The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan Read Free Book Online

Pop’s setting up a stable for me just outside Rutland.”
    “I go riding for that same reason,” Mary said. Maybe Papa was right about Patrick , Mary thought. She felt her abdominal muscles begin to relax. They were coming around the far corner of the pasture. “You said that you were home now?” she asked, surprised to hear the words spill out of her mouth.
    “Yes. I’m going to help at the Marbleworks, with my father and grandfather. McAllister Marbleworks, in Rutland. You’ve heard of it?”
    “Oh, yes,” Mary said. She hadn’t the slightest idea what he was talking about.
    “Grandpop is technically in charge, but my father pretty much runs the whole thing. Pop’s done a lot to expand it. Now we have representatives who travel all over the world marketing our products. He also put up two new buildings to help meet the demand. One’s for cutting marble into tile for floors and things, and the other’s for carving statues and figurines.”
    “Oh,” Mary said, because she could think of nothing else to say. She hadn’t known that floors could be made of marble.
    “Someday,” Patrick continued, “I’ll be in charge. My father expects me to take over the business once he retires. And, if I can find someone to settle down with, someday I’ll have a son of my own who could run it with me.”
    Mary only nodded. His green eyes were piercing, demanding. She felt a familiar heat beginning to creep onto her face.
    Mary’s bland response to his mentioning his prestigious future position bothered Patrick. He would try another subject.
    “Has it always been just you and your father?” he asked. “I don’t mean to pry. I was just wondering.”
    “Oh. Yes. I never knew my mother. She died giving birth to me,” Mary said. “So it’s just been Papa and me. And the horses.”
    “Well, Mill River’s a nice place to grow up,” Patrick said. “Nice and quiet, pretty countryside. Not too far from Proctor or Rutland. You’re really lucky to have had horses your whole life. Hey, let’s speed up a little. I don’t want to keep your father waiting much longer.” Besides, he was eager to show Mary that he, too, was an able horseman.
    Patrick finally lessened his grip on the reins, letting the bay colt loose. The horse tore off toward the gate in the pasture fence and then veered back into the pasture. Patrick managed to stop him, but the bay colt reared up and pitched him onto the grass. Patrick cursed the ground as the colt flung his hind legs into the air and galloped away. He wished he had been carrying a riding crop, as he was in a mind to go give the colt a good lashing. Even a swift kick to the belly would do , he thought, if no one had been watching him .
    Mary urged Ebony into a canter and rode quickly over to Patrick. “Are you hurt?” she asked. She saw her father running through the grass toward them.
    “No, no, he just caught me a little unprepared,” Patrick said. “Your father was right. He is a handful.” Now his face was the color of a ripe tomato, Mary noticed.
    “If you want to start back to the barn, I’ll get the colt for you,” she offered.
    “Sure, thanks,” Patrick said, rubbing his hip.
    Mary rode over to where the bay colt was grazing contentedly, pulled the reins over his head, and led him back to the barn. Patrick and her father were already there, laughing. Mary saw her father slap Patrick on the back good-naturedly as Patrick shook his head. When she reached them, she handed the reins of the colt to her father. Patrick stood beside him, looking disheveled and sore.
    “I was jus’ tellin’ Patrick here that that was the finest show of horsemanship I’ve seen in a while,” her father said, smiling. “Don’ you think, Mary?” Still chuckling, he led the bay colt toward the training paddock.
    “Yes,” she said. Patrick’s final moments aboard the bay colt had been quite comical. Strangely, the panicky feeling inside her was gone. She looked at Patrick, really looked