Lord Melvedere's Ghost by Rebecca King

stopping her
defiant march across the field.
    Nonplussed, Jamie placed his hands on his hips and watched
her. He contemplated throwing her in the back of the carriage and
riding up on the box seat for the rest of the journey. With
Jonathan driving, it was probably better than riding in the
carriage with Miss Wretching all the way to Melvedere, but he
simply couldn’t allow her to go on her little tantrum
alone.
    “ Where do you think you are going to go?” Jamie muttered,
stalking after her.
    “ I am going to find someone who will take the
horse.”
    “ They could eat it,” Jamie growled, rolling his eyes at her
inelegant snort.
    “ Better them than a fox.”
    “ Foxes don’t eat horses, Cecily.”
    “ Neither do people.”
    “ For God’s sakes, you cannot go wandering into a town looking
for an owner for a horse you don’t own!”
    Cecily
spun on her heel. “You simply cannot abandon a horse to fend for
itself, especially one that has carried you for miles, it is
immoral. Not when he is used to living in a stable and being fed
hay and, and – well, things.” She shot him a dirty look before
turning on her heel. She had spotted his horse following them, and
wondered how long it would be before Jamie understood that his own
horse had no intention of being left behind either. Hiding her
smirk, she marched confidently onward, smiling obliquely at
Jonathan’s rapt amusement as they marched past the carriage he had
pulled to a stop on the other side of the low slung
wall.
    Jamie
swore.
    Cecily
ignored him.
    Jamie
turned to speak to Jonathan only to spot his own horse standing a
few inches away from his shoulder. Rolling his eyes he turned to
glare at Cecily’s back.
    “ Lord, save me,” Jamie snarled, glaring at Jonathan before
making a circling motion with his finger. Jonathan shook his head
and did as he was told, moving on to find a place to turn the
carriage around.
    “ Fine! I’ll take the horses into the town and find them a new
home. Will you be happy then?” Jamie grumbled, catching hold of the
reins of his own horse.
    “ No,” Cecily snapped, glaring at him. “You could just leave
them further down the road, or with someone who won’t look after
them. I am going to find them a proper home.”
    “ But they aren’t even your blasted horses!” Jamie
shouted.
    Cecily
spun on her heel and glared at him. “Don’t you swear at me, I am
doing what is right whether you like it or not. Go on without me if
I am holding you up.”
    She
turned around and continued to march toward town, physically
trembling with suppressed fury. She had never shouted before in her
entire life; it felt as though she was being incredibly rude, but
she refused to apologise for it. It felt liberating; strange;
slightly unnerving. This was a side to her she had never seen
before, and she wasn’t sure where it had come from. Surely the
events of the last few days hadn’t changed her that much, had
they?
    She
glanced at the ground as she marched, lost in thought. She was
aware of the trundling of carriage wheels and clip-clopping of
hooves approaching from behind. Jonathan had evidently found
somewhere to turn around and was coming back for them. It behoved
her to turn back and take a look to see where Jamie was, but
couldn’t discount the possibility that he might simply take matters
into his own hands through sheer frustration. The memories of the
time he had bundled her back into the carriage after her sickness
came flooding back. She stiffened her spine, bracing herself for a
fight only to catch sight of Jamie walking toward the carriage out
of the corner of her eye, throwing her a dirty look as he
went.
    Sniffing
dismissively, she continued to move toward the gate at the far end
of the field. Whatever they were plotting, she was not going to be
swept off her feet again and pushed into doing anything that she
didn’t want to do. They were not going to put her into the
carriage, and she was not going to go anywhere