Heaven And Hell novel Chapter 57

"Clear as crystal," he said with a laugh. "Though I don't think our grandmother will ever change her mind --"

"Promise it!"

"Okay, okay...I swear, upon my honour, to persuade Grandmama to let the idea of you marrying Richard go."

Emerson gave a curt nod, ending the discussion about Glasgow and Richard Wesley.

Obviously, when the siblings bet, they bet seriously. Why couldn't they just bet a pack of candy or something? Or maybe, if one of them lost, they'd do a humiliating little dance. But no. This was intense.

"And what about you, Keller?" Emerson queried, suddenly looking better than her grim version seconds ago. "If I win, you'll buy me a white chocolate mocha latte. God knows I need that hot drink. I've been craving it. Grandmama just won't let me drink it. Says it's vile for me. Anyway" -- she breathed with a happy sigh -- "what's your wager?"

I tapped the riding crop on my thigh. "Um..."

"I know what my bet for her will be," Michael slinked in with a roguish smirk.

"And what's that, Michael?" Emerson asked.

"If I win and you lose, you, my dear sister, will 'hug' Richard Wesley" -- Em grumbled -- "and Keller...she'll give me a long, slow and passionate kiss. Unwilling or not, if I win, she has no choice."

His sister smothered a laugh.

I wanted to smother her.

And Michael.

"You wish!" I yelled.

"Ah, ah, ah," he said, clucking his tongue. "My rules when I win."

Hmmph. He didn't say "if" he won, but "when" he won. He and his sisters really were related.

I groaned. I had no choice. I nodded angrily. This made him grin happily like a boy with a new shiny toy. I liked him but I did not want to kiss him in front of his sister!

I exhaled through my nose, sharpening my gaze at Emerson. "If I win, I want you to join me in kicking Michael's ass."

Emerson smirked. "Done."

"Ouch," our topic said, touching his heart. "To think that my own sister and fiancée would go against me."

I clapped my hands. "All right. Those are the bets."

Emerson nodded. "Correct. Now, rules are: no hitting, no pushing past each other, no distracting, i.e. cheating. This will be a dirty game because we'll be racing in the family's forest grounds, but it isn't a dirty game entirely if cheating is not involved."

Her eyes sparkled. "First one who gets sight of the old, supposedly haunted cottage" -- haunted? This made me freeze -- "has to quickly run around it once, get down from your horse, go inside the cottage, and pick up any reminder of it -- chuck of wood from an antique, an old trinket, cloth, anything from inside that place. Whoever comes back here, in this area, quickly wins the game. Understood?"

She looked at her brother and me, expectantly.

"Got it," Michael replied, moving Onyx front and center.

Hey! Tessie didn't plan on tossing me! Actually, she was leading me smoothly. From a distance, I could see Michael in the lead, while Emerson was a few yards away from me. I was pretty much catching up. My horse was pretty fast!

It was like Tessie was telling me smugly, "Dumb horse, am I?"

"You're not so bad after all," I told her as loudly as I could.

The wind was so thick and cold but I laughed joyously, finally getting the hang of riding. "Hyah!" I nudged her with my legs, urging her to run faster.

Emerson didn't say where the cottage was, but that was part of the challenge. She said before that it was hard to find, even she, who had lived in Rossington Park all her life, got lost. Plus, no one had really come to the cottage for years now and lots of shrubs had grown around it.

But my horse seemed like she knew where she was going.

"Come on, help me find the cottage, Tessie!" I yelled.

In an instant, as if she understood me, my horse turned a sharp right, making me lose sight of Michael and Emerson. I thought at first that Tessie was just going somewhere random and might practically lead me to the main road of the countryside, but then, after taking sharp turns and crossing a pretty, but mossy, lake, a cottage came into my line of vision.

I laughed wildly, triumphantly. "You're brilliant!" I told Tessie.

She whinnied at my praise. I pulled on her reins, squeezing my legs on her sides to make her stop. She obeyed, halting. I was about to go down, when I felt nothing on my legs. They were numb.

Oh, jeez.

When I tried to move one leg, I winced, suddenly feeling something sharp on my inner thighs. I closed my eyes.