PART TWO
 
Both boys stood silently by as Ned struggled to mask his flare of temper towards this very presumptuous girl.  Clay couldn't believe his ears.  Here was a thief, a fairly good one at that, telling his father that the expensive white Andalusian, in actuality, belonged to her.

Ned ground out, "What makes you think that horse belongs to you?"

Moira met his icy blue gaze.  "That horse was stolen from me over a year ago.  I've been tracking him for over ten months now, and you have him illegally."

"So you thought to do something just as illegal by stealing him back," commented Sean.

"Mr. Logan," she began in her soft brogue and smiled at Ned's apparent astonishment to her knowledge of his name.  "You bought the horse in Barcelona, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"The horse was then shipped over here on the Queen Victoria, accompanying you on the trans-Atlantic voyage?"

"How did you know that?"

"Like I said, I've been tracking the horse."

Clay interrupted, "This is still not solving the problem of who actually owns the horse.  Pa paid good money for that stallion.  You've got to be insane to think he'll give him back merely on your story."

Moira snapped her head around to regard Ned Logan's youngest son.  Her body ached all over, and he had been responsible for that.  Too bad he was so good looking with those intelligent blue eyes, cleanly sculpted facial planes, the short-cropped dark hair that curled slightly across his forehead.  Not a bad body to boot.  "I was talking to your father.  Leave the conversation to the adults."  She then abruptly turned her attention back to Ned.

Clay seethed and got ready to respond back to her condescending dismissal, when he caught his father's warning look.  He bit back his retort and quietly planned out all of the things he would like to say to her when his father was through raking her over the coals.  What made
him even angrier was that he had almost been bested by a girl who looked to be even younger than he was.

"I'm sorry, Miss Donnelly, but I'm not about to hand over my prize stud to you.  If you could prove that the horse was stolen, I might reconsider but as that's highly unlikely, now the question is what to do with you," contemplated Ned.  He watched the girl with interest, as
she was starting to realize how far awry her plan had actually gone.  Regardless if she was telling the truth or what she thought to be the truth, he could not condone her stealing from him.

Moira swallowed hard.  She hadn't made a contengency plan for getting caught.  She just hadn't planned on that meddlesome boy being there when she and Patrick had snuck into the paddock.  Now she would be going to jail for sure.  Oh my God, she could even be hung for
attempting to steal that horse.  As much as the idea of being incarcerated or even put to death for her crime, she wasn't about to beg Mr. Ned Logan for mercy.

Sean spoke up, "Pa, we'll have to take her into the sheriff's office in Lexington tomorrow.  I guess we could lock her in one of the upstairs bedrooms for now."

Ned nodded at Sean's idea.  "Take her upstairs.  Make sure she doesn't leave."  Sean grabbed Moira by the upper arm, and led her out of the room.  She struggled slightly, but the look he gave was enough to squelch what fight she had left in her.  As Clay walked over to
the door to follow Sean, he stopped when he realized that his father was still seated at his desk.

"Pa, aren't you going to bed?"

"I need to sit and think on this awhile, Clay."

"What's there to think about?  She tried to steal from you, Pa.  She has to go to jail for that,"  Clay commented angrily.

"Not everything is always so black and white, Clay.  Why don't you go on up to bed, unless you want to tell me what's really bothering you, maybe why you were out so late tonight?"

Ned regarded his son with concern in his blue eyes.  Clay couldn't bring himself to meet his father's gaze, and mumbled something unintelligble as he walked deflated out of the study.

Ned shook his head sadly.  He loved all of his children equally, but Clay was an enigma to him.  Clay was so reactive to things, but at the same time, Ned had a lot of respect for his son's ability to stand up for what he thought was right.  Every time he set his eyes on Clay, he
saw Libby's raven dark hair and her firey temperament.  Unfortunately, Ned also knew that because Clay wore his heart on his sleeve, that women seemed to take advantage of him.  Oh, how he prayed that one day Clay could find that one woman who would cherish him for
who he was.

Moira sat in her room, well, the room that had become her prison in the Logan house until she could be taken to Lexington.  It was too far down to the ground for her to sneak out the window.  She couldn't make out of the door, so indeed she was trapped.  By now, Patrick
had made it back to her brothers and they would be absolutely livid with her little escapade.
 
What the hell, she didn't care, they never approved of anything she did anyway.  She curled up on the bed and worried herself into a deep dreamless slumber. The next morning two bleary-eyed, roguishly handsome but tousled Logan brothers escorted their prisoner down to their father's study.  A curious Jeremy, Alice and Lexy followed them to the foot of the stairs, to await Ned's decision.  Alice thought the girl-thief was beautiful
under all that dirt and smudgy bruises, but she could see the fear in the girl's violet eyes. What had driven such a creature to horse-thieving?

Ned was seated at his desk when the three entered the room.  Sean pushed Moira in front of him and he stood off by the door, while Clay, still a little grouchy from lack of sleep and very sore from his fall, leaned against the mantel of the fireplace.  Ned looked up at the somewhat repentant creature who stood in front of him.  He admired her courage for being able to stand here in front of him without pleading or crying for his leniency.

"Miss Donnelly," started Ned, his rich tenor voice somewhat soothing to her frayed nerves.  At least, he wasn't yelling yet.  "I've made my decision."

The boys listened curiously as Ned paused.  Moira's spirits sunk even lower, as her impending sentence loomed.

"I've decided to make you an offer.  You can work off your debt to me for a period of one year.  You will have room and board, and in a year's time, you will be free to go with no retribution from me.  In return, you will work hard, and you will never try to steal from me again - if you do so, all bets are off and you will be prosecuted.  On the other hand, you can decline my offer and test your luck with the courts system. Somehow I think my end of the deal is little more palatable."

Moira's head snapped up as she met Ned's eyes, testing him silently to see if he was for real.  What was the catch?  Why would he allow her such an easy way out?  "What's in it for you?"

"Like I said, you will work for me.  Mostly to care for my youngest daughter Lexy.  You are educated, are you not?"

"I can read, if that's what you mean."

"Then you can help tutor her.  Also help out my daughter Alice with the household chores.  Whatever needs to be done."

"But Pa," Clay broke in, not believing what he was hearing from his father. "She tried to steal your horse, the future of this farm, and you're going to trust her enough to watch out for Lexy, to help around the house???  Who's to say she won't take off, or try to steal something
else?"  With that last part of his statement, Moira glared back at Clay, indignant to his insult.

"That's why you're going to try and help her fit in, Clay.  That will be your job," smiled Ned at his shocked son.  Sean snickered at Clay's newest chore, what a chore that was going to be.  Sean had some doubts, but he kept them to himself for the time being.  His father was a
great judge of character, maybe he saw something in that little hellion that he and Clay couldn't.  Ned turned his attention back to Moira.

"So, what's your decision, Miss Donnelly?"

"I guess I have no other choice," she mumbled.  Looking at the expression on Clay Logan's face, why did she suddenly think that going to prison might be better after all?