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

you.’

      Maggie beamed with delight. ‘What I want to know is, do I look like Dorothy Lamour?’

      ‘Who’s she when she’s at home?’ Dave asked.

      ‘Good Lord!’ Maggie was astounded. ‘Are you telling me you don’t know who Dorothy Lamour is?’

      ‘Neither do I,’ Lucy confessed.

      The Scotswoman sighed. ‘She’s a film star … made a lot of films wearing a swimsuit, dancing in the water to music. But she sometimes dresses up all fancy. Yes, she is an amazing-looking woman!’ She preened, and posed with her hat. ‘So, do you think I look a bit like a film star in this?’

      Lucy glanced at Dave who was thoroughly enjoying the conversation. ‘What do you think?’ she asked, straight-faced. ‘Do you think that Maggie looks like a Dorothy Lamour?’

      Before he could answer, the waitress was back with a big tray. ‘Ooh, you do look nice,’ she said, admiring Maggie’s frivolous hat. ‘I reckon you’re the spitting image of Dorothy Lamour. I’ve seen a few of her films, and she’s a right glamour-puss.’

      Maggie almost swooned. ‘There!’ She gave Dave and Lucy a haughty look. ‘I’m glad somebody knows who I’m talking about.’ For a while after that, there was no controlling her.

      While they enjoyed their lunchtime snack, they talked of Seamus and the way Frank had managed to keep his temper, most of the time. ‘I’m surprised Frank didn’t take a horse-whip to him!’ Maggie said indignantly.

      ‘I’m worried,’ Lucy said quietly. ‘It was a terrible thing, to lose Molly like that, and when Dad threw him out on his ear, Seamus promised all kinds of trouble. To me, he seems the sort to carry out his threat. I’m scared, Dave. Will he really come back, do you think?’

      ‘He’ll have to get through me if he does come back,’ Dave promised. ‘But Macintyre is all mouth and no substance, so I wouldn’t worry about it, if I were you.’

      Maggie wasn’t so certain. ‘I haven’t said anything to your father about this, Lucy, but I think Seamus is a thoroughly bad lot. I’ve heard the way he talked to the stable girls, and once he came back late at night, drunk as a Lord … mad as a bull, he was.’

      Hesitating, she hoped she was right in mentioning the following incident. ‘The next day, young Laura from the top yard had an angry red mark across her face, as though somebody had slapped her really hard. I asked if Seamus had hurt her, and she denied it – got a bit upset at me asking. She made me promise I would not repeat that to anyone, or she would have to leave. And anyway, she insisted it was not Seamus, but a disgruntled boyfriend.’

      ‘And was it – a boyfriend?’ Lucy was horrified.

      Maggie shrugged her shoulders. ‘Well, it wasn’t my right to question her. Anyway, in the end, I took her at her word and said nothing. But I regret it now, because if I’d spoken out and it was discovered that it really was Seamus who got rough with her, he’d have been sent on his way long ago.’

      Dave could see how Maggie was blaming herself. ‘You did what you thought was right,’ he told her now. ‘You believed Laura. Any one of us might have done the same.’

      The woman wasn’t so sure. ‘The thing is, I’ve seen Seamus drunk before when he’s come home late,’ she confessed. ‘I’ve seen him throwing things about. Once he kicked at the fencing and smashed it through. During the day he seemed always to be working, calm as you like – pleasant, even. He was a right Jekyll and Hyde,’ she recalled his behaviour, ‘because when he’d been drinking, he was out of his mind.’

      ‘And you never told Dad any of this?’ Lucy asked.

      ‘No. Like I say, maybe I should have. But as far as I know, he never hurt anyone or did any real damage to speak of, and he was a natural with the animals.’

      She gave an almighty sigh. ‘I didn’t think your father would thank me for telling tales, especially when he got along so well with Seamus. Frank trusted him as his head groom. Relied on him to keep that part of the business running smoothly.’

      Dave agreed. ‘You’re right.’ He could see Maggie working herself up to misery. ‘If there was no real damage done and no evidence that he was not doing his work properly, Frank might well have given him the benefit of the doubt – and then you would have felt all the worse for telling.’ He recalled how Frank had been oblivious of his daughter’s reservations about Seamus, the day he had first come to the stud farm, nearly four years ago.

      Maggie gave a sigh of relief, and took off her hat. ‘Oh Dave, thank you. You’ve put my mind at rest.’

      Lucy gave her a hug. ‘So there you are, and now you can have a look at the shoes I’ve bought for the barn-dance this Saturday.’

      With the confession off her chest, Maggie was her old self again. ‘Go on then,’ she urged. ‘Let’s see what you’ve got.’

      When Lucy took out the shoes, Maggie oohed and aahed and said how pretty they were. The shoes were dark blue, with high heels and a peep toe, and where the foot slipped into the shoe, there was a darling yellow daisy. ‘I’d never get my big clodhoppers in there,’ Maggie groaned, ‘but you’ll look a picture in them, come Saturday.’ She rubbed her hands gleefully. ‘Put them away and let me see what else you’ve got.’

      One by one, and much to Dave’s amusement, Lucy displayed the articles. There was the daintiest pink crocheted bolero; a pretty blue, long-sleeved dress with a cinched waist and big belt, and a dark green skirt that hugged the hips and swung out at the hem. ‘Lovely!’ Maggie was beside herself. ‘Wish I could get into them!’

      Across the room behind the counter, the two waitresses drooled over Lucy’s choice of clothes. ‘Take down the name on the carrier bags,’ one urged the other. ‘I’m gonna save all me tips, and when I get me wages on Friday, I’m off to see if there’s anything left worth having.’

Chapter Seventeen

      TWO DAYS LATER, Frank arrived at the stables early in the morning. Dave was leading in the stallion. ‘Been going a bit mental again, has he?’ Standing eighteen hands high, with a coat black as night and a temper the same, Madden was a magnificent beast.

      ‘I put him in the back field as far away from the mares as he could be,’ Dave answered. ‘The trouble is, once he’s got wind of them, even when they’re not in season, he won’t rest. He cleared two fences before I got to him, and we had the devil of a tussle, before I managed to calm him down.’

      ‘You do well to handle him at all.’

      Frank had scars where he had battled with the stallion at different times.‘He can be a bad bugger!’ he exclaimed. ‘But he seems calm enough now.’ All the same, he was concerned. ‘I didn’t buy him straight off,’ he admitted. ‘I thought long and hard before parting with money for this particular one.’ He recalled the day, years ago. ‘It was the first time I let my heart rule my head. And, of course, I was wrong.’

      Reaching out, he attempted to stroke the stallion’s mane, withdrawing his hand when it got agitated. ‘You can’t deny he’s a prime specimen though. He’s got a pedigree a mile long, and his offspring are valued worldwide.’

      ‘You’re right, he is a beautiful animal,’ Dave commented. ‘But for some reason, he seems to have taken against us.’

      Frank had his suspicions. ‘There was one occasion when I had to reprimand Seamus for being too hard on the horse,’ he told Dave now. ‘The way this fella’s been behaving, I’m beginning to wonder how many times that little bastard has taken the leather to him without my knowing.’

      The very same thought had crossed Dave’s own mind. ‘The wrong treatment can turn a horse quicker than anything,’ he agreed.