Read September Morning for Free Online

thoroughly immoral. That leaves you out of the running.”
    Nan sighed miserably. “I always have been.”
    “Blake used to pick us up after cheerleading practice, remember,” Kathryn said, eyeing the gazebo longingly as they passed it. “He still thinks of us chewing bubble gum and giggling.”
    “I hate bubble gum,” Nan pouted.
    “So do I,” Phillip agreed. “It leaves a bad…well, hello,” he broke off, grinning at Blake.
    The older man stopped in their path, dressed in a sophisticated gray business suit, with a spotless white silk shirt and a patterned tie. He looked every inch the business magnate, polished and dignified.
    “Good morning,” Blake said coolly. He smiled at Nan. “How's your mother?”
    “Just fine, Blake,” Nan sighed, going close to catch his arm in her slender fingers. “Don't you have time to go riding with us?”
    “I wish I did, little one,” he told her. “But I'm already late for a conference.”
    Kathryn turned away and started for the barn. “I'm going ahead,” she called over her shoulder. “Last one in the saddle's a greenhorn!”
    She almost ran the rest of the way to the barn, shocked at her own behavior. She felt strange. Sick. Hurt. Empty. The sight of Nan clinging to Blake's arm had set off a rage within her. She'd wanted to slap her friend of many years, just for touching him. She didn't understand herself at all.
    Absently, she went into the tackroom and started getting together bits and bridles and a saddle. She barely noticed when the lithe chestnut gelding was saddled and ready to mount. He pranced nervously, as if he sensed her uneasy mood and was reacting to it.
    Nan joined her as she was leading Sundance out into the bright morning.
    “Where's Phil?” Kathryn asked, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.
    Nan shrugged curiously. “Blake dragged him off to the office for some kind of council of war. At least, that's what it sounded like.” She sighed. “Blake seemed very angry with him.” Her face brightened. “Almost as if he didn't like the idea of Phillip going riding with me. Kate, do you suppose he's jealous?” she asked excitedly.
    “It wouldn't surprise me a bit,” Kathryn lied, remembering Blake's remarks about her friend. But, frowning, she couldn't help wondering if he'd meant it. Why in the world didn't he want Phillip to ride with the girls?
    Kathryn knew that Blake felt Phillip's attitude toward the multi-company enterprise was a little slack sometimes. But why drag him off at this hour of the morning unless…She didn't want to think about it. If Nan was right, she didn't want to know.
    “Get saddled and let's go!” Kathryn called. “I'm itching for a gallop!”
    “Why did you run off back there?” Nan asked before she went into the stable to saddle her mount.
    “Do hurry,” Kathryn said, ignoring the question. “Maude wants me to help her plan some menus for the Leedses’ visit.”
    Nan hurriedly saddled her mount, a little mare with the unlikely name of Whirlwind, and the disposition of a sunny summer day.
    The two girls rode in a companionable silence, and Kathryn gazed lovingly at the rolling green hills in their autumn colors, trees in the distance just beginning to don the soft golds that later would become brilliant oranges and reds and burgundy. The air was clean and fresh, and fields beyond the meadows were already being turned over to wait for spring planting.
    “Isn't it delicious?” Kathryn breathed. “South Carolina must be the most beautiful state in the country.”
    “You only say that because you're a native,” Nan teased.
    “It's true, though.” She reined in and leaned forward, crossing her forearms on the pommel to stare at the silver ribbon of the Edisto River beyond.
    “Do you know how many rice plantations there were in Charleston just before the Civil War?” she murmured, remembering books she'd read about those great plantations with their neat square fields and floodgates.
    “I'm afraid I