Showjumpers Read Online Free PDF

some scrambled eggs and was about to sit down to eat alone when Damien Danforth burst in through the dining-room door. He was dressed in jodhpurs and long boots and his cheeks were ruddy from the fresh air.
    “Hello!” he said, looking rather surprised to see Georgie. “Are you still here?”
    “Of course I’m still here!” Georgie replied. “Where have you been?”
    “Oh, we’ve been for a morning ride,” Damien said, heading straight over to the buffet. “Frances!” he yelled out. “Got any of those field mushrooms?”
    A moment later the rest of the party came rushing in. Andrew as usual didn’t bother to speak to Georgie, Tori and Arden came in giggling, and then Kennedy followed them. When she saw Georgie, her face dropped.
    “Are you still here?”
    Georgie frowned. “Yes! Still here. Why does everyone keep asking me that?” She looked behind Kennedy through the open doorway. “Where’s James? Is he with you?”
    A look of dark delight appeared on Kennedy’s face. “You don’t know?” she said. “He didn’t tell you?”
    “What are you talking about?” Georgie asked.
    Kennedy purred with pleasure, “Oh, it’s too fabulous!”
    Georgie suddenly felt awfully vulnerable. Kennedy clearly knew something that she didn’t.
    “James has gone,” said Damien.
    “Gone where?” Georgie was confused. Was he down at the kennels with his father? Out on the estate?
    “He’s gone to New York with his dad,” Damien said. And then he added in a gentler tone. “I’m sorry, Georgie, I thought he’d taken you with him.”
    “Well, when will he be back?” Georgie asked.
    “He’s not coming back,” Kennedy said. “He’s gone with Dad and then he’s going straight to Blainford.” She gave Georgie a look of mock pity. “Looks like he’s left you behind.”
    Georgie couldn’t believe it. “But there are still three more days until we’re due back at school. He can’t just leave me…”
    “He just did,” Kennedy said. “This is so typical of James. Dumping you and making it our problem!”
    Georgie would have burst into tears, but she didn’t want to give Kennedy the satisfaction. Instead, she put down her breakfast plate and left the room. She was halfway down the hall when she heard Damien calling after her.
    “Are you OK?” he asked as he ran to catch her up.
    “Not really.” Georgie shook her head, still struggling to hold back the tears. “Why did he go off like that without saying anything?”
    Damien shrugged. “He was in a weird mood this morning. He said he had to get out of here and he’d tell me all about it when we got back to school. Then he left.”
    Back in her room, Georgie sat down on the bed in despair. How could James abandon her at his house with Kennedy and her stuck-up friends? It was so unbelievably awful she couldn’t help but think there must be some mistake. She couldn’t believe that James would do this.
    “That’s right, he’s gone to New York with his father,” Patricia Kirkwood confirmed. Georgie had looked everywhere and finally found James’ stepmother in the library. However, Mrs Kirkwood seemed to show scant interest in Georgie’s predicament.
    “It’s just…” Georgie hesitated, “Well, he brought me here and now he’s gone and, umm, I’m still here.”
    Patricia Kirkwood stood up and began to rearrange flowers in a vase on the mantelpiece. “So I see,” she said flatly. “You’re welcome to stay of course,” she added. “I’m sure you can get a lift back to Blainford on the weekend with Kennedy and the others when they go.”
    “Thank you,” Georgie managed to stammer out, “only I wasn’t expecting to be, well, abandoned by James.”
    Patricia Kirkwood froze, and suddenly her focus became quite resolutely fixed on the vase in front of her. “To be honest, Georgina, we weren’t really expecting James to bring home a girl… like you…”
    She paused to withdraw a dead rose from the vase. “There’s a certain calibre