Luckpenny Land Read Online Free PDF Page B

her but he was not proving an easy fish to hook.
    ‘I was just giving Bonnie some much needed exercise and realised I hadn’t seen you since the lambing supper.’
    For all there was a coolness to the April breeze, Jack stood with his shirt sleeves rolled above the elbow, hands thrust in his trouser pockets, allowing Katherine ample opportunity to admire his muscles. He worked hard, so they were worth seeing. ‘I’ve been busy. Why, have you missed me?’
    Now she was thrown into a quandary. If she said that she had, it might make her look cheap. But if she said no, he’d wonder why she’d bothered to mention it in the first place. She decided to play it cool. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Jack Lawson. It was nothing more than idle curiosity. Who else is there around here that isn’t already half dead?’
    They both laughed at that, aware of Kath’s frustration with rural life and oft-pronounced intention of leaving the quiet fells to head for the bright lights.
    ‘What about Meg? I thought you and she were inseparable.’
    ‘So we are. When I can get her away from that sanctimonious old father of hers,’ Kath agreed, sobering instantly. ‘They do worry me, the Turner family. How on earth they managed to produce such a sweetie as Meg is quite beyond me. They are really quite dreadful with her.’
    ‘You seem to find her brother amenable enough.’
    She glanced down at Jack, startled for a moment as she remembered allowing Dan to take her outside at the supper. Something she had almost instantly regretted. He had smelled of beer and cow dung. She shrugged slender shoulders, a gesture that managed to look elegant even in the old green sweater she wore. ‘He has a fancy for me, that’s all. Not to be taken seriously. I can handle him.’
    ‘As you can most men,’ came the soft reply, and Kath glanced swiftly at him again, to see if he was just the teeniest bit jealous, but his head was down, concentrating on the horse. She looked at his hand instead, large and tanned, the skin rough and calloused from hard work on the farm, held flat now under Bonnie’s soft muzzle. ‘Not too many sugar lumps, they’ll make her fat,’ and they both laughed.
    ‘Where are you off to?’ he asked, as she gathered the reins ready to move on.
    She walked the pony round in a circle, aware of his eyes upon her. ‘Over Coppergill Pass. I often go there on a fine afternoon.’ Hazel eyes regarded blue for a moment in silence.
    ‘So long then,’ he said, sounding very like a gangster in one of those new American movies she and Meg occasionally went to see in Kendal.
    Kath urged Bonnie into action and with an airy wave of a hand trotted out through the gate Jack obediently held open for her. He stood watching her go, eyes on the delightful up and down motion of her rear as rider and pony headed off up the lane. It was the neatest little bottom he’d seen in a long time and he almost regretted not offering to go with her.
     
    It was late afternoon before Meg set out, striding away up the fields towards Brockbarrow Wood. More a copse than a wood, the stand of trees stood high on the fellside, flanking the sides of a small mountain tarn, dark and skeletal against the glistening water. It was her favourite place even when the wind cut through like a knife. But today spring was in the air and her heart felt uplifted by the freedom of an hour out alone where she could sit and think without fear of being disturbed.
    No one saw her go, not that she’d have cared if they had. She was entitled to a break she told herself. Meg loved walking and was never afraid to be alone. She had often thought it would be good to have a dog at her heels, but the only dogs the farm owned were working animals that belonged to her father and her brother Dan. They were treated well as there was nothing more important to a good shepherd than his dog, but they were never allowed into the house and spent their time in the yard or barn when not working. Meg felt