the potential to become a Greek god and goddess, Miss Beresford, then no, I do not,” he replied.
    Lucy nodded toward the animals. “These ‘hacks’ as you call them were at one point ornery beasts because their previous owner beat them for their stubbornness. My father purchased them from the horrid owner and brought them home to retrain. He explained that a horse behaved only as a horse was treated, and so he named the female Athena, so that she would become a wise warrior, carrying us wherever we needed to go in safety, and Zeus, so that we could command the weather as well.” She smiled softly at the memory. Command the weather indeed.
    Lord Drayson rested an arm on Athena’s back. “And did you always have cheerful weather when Zeus was at the head?”
    “Cheerful weather is in the eye of the beholder, Collins. Rain can be considered cheerful if one wishes for it to rain, after all.”
    The earl watched her for a moment before setting down the brush. He took Athena by the lead rope and stepped nearer to Lucy, bringing the horse with him. With the animal so close, Lucy felt the anxiety she always felt around large animals, and she retreated farther. She tried to convince herself that her discomfort was because of Athena’s close proximity and not the earl’s.
    “What does the name Lucy mean, I wonder?” the earl asked quietly, his gaze fixed on her.
    “Light,” Lucy answered. Despite the chill in the air, warmth settled around her, and she felt her cheeks redden. What sort of person are you? she wanted to ask. Lucy had thought she knew him, or at least enough about him to ascertain his true character, but now she was beginning to wonder if there was more to his character. He had a heartless side to him, one that placed business before people, and yet she was beginning to see another side as well. A softer side. A kind side. But how much of him was kind and how much heartless?
    Perhaps this kindness was a recent development, blossoming from his newly humbled state the way a rose blossomed from thorns and twigs. Or perhaps not. Deep down, a feeling troubled Lucy’s conscience, reminding her of something Mr. Shepherd had once said, that it was not fair to pass judgment on a book from the title or even the first chapter or two. One must get to know the book in its entirety before one could declare it a good book or not.
    The same was true with people, no doubt. Lucy had only read the first chapter of Lord Drayson, and it had left her with a bitter taste in her mouth and a strong desire to slam it shut and never open it again. But now that she had been forced to read on, so to speak, she found the taste not quite so bitter and rather thought that further reading would not be so punishable as she had first thought.
    A strong breeze swept through the stables, chilling Lucy and pulling some strands of hair free from her bun. She quickly swept them back. “I should go,” she said.
    “Before you do,” said the earl. “May I ask you one more question?”
    “Of course.”
    “How do you expect Athena and Zeus to rise to their godlike potential if you keep them confined in a stall?”
    It was a fair question and probably one that Lucy should have asked herself before now. She suddenly felt shamed by her neglectful treatment of the horses, though they had never lacked for food or warmth. In exchange for two dozen of Georgina’s fresh scones, a local farmer’s son would clean out the stalls every morning and see that