DONNA ALWARD - The Girl from Honeysuckle Farm / One Dance with the Cowboy - The Girl from Honeysuckle Farm / One Dance with the Cowboy

‘Well—er…’ Phinn hesitated. It was unthinkable that she should burden him with her problems, but the idea of squatting back at Honeysuckle was picking at her again.

‘You’re not settled?’ Ash took up.

‘Geraldine—she’s the new owner of the stables—wants to do more on the riding school front, and needs my flat for a member of her staff,’ Phinn began.

‘But you work there too?’

‘Well, no, actually. Er…’

‘You’re out of a job and a home?’ Ash caught on.

‘Ruby and I have until the end of this week,’ Phinn said lightly, and might well have put in a pitch for his permission to use Honeysuckle as a stop-gap measure—only she chanced to look across to him, and once more into his dull eyes, and she simply did not have the heart. He appeared to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, and she just could not add to his burden.

‘Ruby?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t know you had a child?’

He looked so concerned that Phinn rushed in to reassure him. ‘I don’t.’ She patted Ruby’s shoulder. ‘This lovely girl is Ruby.’

His look of concern changed to one of relief. ‘I don’t know much about horses, but…’

Phinn smiled. There wasn’t a better-groomed horse anywhere, but there was no mistaking Ruby’s years. ‘She’s getting on a bit now, and her health isn’t so good, but—’ She broke off when, turning to glance at Ruby, she saw a male figure in the distance, coming their way at a fast pace. Uh-oh! Ash hadn’t seen him, but she didn’t fancy a row with Ty Allardyce in front of him. ‘That reminds me—we’d better be off. It’s time for Ruby’s medication,’ she said. ‘Nice to see you again, Ash. Bye.’

And with that, unfortunately having to go towards the man she was starting to think of as ‘that dastardly Ty Allardyce’, she led Ruby away.

‘Bye, Phinn,’ Ash bade her, seeing nothing wrong with her abrupt departure as he went walking on in the opposite direction.

With Ruby not inclined to hurry, there was no way Phinn could avoid the owner of the Hall, who also happened to be the owner of the land she was trespassing on. They were on a collision course!

Several remarks entered her head before Ty Allardyce was within speaking distance. Though when he was but a few yards from her—and looking tough with it—her voice nearly failed her. But in her view she had done nothing wrong.

‘Not back in London yet, I see!’ she remarked, more coolly than she felt.

‘Why, you—’ Ty Allardyce began angrily, but checked his anger, to demand, ‘What have you been saying to my brother?’

While part of Phinn recognised that his question had come from concern for Ash, she did not like Ty Allardyce and never would. ‘What’s it got to do with you?’ she challenged loftily.

His dark grey eyes glinted, and she would not have been all that surprised had she felt his hands around her throat—he looked quite prepared to attempt to throttle her! ‘It has everything to do with me,’ he controlled his ire to inform her shortly. ‘You Hawkins women don’t give a damn who you hurt…’

‘Hawkins women!’ she exclaimed, starting to get angry herself. ‘What the devil do you mean by that?’

‘Your reputation precedes you!’

‘Reputation?’

‘Your father was devastated when your mother dumped him. My—’

Mother dumped him! Phinn was on the instant furious, but somehow managed to control her feeling of wanting to throttle him to butt in with mock sarcasm. ‘Oh, really, Allardyce. You truly must try to stop listening to village gossip…’

‘You’re saying he wasn’t devastated? That his reason for not paying the rent had nothing at all to do with the fact that your mother took up with some other man and left your father a total wreck?’

Oh, Lord. That quickly squashed her anger. She did not doubt that her father had been capable of conveying his marriage break-up as his reason without exactly saying so. But his marriage break-up had had nothing to do with him not paying the rent—the fact the rent had not been paid had been more to do with her mother’s hands no longer being on the purse strings. It was true, Phinn had discovered, that the rent had only ceased to be paid when her mother had left.

‘What went on between my father and mother is nothing at all to do with you!’ Phinn stated coldly, wanting her anger back. ‘It’s none of your business…’

‘When it comes to my brother I’ll make it my business. You’ve seen him! You’ve seen how gutted he is that your cousin ditched him the same way your mother ditched your father. I’m not having another Hawkins anywhere near him. Get off my land and stay off it! And,’ he went on icily when she opened her mouth, ‘don’t give me “Huh!” This is your last warning. If I catch you trespassing again I’ll have you in court before you can blink!’

‘Have you quite finished?’

‘I hope never to have to speak to you again,’ he confirmed. ‘You just leave my brother alone.’

‘Be glad to!’ she snapped, her eyes darkening. ‘I don’t know what Bishops Thornby ever did to deserve the likes of you, but for my money it was the worst day’s work he ever did when old Mr Caldicott sold this estate to you!’ Thereafter ignoring him, she addressed the mare. ‘Come on, Rubes. You’re much too sweet to have to stand and listen to this loathsome man!’

With that, she put her nose in the air and sauntered off. Unfortunately, because of Ruby’s slow gait, she was prevented from marching off as she would have wished. She hoped the dastardly Allardyce got the idea anyway.

Her adrenalin was still pumping when she took Ruby back to her stall. Honestly, that man!

Phinn wasted no time the next day. Once she had attended to all Ruby’s needs, she made the long walk up to Honeysuckle Farm. She walked into the familiar farmyard, but, having been away from the farm for around three months, as she stood and stared about she was able to see it for the first time from a different perspective. She had to admit to feeling a little shaken.

Rusting pieces of machinery littered the yard, and there was a general air of neglect everywhere. Which there would be, she defended her father. Had he lived he would have repaired and sold on the rusting and clapped out pieces. Had he lived…

Avoiding thoughts that some of the machinery had lain there rusting for years, and not just since last October when her father had died, and the fact that the place had become to be more and more rundown over the years but that until today she had never noticed it, Phinn went to take a look at the old barn that had used to be Ruby’s home.

The secure door latch had broken years ago, but, as her father had so laughingly said, they had nothing worth stealing so why bother repairing it? That his logic was a touch different from most people’s had all been part of the man she had adored. It hadn’t been that he was idle, he’d just thought on a different and more pleasurable level.

The barn smelt musty, and not too pleasant. But it was a sunny day, so Phinn propped the doors open wide and went in. Everything about the place screamed, no! But what alternative did she have? Ruby, her timid darling Ruby, would by far prefer to be up here in the old barn than where she was. Had Phinn had any idea of Ruby’s fear of the other horses she would never have taken her there in the first place. Too late now to be wise after the event!

Looking for plus points, Phinn knew that Ruby would be better on her own, away from the younger horses. As well as being timid, Ruby was a highly sensitive mare, and with their mutual attachment to each other, Honeysuckle was the best place for them. Another plus: it was dry—mainly. And there was a field. Several, in fact. Overgrown with weeds and clutter, but in Phinn’s view it wouldn’t take her long to clear it and put up some sort of temporary fencing.