Free The Secret of Stavewood (Stavewood Saga Book 4) by Nanette Kinslow

that?”
          “A few minutes ago you seemed so serious. I really did have fun today. I don’t even care about all this mud.”
          Luc could not suppress a laugh. His own backside was caked in mud, but Louisa was a dreary brown from head to toe. Her sunny yellow dress was completely covered and her shoulders were streaked with dirt.
          “That’s better.” Louisa smiled when she heard his deep laugh.
          “Avalanche is going to be a mess,” Luc said, as he grabbed Louisa by the waist and deposited her onto the horse’s back.
          “Oh, yuck!” she squealed as she plopped down onto her wet dress.
          “I’m not much better.” Luc set his foot in the stirrup and leapt up in front of her. His broad back pressed into her.
          Louisa could not contain herself and began laughing uncontrollably. Both of his shoulders were completely covered in a thick layer of mud that shook as he laughed heartily in front of her.
          “Oh, I don’t care!” Louisa threw her arms around Luc’s waist as he kicked the horse to a fast run.
          Louisa was ecstatic and she laughed until her sides hurt. They raced across the fields and along the road in a steady rain. At last she had gone fishing and she’d had a wonderful time. Luc was funny and easy, like Mark had been so many years ago. But Luc was not her brother, nor was he like any of the men she had met at home. There was something in his eyes she did not recognize. Louisa felt free and more comfortable with Luc than she had with anyone else in a long time.
          Luc rode well and she felt her hair drying in the wind. His muscles flexed as she pressed up against him. He smelled manly and muddy and familiar, like home. As they turned off the road into the yard at Stavewood, Louisa rose up and put her lips to his ear.
          “Keep going,” she said.
          Luc leaned forward in the saddle and Louisa clung to his waist as he drove Avalanche faster down the road alongside an open field.
          She closed her eyes and imagined they were flying, lost together in the haze of the heavens where no one could find them. The beautiful horse beneath them had the wings of Pegasus and they were above the clouds. She was spontaneous and free and had no deadlines. There was no one to answer to but herself. She leaned into Luc’s back and, though the rain began to fall harder, she could not imagine a more perfect day.
          The shower felt cold on Louisa’s back and it splashed on Luc’s shoulders. She turned her face and pressed her cheek against him, watching the rain sparkling magically as it fell into the meadow alongside them. Suddenly Louisa felt a shiver run up her spine. She squinted her eyes, distracted by what looked like a man on horseback just at the line of trees across the field at the other side. As she watched, he appeared to turn his horse and move slowly into the woods. Then he was gone. Louisa tightened her arms around Luc’s waist.
          Luc slowed the horse and Louisa wiped the rain from her face.
          “Did you see that?” she called out, pointing across the field.
          “No. What did you see?” Luc turned in the saddle and looked at her over his shoulder. He was completely drenched. The rain slowed, tapering off to a light shower.
          “I’m not sure, but I think I saw a rider.”
          Luc slid from the horse’s back and took a few steps into the meadow, scanning the trees where she had pointed. “What did he look like?”
          “He was all in black. Black hat with a wide brim and a black poncho all shiny in the rain. A big, black horse, too.” Louisa strained her eyes but couldn’t see anything moving. “Pretty creepy.”
          “Well, there’s no one there now,” Luc announced. He stood beside the horse looking up at her.
          Louisa told herself that what she had probably seen was just a passerby caught