Folly by Jassy Mackenzie Read Free Book Online

excitement infected Ace, the twenty-two-year-old. He came thundering down the field to join in the fun, and at the sound of his hooves, Admiral took off with me and galloped the whole way down the fence line before I was able to pull him up.
    Twenty minutes later, when he’d finally calmed down and was walking sensibly, I decided to call it a day. I was feeling more refreshed and energised than I had done in a long time. I rode back up the field with a smile on my face, and as I did so, I heard my name being called.
    â€˜Mrs Caine? Hellooo, Emma?’
    Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw Gillian Bettiol, who was my neighbour on the eastern side. Wearing a large, floppy straw hat and carrying a pair of secateurs, she was standing in her immaculate garden and waving at me from behind the palisade that separated our properties.
    I turned and trotted Admiral towards the fence. He stopped a few strides away and snorted suspiciously at her hat.
    â€˜Keith and I have been needing to speak to you about the area by your tenant’s cottage,’ she said.
    The tenant’s cottage, aka my future business premises. What the hell?
    â€˜What about it?’
    â€˜It’s very overgrown and it’s shorting out the electric fence. Plus, it looks really messy. It really is the most incredible eyesore and it’s right in front of us when we drive down our driveway. It needs tidying up.’
    â€˜I’ll see to it,’ I said, and I’m sure she could hear in my voice exactly how empty that promise was. There was absolutely no way, at this present time, that the overgrowth concealing the entrance to the folly was going anywhere. I needed it to be there. And I didn’t need any prying eyes going near it.
    â€˜If you could see to it, that would be great.’ Now there was steel in Gillian’s tone. ‘Perhaps Keith should speak to your husband about getting somebody in, so we can be sure it gets done. I do think that living in this area, we need to take a pride in our properties and keep them looking presentable.’
    I stared down at her. This spoilt, selfish, rose-growing, pampered housewife with a filthy-rich husband. So immersed in her own little world that she hadn’t even bothered to greet me properly. Hadn’t even thought to ask how I was.
    â€˜Thank you for your opinion, which I have noted,’ I said. ‘As far as clearing that area goes, I’ll look at doing it in winter, and not before. You obviously don’t know that my husband was badly brain-damaged in a car crash at the beginning of last year. If Keith wants to try to get hold of him he’s more than welcome, but since Mark can’t even speak or walk, I think clearing out our fence line for your aesthetic pleasure is going to be somewhat beyond him.’
    Gillian’s face was frozen in shock; her mouth a perfect ‘O’ under the floppy hat. I didn’t wait for her to regroup her wits. I wheeled Admiral round and we galloped back up the hill towards home.

Chapter 7
    I woke up the following day aching from head to toe. Every muscle in my body was stiff and tender. My thigh muscles seemed to be welded apart, so that I had to stagger downstairs bow-legged, like
    Buffalo Bill. I had expected to have some soreness after the ride, but I couldn’t understand why my right shoulder and arm were so stiff until I remembered the whip that I’d brought down again and again on the folded horse blanket.
    Clearly, I was going to need to get into better shape. And fast. I wasn’t quite ready to attempt any one-armed push-ups, but perhaps I could embark on a programme of daily horse blanket beatings to build up my strength and stamina.
    Just as soon as I could lift my hand above shoulder height again, I’d look into it. Today, though, I had other priorities.
    I’d been contemplating doing what I was about to do for a while, but each time I’d chickened out. It hadn’t