Josephine Cox 3-Book Collection 2: The Loner, Born Bad, Three Letters. Josephine Cox

      ‘But she’s got to be all right!’ Lucy was close to tears.

      The vet explained, ‘If the infection had been treated earlier, she would have had a better chance of recovering. But it’s been left so long, there are complications. Her lungs are affected.’ He spoke solemnly. ‘I’ve done all I can; it’s up to her now. All you can do is stay with her, keep her warm and calm, and hope the antibiotics do their work. But like I say, it’s not good.’

      ‘But when will we know?’ Lucy asked brokenly. ‘What else can we do?’

      ‘There is nothing else to be done,’ he assured her. ‘The next twenty-four hours will be crucial.’ He glanced at Dave. ‘It might be as well if Miss Thomson waits inside the house.’

      ‘No!’ Lucy was adamant. ‘I want to stay with Molly.’

      ‘That’s all right,’ Dave assured the man quietly. ‘I’ll be here with her.’

      ‘Well, if you’re sure … Just do what you’re doing – mop her face with a cool cloth, and keep her warm.’

      Dave was desolate. ‘What are her chances?’ he asked once more.

      ‘Fifty-fifty, I’d say. She’s strong. She won’t give up without a fight.’ He made his way across the stable. ‘I need a word with Frank.’

      They saw the two men meet up in the yard; they saw Frank’s face go pale as the conversation progressed, and when the vet was gone, Frank came across to join them. ‘Molly is my best mare.’ His voice was thick with pain. ‘Aren’t you, me beauty?’ Gently, he stroked the horse’s sweating sides.

      ‘The vet says she’s got a fifty-fifty chance.’ Lucy had never seen her father so distressed. ‘She’ll pull through, Daddy. She’s strong, you know that.’

      Frank looked down at the mare, and he shook his head. ‘I’ve seen how these infections can take hold,’ he told her sadly. ‘I hope you’re right and she does somehow pull through, but she’s got a hell of a lot of work to do, before she can shake this off. So don’t get your hopes up, sweetheart. Let’s just wait and see, eh?’

      After a last whispered word or two of encouragement to the mare, he quickly left, his shoulders bent and his step determined.

      A short time later, he saw Seamus arrive. ‘I want a word with you, Macintyre!’ He called him into the house.

      ‘What’s wrong, guv?’ Bold and arrogant, Seamus confronted him.

      For what seemed an age, Frank took stock of this man, a man he had trusted with his prized animals; a man who had callously abused that trust and might have cost him one of the finest brood mares in the land.

      ‘Frank!’ Seamus was blissfully ignorant of his boss’s anger. ‘You called me in. Mind telling me what I can do for you?’

      His face fell when Frank snapped back, his voice low and trembling. “‘What can you do?” You can go and collect what’s yours and take yourself off my property. I never want to see hide nor hair of you again.’

      The younger man was visibly shocked. ‘What the devil are you talking about? What d’you mean, get off your property?’ Even now, his arrogance blinded him.

      Fixing him in his glare, Frank stepped forward until he was so close he could see the tiny red veins in the other man’s eyes. ‘I’ve been a fool,’ he growled. ‘I’ve trusted you … given you too much power, until now you act like you’re lord of your own kingdom.’

      ‘What on earth are you getting at?’ Never having witnessed such rage in this usually tolerant man, Seamus instinctively stepped back a pace, his voice shaking with fear, his eyes wide and bewildered. ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

      Desperately controlling the urge to lash out with both fists, Frank continued to glare at him. ‘If I were you,’ he said, ‘I’d get out of here as quick as you can, before I cause you a deal of pain – just like you caused that poor mare lying in the stables.’

      When the head groom’s eyes lit up with comprehension, Frank went on, ‘Oh! So now you know what I’m talking about! You neglected a simple thing like a thorn in the hoof, and now Molly is down, and the vet doesn’t give her a cat in hell’s chance of recovering.’

      ‘But I was onto it!’ Seeing his cushy lifestyle coming to an end, Seamus began screaming. ‘It was nothing – I would have got round to it. Damn it, she was fine when I left this morning. It’s that fool of a boy you took on – he’s the one responsible. Why don’t you go and ask him what he’s been up to? Meddling, that’s what! He knows nothing about horses – nothing!’

      ‘Dave is more of a horseman than you will ever be.’ Frank was beginning to lose control. ‘He knows every bit as much as you – probably more. And out of the two of you, he’s the one to be trusted. So, like I say, pack your bags and get out of here, as fast and as far from here as you can.’

      He thrust him away. ‘If I were you, I’d go right now – because I don’t know how long I can keep it together … if you know what I mean.’ His eyes said it all, and the other man saw the violence there, yet still he was defiant.

      ‘I want what’s due to me! I’m owed three weeks’ wages and severance pay. And I’m going nowhere without it.’

      ‘You’ll get nothing from me!’

      ‘Then I’m not leaving!’

      Frank smiled, which was more frightening than his temper. ‘Is that so?’

      With one lurch he had Seamus by the collar of his shirt. With the other hand, he took hold of the seat of his pants and with a mighty heave he threw him outside, where he landed hard on the ground, screaming and shouting and promising all kinds of retribution.

      When Frank took a step towards him, he was gone … fleeing across the yard like the coward he was.

      Having heard the commotion, Dave and Lucy had come to the stable door and witnessed the scene. ‘It’s no more than you deserve!’ Dave called out, and fearing that he too would confront Seamus, Lucy called him back to the mare. ‘She’s trembling, Dave … she must be cold.’ With great tenderness, she drew the blanket up and over the mare’s flanks. ‘There must be something we can do to help her?’

      ‘You heard what the vet said, Lucy.’ Realising that Molly had gone into convulsions, Dave took Lucy by the shoulders and spun her round to him. ‘Go indoors,’ he ordered quietly. ‘This is no place for you just now.’

      Realising something bad was about to happen, Lucy would not be persuaded. ‘No, Dave. I want to stay here, with you.’

      ‘No.’ He led her towards the stable door. ‘You have to trust me, Lucy. You really shouldn’t be here.’ Opening the door, he walked her outside. ‘I’ll call you if anything happens.’

      ‘Promise?’

      ‘I promise.’

      With Lucy making her way across the yard, Dave returned to the mare. ‘Easy does it.’ He wiped her forehead with the cool cloth. ‘Breathe easy, sweetheart. The fever’s got a hold of you. Once that’s broken, you’ll begin to feel better.’ But he was not hopeful, because now, her eyes were rolling and her whole body was shivering. He drew the blanket higher, and prayed a little. She didn’t deserve this, but what was worse, it could all have been avoided.

      Ever since he’d worked at the stud farm, Dave’s love and respect for horses had grown, along with his knowledge of their ways. With the exception of Madden, the big, nervy stallion, the horses here were biddable, trustworthy creatures – a joy to deal with, and a deep balm to Dave Adams’s troubled heart.

      From across the yard, the shouting got louder. ‘I HOPE SHE DIES!’ Seamus was yelling shrilly. ‘From the first time your boyfriend set foot on this yard I knew he wouldn’t rest until