The Wicked North (Hearts Touched By Fire Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

follow—like Caroline, though she wouldn’t be up yet. He grinned. She was typical of the wealthy girls he knew, wasting all morning on their beauty sleep. Military life had changed Jack from ever wasting the day away in sleep. Reveille early every morning, drilled into him for the last three years, eliminated any chance of him sleeping late.
    Reaching the first of the trees, Jack slowed Windswept to a walk, but the stallion shook his head, sidestepping, his ears twitching.
    “Whoa boy,” he said in soothing tones, petting the horse’s neck. Looking beyond his mount toward the stream, he saw another horse and rider. Sun speckled through the tree leaves, blinding his vision. Squinting, he only saw white, no doubt from the horse, but the rider was a blur.
    At a slower pace, he went closer, eyes wary. Could it be Caroline?
    At the water’s bank, a white horse sipped water as its rider sat straight, looking away from him. A lady, dressed in a blue riding habit, sitting sidesaddle, her skirts draping the left side of the horse. Her back was upright from her corset. Prim and proper, her small pillbox hat at a slant on her head, a hatpin keeping the blue contraption in place. Beneath it, a spill of copper-colored curls fell across her shoulder. Emma.
    As Windswept’s hooves crunched on the sticks, she glanced in Jack’s direction. He saw the surprise on her face as her hands drew back, pulling her horse’s head up and back stepping.
    “Why, Miss Emma,” he drawled, riding closer. “What a surprise to find you up so early.”
    Her eyebrows furrowed. “Mr. Fontaine, what are you doing here?”
    Jack laughed as he halted Windswept parallel to her. Tilting his hat back to view her better, he smiled. “I do believe there’s a horse race this morning.”
    “Yes, I suppose there is,” she replied. Her gaze darted around. She looked spooked.
    He eyed her carefully. Emma was stunning and poised in the way she sat on her horse. Her seat was perfect, and her hold on the mare displayed confidence.
    Her mare was slightly smaller than his horse, with the dish-shaped muzzle unique to her breed. Emma sat on an Arabian, the same breed as Jack’s horse. He was impressed. Windswept’s nostrils flared, his ears twitched as he tried to get closer to the mare. Jack smiled. Emma’s mare was in heat. He could use that to help him in the race.
    “Beautiful horse,” he commented. He wanted Emma’s attention on him. Frankly, she looked ready to take off and he didn’t know why.
    She blinked at him. “Yes, she is.”
    “An Arabian?”
    “Yes,” she answered as his horse sidestepped closer. “Her name is Angel.” Her head turned toward the house.
    Jack looked and saw other horses saddled and hitched at the rail. Charles, his cousin Billy and several others were coming. But a glance back at Emma made him tilt his head at her panicked look.
    “Not to worry,” he reassured her. “I have control over Windswept.”
    She blinked rapidly and looked at his horse, as if she hadn’t seen it before. What was wrong with her?
    “You need to leave me,” she stated frantically.
    “Why would you say that?”
    “You can’t be here with me, alone,” she hissed.
    This was the liveliest he had ever seen her—and the longest time he had seen her since first arriving. But she was correct. He shouldn’t be alone with her, here by the trees, hidden from view. Society and her family, especially Caroline, would find it unacceptable.
    He grimaced. On horseback and fully clothed, he couldn’t have “compromised” her if he’d wanted to. Jack laughed to himself. As if she’d let him get that close.
    “Why do you not like me, Emma?” He’d say anything to get her to stay a moment longer. There was something about her that drew him to her. What, he didn’t know, but he hoped if he talked to her, he might find out.
    She looked back at him and shook her head, appearing amazed at his question. “I don’t dislike you.”
    “But you avoid