AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Is that all you’ve got?’ He flexed under his jacket, hoping she might land an actual punch.
She did.
‘Ow! Fucking hell!’ she cried, rubbing her knuckles.
‘You okay?’ He reached for her hand.
She snatched it away. ‘What have you got under there? Armour plating?’
‘Want to see?’
‘You’re incorrigible.’ She turned and strode towards Duke.
Well, that wasn’t a no…
James went back to a position of safety and watched Estelle as she did another run. She only hit half of the targets.
‘That was bollocks!’ she shouted as she rode towards him.
‘No, it means you’re being challenged.’ He handed her the arrows he’d collected. ‘And that’s good.’
She frowned. ‘You sure you’re not bored?’
He shook his head. This was the happiest he’d been since being forced out of London.
‘Okay, then,’ she said with a grin. ‘I’m going again.’
Her improvement was quick over the next few runs, and he saw how happy it made her.
Cantering up, she leapt off Duke. ‘I want to set up a jump. Make it even harder.’
‘Do they do that in competition?’
‘No. But if I can do that, then I can do anything.’
‘It doesn’t sound very safe.’
She rolled her eyes and pointed to the hedge bordering the field. ‘I can clear that on Duke. A couple of straw bales are nothing.’
‘But you’re holding onto his reins whilst you do that, not a bow and arrow. Right?’
‘Potato, tomato. Are you going to help me, or what?’
He followed her to the pile of bales that had been serving as a lookout station for Joy and Chester.
Estelle grabbed one. ‘I’ll only make it two high, okay? Duke could practically step over that.’
James was a risk taker, but never with anything that could endanger his life. Taking his phone from his pocket, he checked for signal strength.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Making sure I’m able to ring for the air ambulance if needed.’ He glanced around. ‘Good. This field is flat enough for them to land.’
‘Seriously? I know what I’m doing. I could ride almost as soon as I could walk.’
James didn’t want to get into an argument with Estelle when they were actually starting to get on, so instead helped her assemble the jump, then stood back.
‘Why don’t you have a go without the bow and arrow first? Just feel what it’s like when you’re more upright and not holding the reins.’
