Silver Spurs Read Online Free PDF Page A

into the bright sunlight of the clear June day. A horse nickered, and a fly buzzed past her nose, but she ignored them both.
    Disaster had struck.
    She couldn’t imagine how she’d survive the next couple of months with Melissa Tolbert hanging out at their barn.
    Tori’s eyes brimmed with tears, and she swiped at them with the back of her hand. “She’s going to ruin our whole summer. She acts like I don’t exist at school … or anywhere.”
    â€œI know.” Kate trudged over to a stack of straw bales and sank down on one. “But it looks like we’re stuck with her.”
    â€œMaybe she’ll find another place to keep her horse.” Tori plunked down on the bale next to Kate.
    â€œYeah.” Kate tore off a piece of straw and stuck it between her teeth. “Except that means we’ll lose the money. Mom’s pretty excited that we have four boarders, but we need more. Hopefully someone new will come in soon.”
    â€œMan, this stinks. Of all the girls at school, we had to land Melissa.”
    Kate leaned back on her elbows, enjoying the sun warming her face. “Other girls she hangs out with are just as bad.”
    â€œI know. At least Melissa’s the only one who came. I sure hope none of her friends decide to hang out here with her.”
    â€œYeah. So what do we do now?”
    Tori tipped her head to the side. “We can’t let her treat us like her slaves.”
    Kate sighed. “She’ll be ordering us around, expecting us to wait on her.”
    â€œWill your mom make us do that?”
    â€œI’m not sure, but we’re supposed to be grooms and muck stalls. If Mom asks us to do something for her, we might have to.”
    Tori groaned. “Yuck.”
    â€œI know.” Even the idea made Kate angry. She tried to shove the anger away. She needed to keep a good attitude. From the beginning she’d known people might come that she wouldn’t like, but she’d never envisioned Melissa. Maybe this boarding stable idea wasn’t so great after all.
    Just then Rufus raced around the corner chasing a stray cat. The big dog dashed inside the barn after the cat, his deep-throated bark echoing off the walls.
    Kate and Tori sprang to their feet and ran after him. Kate cupped her hands around her mouth. “Rufus! Come back here, you bad dog.”
    Tori reached the door a second before Kate. “That’s not one of your cats, is it?”
    â€œNo. He knows to leave our cats alone. But how’d he get loose? Mom tied him up when the horse trailer got here. She didn’t want him scaring a horse.”
    A girl’s scream pierced the air, followed by a thud of hooves hitting a wooden surface.
    Kate’s heart raced faster than her feet had seconds before. Another high scream sent chills up her spine.
    Melissa.

Chapter Four
    Kate slowed to a halt a few feet inside the barn door, and Tori bumped into her. Kate grunted. While they’d been outside talking, Melissa must have turned her gelding into the indoor arena.
    The cat had leaped over the half wall separating the arena from the alleyway that ran along the front of the stalls, and Rufus had followed it inside. Melissa’s big Thoroughbred gelding, Mocha, galloped around the enclosed area, bucking and lashing out with his hooves.
    Melissa stood in the center, gripping a lead rope and screaming, “Get out of here, you horrid dog. Leave my horse alone!” She lunged at the dog and swung the rope hard as he raced by. Rufus totally ignored the horse but stayed close to the cat’s tail. The rope snaked out and caught him hard on the hindquarters, and Rufus let out a yip.
    â€œHey, stop hitting my dog!” Kate ran through the open half door into the arena. Mocha raced around the corner at the far end, fury making his legs pump faster.
    Kate would have liked nothing better than to get her hands on that rope and … She checked her runaway