title: The Horse Mistress: Book 2 (Volume 2)
author:  R A Steffan 
description: R. A. Steffan began writing for pleasure in 2005. After honing her skills for a few years in amateur circles, she eventually transitioned into freelance nonfiction writing and ghostwriting professionally published short fiction. The Queens Musketeers series marked her first foray into both serialized stories and novel-length works. The Horse Mistress series arose from a desire to write something focused more on the developing relationships of the characters. She has found the experience of wrangling more extended and intricate plot linesalong with a larger cast of charactersto be educational, frustrating, and fulfilling by turns. With luck, the end result will prove to be an enjoyable experience for readers. When not writing, the author enjoys reading, horseback riding, walking her dogs, and raising a small backyard flock of ducks.
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  HIS LADY MISTRESS
  
  by Elizabeth Rolls
  
  HARLEQUIN
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Prologue
  
  Prologue
  
  Autumn 1817
  
  V erity huddled into the murk by the chimney stack, watching through the
  shifting veil of rain as the two men, little more than dense shadows in the
  pouring blackness, carried their grisly burden from the cottage to the cart.
  The horse between the shafts tucked his tail in and stamped restlessly,
  snorting as the stench of death reached him. The boy at his head murmured in
  shaking tones and held his lantern higher.
  
  ‘One, two, three…’ A thud followed as the men swung the body on to the back of
  the cart.
  
  Her heart tightened. Oh, God! Please be gentle.
  
  ‘Right. Got everything, Jake?’
  
  ‘Aye…oh, hang on, where’s the…?’ Jake vaulted into the cart and scrabbled
  around. ‘No. Here ’tis, Bill.’
  
  ‘What?’
  
  ‘Thought we’d damn near forgot the stake. Won’t do to forget that an’ all.
  Rector be really put out, he would.’
  
  A snort greeted this. ‘’Taint him as has to drive it in. Is it? Well, come