Read Online The Palomino Pony Runs Free by Olivia Tuffin - Free Book Online

Lily would always be safe. Who knew what the future held for Santa now…

    Just then, a huge cream and black lorry purred into the yard. Jumping up, frowning, Georgia shielded her eyes against the late afternoon sun, trying to work out who it was.
    A woman hopped out of the cab, smartlydressed in checked breeches. A winged Pegasus and the words Flying Horses Transport were emblazoned on the back of her jacket. She looked as though she meant business. Flicking through a notebook in her hand she turned to Melanie. “Is this Redgrove Farm?”
    “Yes, it is,” Melanie said, sounding a little cool.
    Undeterred, the woman carried on. “We’re picking up a pony for a Mr Ryan Cartwright from this address. Is she ready?”
    Melanie looked appalled. “Ready?” she said in a horrified voice. “You mean Ryan has sold Santa?”
    The woman threw her hands up. “Look, I don’t know,” she said, clearly exasperated. “We were booked to pick up a mare and drop her at a new address, that’s all I was told. I don’t care much for the ins and outs.”
    Narrowing her eyes, Melanie looked at the woman. “Can you at least tell me where the ponyis meant to be going?”
    The woman consulted her phone. “Some fancy dealers,” she said, clearly not wanting to give too much away.
    Georgia heard Melanie draw in her breath. She couldn’t believe Santa was being sold, just like that.
    “You can’t take the mare,” Melanie said firmly. “Not least because nobody knows where she is!”
    The woman scowled. “So you mean to tell me that I’ve come all this way for nothing?”
    “Yes, I’m afraid it would seem so,” Melanie replied, gesturing towards the policeman still waiting in the yard. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got more important things to deal with.”
    Once the woman had climbed back in her cab, muttering angrily under her breath, and the huge lorry had manoeuvred its way back out ofthe yard gates, Melanie turned to Georgia. “I’ve had an idea,” she said. “If we can just get hold of Will, and I can explain my plan to him, then maybe he will feel reassured enough to come back to Redgrove. Do you mind finishing off the evening stables? I’ve got to go inside and make some calls.”
    Still feeling shaken, but pleased to occupy herself, Georgia set to work. Despite the drama, Wilson, Callie and Lily still needed attending to – their straw beds had to be laid for the night and their feeds making up. She wondered what Melanie had up her sleeve. Whatever it was, she hoped it would mean Will could somehow keep Santa. But more than that, she hoped that Will, and his beautiful kind mare, were safe.

C HAPTER E LEVEN
    T he night passed with no sign of Will or his pony. After going home, leaving Melanie sitting at the kitchen table, Georgia kept her phone right next to her bed just in case Melanie texted her, as she had promised to do if there was any news. But, despite waking up at least five times in the night and checking her phone, there was no message. Eventually, early next morning, and unable tosleep, Georgia sat with her mum and Pip in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea and waiting until she could head over to the stables.
    It was the day they should have been leaving for the Horse of the Year Show, but it was almost certain that the dark-green horse lorry wouldn’t be going now. Georgia had been so busy worrying about Will and Santa that, for the first time in ages, she hadn’t given the Show a second thought. It was only because her mum mentioned it to her as she left the house that it was at the forefront of her mind now. Yet it seemed so trivial compared to what Will must be going through now.
    The atmosphere was sombre at the yard as Georgia pushed her bike through the gates. There was still no familiar dark-brown head in the stable next to Lily’s. Georgia had started to pack up the lorry in preparation a couple of days before, but as the day wore on and there was still no sign ofWill, it looked likely