Read Online Kentucky Rich by Fern Michaels - Free Book Online Page A

be gentle. Why am I telling you this, you already know it?”
    â€œI do, but it doesn’t work for me. And Dancer is my favorite. This big guy is so highly valued as a sire he’s made the leading sires list for his progeny over three hundred times. One of his foals, Lead Dance, was undefeated. His next foal goes to SunStar Farms in Virginia. I heard they’re going to be paying some big dollars for the foal.”
    â€œI’d like to talk to you more, Danny, but I have other stalls to get ready,” Nealy said, her body going all jittery at what the groom had just said. “You’re sure about his foal going to SunStar Farms?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œDo they come to pick up the foal, or does Miss Maud transport it to Virginia?”
    â€œIt’s one of those either/ors if you know what I mean. SunStar does a lot of business with Miss Maud. Can’t say I much care for the man, but he’s good with the horses. Runs a respectable breeding farm. Has two sons if I recall rightly. Met them once or twice. The old man is the boss; those boys of his never say a word. You best get a move on, Miss Nealy. Starbright is heading this way, and right behind him is Perfect Pa.”
    â€œYes sir, right away, Danny.”
    Nealy worked tirelessly until she heard the bell at the end of the barn chime the hour. Time to head up to the house to wash up and sit down for her lessons. Emmie would be home soon. She looked forward to story hour, with milk and cookies. Nealy sighed. One day the lessons would be behind her, and so would the office routine. Now that she was eighteen, she would be of age in three years. The day she turned twenty-one, she would no longer have to fear her father. But would she still live in fear that Emmie’s father would somehow find them and reach out for her? As unlikely as that was, she still couldn’t rid herself of the fear. When, she wondered, would she ever feel safe?
    She thought about her brothers then. What were they doing? Did they ever think of her? Were they better off without her? Surely they must miss her a little. Now that she was out of their lives they would have to take up the slack and work harder and put in longer hours. Or did they feel getting rid of her was worth getting their reputations back? Probably so.
    Nealy’s shoulders slumped. Everything happens for a reason, she told herself as she headed for the bathroom to wash up.

5
    Nealy tiptoed down the steps, feeling her way in the early-morning darkness. In the kitchen she reached for her jacket, opened the door quietly, and slipped out. This was her favorite time of day—right before the sun rose. She wrapped her arms about her chest to ward off the November cold as she walked out to the road, the same road she’d stumbled onto one rainy day five years earlier. God had been watching over her and Emmie that day. A day she would never forget as long as she lived. She threw her arms into the air and whispered, “Thank You, thank You!”
    Perched on the split-rail fence, she strained to see in the darkness. She wanted to burn it all into her memory so she would never, ever, forget it. Not that she would. All she had to do was close her eyes, and she could see everything. She knew every rock, every pebble, every blade of grass on Blue Diamond Farms. She knew each one of the eighty-seven employees by name, knew their families, knew about their secrets, their hopes, and their plans. They were her family now, a family she loved and cherished. The horses were part of her life, too. God, how she loved those magnificent creatures. She closed her eyes, trying to calculate the number of nights she’d spent in the barns, sleeping on straw and covering herself with horse blankets when there was a problem with one of the Thoroughbreds. Those were treasured times because the horses trusted her, recognized her voice and her touch.
    Life was wonderful.
    Years ago she’d accepted the fact