Free The Girl by the River by Sheila Jeffries

leather
riding boots. Clipped around the heel of each boot was a highly polished silver spur. Freddie looked at them and winced. Did the man really dig those cruel spurs into the flanks of a horse? His
eyes travelled up the legs to the blue Aertex shirt, the expensive smooth tweed hacking jacket, the hairy wrist flaunting a chunky gold watch.
What a toff
, he thought. Then he got to the
eyes.
Piggy little eyes
, he thought.
Shifty
.
    ‘Hello, Freddie,’ Ian said, and Freddie just nodded at him. He didn’t intend to speak.
    Kate got up and gave Freddie a hug. ‘Ian was telling me about the place he’s buying,’ she said, pouring him some strong tea in the earthenware mug he liked.
‘Susan’s here too and she’s taken Lucy for a walk down to the shop. Tessa’s asleep.’
    Freddie sat down. He didn’t feel like talking to Ian. He wanted him to go.
    ‘Darkwater Farm – out on the Taunton Road,’ Ian said. ‘We can’t move in until next year – there’s so much work to be done before the horses can come
down. Do you know the place?’
    ‘Ah – I do,’ Freddie said. ‘Have you actually paid for it?’
    ‘Well – no – but I’m going to make an offer.’
    ‘Then you’re a fool,’ Freddie said bluntly, and Kate gave him a little kick under the table.
    Ian frowned. ‘Why?’
    ‘You can’t keep horses down there,’ said Freddie. ‘Anyone would tell you that.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘’Cause it’s under water for most of the winter. That part of the Levels floods every year.’
    Ian laughed. ‘I don’t take any notice of local folklore.’
    ‘Freddie is right,’ Kate said. ‘Didn’t they tell you that when you viewed it?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘I’ll bet they didn’t,’ said Freddie. ‘And it’s not folklore. I’ve lived here all my life, and when I were a boy we used to row a boat over the flooded
fields from Langport to Taunton.’
    ‘I’m sure it can be fixed with a bit of intelligent drainage,’ Ian said.
    Kate and Freddie looked at each other. ‘I’m surprised Joan didn’t warn you,’ Kate said.
    ‘She did have a go,’ Ian said, ‘but I don’t take any notice of women’s scaremongering. I’ve had a lot of experience in preparing equestrian property, and my
men will have the paddocks fenced and the gallop circuit built before the winter. Once the stables are renovated, we can move down.’
    ‘You’re buying trouble,’ Freddie said. ‘You mark my words.’
    The two men eyeballed one another across the table.
    ‘Well, let’s not come to blows over it,’ Kate said pleasantly, ‘not in my kitchen!’
    When Ian had gone, Freddie stayed at the table drinking a second cup of tea. ‘I don’t want him in here,’ he told Kate.
    ‘He’s not doing any harm,’ she replied, startled at the brooding anger emanating from Freddie. ‘And Susan is my friend. You can’t invite Susan and not him. We must
put our likes and dislikes aside.’
    ‘Ah – ’tis deeper than that. I’m telling you, Kate, I don’t want him here.’
    ‘But when they have children it will be good for Lucy and Tessa to have friends to play with,’ said Kate. ‘AND they might get invited to play, and to ride one day.
Susan’s planning to have ponies for her children.’
    ‘I don’t want Lucy and Tessa down there.’
    ‘Well – we’ll see,’ Kate said pleasantly and Freddie thought that ‘we’ll see’ usually meant that she hadn’t given up on the idea, and further
manipulation was to follow when Kate deemed it safe to try again.
    ‘He won’t last five minutes down here – that Ian Tillerman,’ he said. ‘’Tis no good him coming down here lording it about. Money don’t talk as loud as
he thinks it does. He’s got to have some sense and listen to local people, not scoff at them – he’s going to come unstuck in a minute, Daimler or no Daimler.’
    ‘You’re usually right,’ Kate said. ‘We’ll see what happens – but at least you’ve met him now, Freddie, and broken the