A Roll in the Hay Read online

  She still hadn’t decided by the time she stood up in front of the small gathering to make her presentation. Susannah’s stomach roiled with anxiety. At first it felt as though the foundations of her world and much of her self-confidence had started to crumble beneath her. With a reassuring look from Finn, Susannah found her footing a few slides in and delivered the presentation as she’d intended. The room responded with polite applause.

  “Thank you, Councillor Javit,” she said as the man came over to shake her hand. She noticed Jonathan slipping out after checking his phone, no doubt summoned by Robin. He could report back how well it had gone. “If it’s not too impolite, might I ask how you’re planning to vote when my application comes up?”

  “Ah.” He looked at his shoes. “Please know, Lady Karlson, that it’s nothing personal. I just have to go with what has the right tone for the area. You understand.”

  “I do.” Susannah scanned the room, not seeing potential allies anymore. They were all Robin’s people, it seemed, braying and slapping each other on the back as they drank her booze and made plans to deny her the business dream she’d always wanted. It was enough to make her want to scream, but of course that would never do. Susannah came from a long line of women who’d had to bite their tongues and outsmart men to get their way.

  The prickling tears took Susannah by surprise, and she slipped out of the room as fast as her legs would carry her, hampered only by her damned high heels. At a loss for somewhere no one would come looking for her, she followed her feet in the direction of the stables.

  Maybe that was for the best. Humans might keep letting her down, but the horses wouldn’t.

  The tears fell as Susannah walked, but at least there was no one around to witness them.

  Chapter 11

  This wasn’t an official visit by any means, nor was it even strictly necessary. Billie Jean’s first check-up had revealed the sprain to be healing nicely, and the lovely old girl had already been out for some light trotting around the paddock with the grooms.

  Tess just happened to be in the area. Which wasn’t hard when the Midsummer Estate comprised most of the area.

  So what was a fifteen-minute detour when everything was just a drive away? Tess could call it excellent customer service for a new client that they really wanted to keep sweet. Tess was simply following through on her promise to herself to further her career to its maximum potential.

  Yeah. Not exactly convincing.

  She was already at the stables, and noticing a lack of activity. None of the estate staff seemed to be in evidence. Tess heaved a sigh of relief. At least this way no one would question her unscheduled visit.

  She called out to Billie Jean on her way in, scuffing her wellies against the rough cement floor and kicking a few strands of hay with every step. Even though the stables were immaculate in every way, there was simply no containing hay to neat bales for each stall. Like glitter, some always got loose and found a way into every crack and crevice.

  “Hey, girl.” Tess patted the horse on her smooth nose. She got a whinny in response. It was only when Tess set her bag on the ground that she heard the snuffling sound. That was no horse. “You’re looking good there, Billie Jean. Quiet in here today.”

  Nothing. Whoever made the sound had gone completely silent now. Maybe frozen in fear.

  “I’m coming into the stall now,” Tess said in her most “soothe the savage beast” tone. “Let’s take one more look at that fine leg of yours.”

  The stall door swung outwards, the hinges perfectly oiled so there was barely a sound. Tess counted to three before stepping inside, Billie Jean swishing her tail and ignoring her all the while.

  “You found me.”

  Tess wished she was more surprised to see Susannah sitting on the groomer’s stool with her head in her hands. The clothes were especially fancy, a dress with one of those tiny jackets over the top and shoes with heels that could easily stab a person. Not that practical for strutting around the stables.

  “I wasn’t looking,” Tess said. “I really did just come to check on Billie Jean here. I can go—”

  “No, no,” Susannah wiped her face with delicate fingers, sporting a manicure on her short, neatly kept nails. “You’ve already seen the worst of it, so we may as well just get through the awkward part.”

  “I’m sorry to intrude, really. Not the intruding type, as a rule.”

  “Apart from when you’re trespassing, of course.”

  “Right. Apart from that. Again, not intentional,” Tess said, just to correct the record. “Must have been another one of my wrong turns. Happens to the best of us. Just like having a cry in private.”

  Susannah smirked. Her mascara had run a little. It gave her that air of a tragic heroine. Her hair had been pinned up at some earlier point, but blonde strands had come loose all over the place. “Artfully mussed” looked annoyingly good on her.

  “Is it anything you need help with? If you were worrying about your horse, she really is fine.”

  “How would you know? You just got here,” Susannah wrapped her arms around herself. “Unless she was fine when you checked up on her the other day. Which rather begs the question of what you’re doing here now?”

  “Just being overcautious. First official patient and all that.”

  “Or did you think she was healing too quickly? Hmm? Maybe if you just eased off a bit, she’d show some more symptoms and you could prove your value a second time?”

  Tess actually took a step back at that. “If you think for one minute I’d hurt an animal, that I’d prolong her pain by one second…just to… That’s horrible. I can’t believe you’d accuse anyone of something like that, let alone me, when I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

  There was a sort of thundering in her ears. Tess couldn’t remember the last time she was so angry.

  “Oh, come on. I wasn’t insulting your character or anything—”

  “No, you were. That’s exactly what you were doing.” Tess wasn’t on the back foot now. She marched down the side of the stall until she got right in Susannah’s face. Her very shocked face. “You think because you sit up there with your money and your land that everyone else must be out to…what? Rob you? That we’re all just peasants and criminals here to sully your lovely existence?”

  “Now that’s a little melodramatic. I thought you were only too pleased to be part of the staff around here.”

  There was that condescending tone again, that posh little scoff. It didn’t even matter that Tess knew Susannah was born to all this, that she probably couldn’t help her default position of looking down on everyone around her. Part of Tess felt very sure that if Susannah would just try, she might even pass for a normal human being.

  “I might not have a title or two to my name, but I’m not going to stand here and be disrespected. I worked hard to get where I am. I studied and I put in the hours, and I went to a top university. I built a vet practice in London out of almost nothing, and even when it was practically stolen away from me, I still managed to work my way into starting fresh up here. I provide a service—one you need, by the way—and I charge a fair rate for it. That doesn’t make me your staff, or your servant, or anything of the kind.”

  “Hey, hey!” Susannah raised her hands in surrender. “I was… Well, I’d say I was joking but that’s not quite right. Oh, stop glaring at me like that. You’re quite fearsome when you lose your temper, Miss Robinson.”

  “Doctor Robinson.”

  “And here you were telling me off about how titles don’t matter.”

  Tess glared. She was still too mad to concede the point.

  “I had a bad afternoon, okay?” Susannah said. “Caused by people being their worst selves all over the place. Greedy, selfish, destructive. So I got myself into a bit of a state after it all and came out here to get some good company and peace until they all left. Wh
ich you just interrupted with that perfect timing of yours.”

  “I’d prefer an actual apology.” Tess folded her arms over her zipped-up padded jacket. “If you know how, that is.”

  “Oh, would you? And I’d like the council to stop denying me planning permission because they’re all in the pocket of my sister-in-law, but we can’t have everything.”

  “Can’t we?”

  “No. Are you really ready to fall out with me and cancel this contract before it’s even come into force?” Susannah stood up then, getting in Tess’s face. “Do you really want to go back to Margo and Adam and tell them you blew it? Again?”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Get someone else to do your dirty work for you? Well, I won’t quit, so you’re going to have to get your hands sullied this time and fire me.”

  “Oh, don’t be stupid. Why would I fire you?” Susannah threw her hands into the air and turned away. “You’re one of the few things around here that I don’t hate.”

  Tess felt like she had just run into a plate-glass window she didn’t know was there. “Oh, so now you’re joking?”

  “What?”

  “You’re still trying to be funny? Because you have been nothing but rude to me since I got here. Even when I was fixing up your horse. Even just now when I was asking if you were okay!”

  Susannah turned back to face the fight. “Fine! I’m sorry! Actually, properly sorry. I’m so used to being on the defensive, especially lately. It seeps into every word and every thought, and suddenly everything comes out in raging bitch.”

  “Wow. That was some apology.” Tess risked reaching out to pat Susannah on the arm. “I wasn’t blaming you for everything that’s wrong in the world, but I guess I got my answer on whether you’re okay or not.”

  “Crying in a horse’s stall really does provide its own answer on that one. Would you rather we took this up to the house? The clear-up should be done. I’m assuming you don’t have anything on this evening if you’re coming up here this late in the day?”

  Tess wasn’t quite sure how she got from a rage fit to a drinks invitation, so she took a moment to pat the horse’s back, shamelessly playing for time. “I’m sorry too. For my tone, although some of the content still stands.”

  “Sounds like a truce to me. Besides, we need to get along, if for no other reason than my horses like you.” She glanced at her favourite. “You’re a damn traitor, Billie Jean.”

  That got a snort from the horse.

  They stepped out of the stall, and Susannah closed the heavy wooden door behind them.

  “These are some fantastic stables,” Tess said. “When are you due to bring in more horses?”

  “Going to look at a few in the next couple of weeks and take in as many as I can before I have to expand the facilities.”

  “I’m guessing that’s what today was about? If you’re that upset?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so,” Susannah said as they made their way up the path to the house. Only Tess’s Land Rover was still parked in the drive. “It looks like we have the place to ourselves, at least.”

  Instead of the grand front entrance, she led them around back to the kitchen door. There were signs of stacked trays and crates in the corners, no doubt tidied away after whatever event had been going on. It looked more like a restaurant kitchen than anything that belonged in a family home. A dishwasher hummed in the background.

  “Shall we just sit ourselves in here?” Tess asked, nervous about going any further into the house. Her heart rate had returned to normal since her outburst, but she wasn’t entirely confident in how settled things were between them. “Saves me intruding on your private quarters.”

  Well, that didn’t come out quite right. They both audibly suppressed a snicker.

  “You can intrude on my wine stash instead. I’m sure there’s some left after the gathering. Unless you’d prefer a beer?”

  “I do know a little about wine, you know.” Tess took a seat on one of the high white stools that lined the kitchen island, a great big slab of chrome. It was definitely not a kitchen from a stuffy, old period drama, and that made her curious about the rest of the house. “But if you had something you think I’d like in the ale department…”

  “Hmm.” Susannah considered her for a moment. “Wait here.” She disappeared out of the kitchen, leaving Tess to consider the scale of it. The rest of the house certainly looked big from the outside, but it must be downright massive. Ten, maybe fourteen bedrooms. It was the kind of stately home people rented out to get married in. Except for how there were people living in it.

  “Did you get lost?” Tess couldn’t help teasing when Susannah returned. It always seemed to deflate the tension between them. “Although I can see why you’d need a map even if you live here.”

  “It’s not that big, really. Well, relatively, yes. You just…get used to it, I suppose. Here.” Susannah handed over a bottle with a handwritten label.

  “What’s this?”

  “Something locally brewed. Jimmy used to find the most ridiculous brews all over the place. I haven’t really had cause to dip into them lately.”

  “Oh, if this is something special, I couldn’t—”

  “Please. It makes me happy to know someone will drink them. I try to push them off on Dave, but he’s a Pilsner man. Whatever that means.”

  “I think it’s like being a shiraz person, or something like that.” Tess fished for her keys and pulled the bottle opener free. “I come prepared.”

  “In the Brownies, were you?”

  “Yeah, and…?” Tess puffed out her chest. “Brownies, Guides, Rangers, and I was a Leader for a while.”

  “Were you really?” Susannah cocked an eyebrow. “You forgot about the Rainbows, by the way. Did you skip that stage?”

  “Nope, they didn’t have those when I was the right age.” Tess sipped the ale. It was slightly creamy, heavy on the sediment as it dragged across her tongue. Very nice indeed. “What makes you think I’m not the type?”

  “Oh no, you are. With your outdoors gear and all those practical skills. Did they have a junior vet badge then?”

  “No.”

  “Someone told me once it’s harder to get into a veterinary medicine degree here than it is for human medicine. Is that really true?”

  Tess nodded. “It certainly used to be. Same for dentistry, I think. Something about fewer universities offering courses. It drives up competition. I was so lucky to get into Glasgow.”

  “I bet luck had nothing to do with it.”

  “Did you…?” Tess stopped.

  “Study anything worthwhile? God no. I scraped my BA in History from Durham, but they were glad to see the back of me. I do think sometimes about trying to learn something more seriously. I’d rather listen to the experts on most subjects. Business, though? I’ve paid my dues there. That’s all on instinct, and I learned on the job.” Susannah swirled the ice in her glass. Something clear.

  “Didn’t feel like an ale, then?” Tess asked.

  “Can’t stand the stuff. Nothing a splash of vodka can’t cure, though, so I went with a classic.”

  Tess had another sip and let the silence settle between them. It was almost comfortable, tucked away from the rest of the world like this. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked just as they had lulled themselves into a sort of calm.

  “Just the usual. Old straight white men trying to stand in my way. Apparently it’s not what you do, but who you know around here.”

  Tess couldn’t hold back a snort.

  “Okay,” Susannah continued. “I have a certain amount of privilege of my own, but seriously. I want to give people jobs. I want to give some animals a nice gentle retirement. And I don’t want to be stuck in this giant doll’s house with nothing meaningful to do. Is that so awful?”

  “No, that’s not awful at all.”<
br />
  “You know, when you’re not shouting at me, you’re actually quite a nice person, Tess.”

  “I’m starting to warm up to you, Susannah.” Tess dragged the name out like they were making playground taunts. “And here I was worried I wouldn’t make any new friends when I moved here.”

  “Right.” Susannah downed her drink in one. “Who couldn’t do with more friends?”

  Chapter 12

  Susannah surprised herself by almost bounding out of bed in the morning. Usually after a huge crying session and a few drinks she’d have been dreading the sunshine, but the Scottish weather had gifted a cool grey day to ease her in.

  It helped, of course, that Tess didn’t stay too late, and they didn’t drink all that much in the end. Even better—probably those doctorly instincts at play—Tess had insisted they both drank plenty of water and reminded Susannah to set out a couple of painkillers by the bed, just in case. It all added up to enough energy for a session on the cross trainer and a spot of yoga to start the day.

  Hopping into the shower, one of her favourite modernised parts of the house, Susannah emptied her mind as the cascade of water splashed down on her. It was cleansing and massaging in one, and some days she never wanted to get out from under the spray.

  Her mind finally zoned back in on some detail or other, and that set her thinking about Tess and how reluctantly she’d made her excuses last night. Of course, Waffles had needed to be walked, and he’d been with Margo since lunchtime, but even so, Tess had been slow to actually get out the door.

  Susannah leaned into the flow of water. When exactly was the last time someone had seemed to genuinely want to be in her company? Especially this past year when she’d been wrapped up in grief and stress—even less approachable than usual.

  “Someone got a good night’s sleep!” Finn declared as Susannah walked into the office, dressed in her one of her smartest suits, a navy pinstripe that always made her feel like she should be making bankers or politicians weep. She should have gone with it for the presentation yesterday.