30 Fanfic Challenge

Day 4-6 - Star-crossed - The Musketeers modern! AU

"Good morning, Pierre. What have you got that needs doing today?" Constance greeted her friend with a hug and a polite kiss.

"Good morning, Constance. I need you to clean out a couple of stalls for me; I've got a young lad from Gascogne coming with a couple of mares for sale, I suspect he'll be here soon."

"Then I'd better get started." Heading into the stables, she said hello to each of the horses as she passed them before reaching an empty stall and beginning to sweep the floor.

Just as she was laying fresh straw in the second empty stall, she heard Pierre talking to someone outside. "That's strange, I didn't hear a car pull in." She hurriedly threw down the rest of the straw and wandered out to see what was going on.

"Are you sure you want to get rid of them?" Pierre was asking a tall, tanned young man who was securing a Boulonnais and a Gypsy Vanner to a nearby fence.

"Much as my father loved the farm, there isn't the same kind of money in that business there once was. Plus, it's weird being there without him, I'd rather just get away for a bit and have a fresh start somewhere new." He spotted Constance as he turned around and a light flush hued his cheeks. "I didn't know you had a daughter, Pierre."

"What?" She came and stood beside him, unsure whether to be flattered or horrified by this stranger's misjudgement of her. "Oh! No, no, Constance is just a friend who gives me a hand on her days off. If you need a place to holler up for a bit, she might be able to help you out as well, lad." He turned to address Constance. "Weren't you telling me not all that long ago that you had a room you were thinking of letting?"

"Pierre!" she gasped, "I'm not just going to open my home up to a young man I've known not five minutes. I don't even know his name!" She crossed her arms as if to say she'd made up her mind and it wouldn't be changed now that she'd done so.

"My apologies, where are my manners?" The man stepped closer and extended a well-toned arm in her direction. "My name is d'Artagnan, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, come now, Charles, no need to be so formal."

The younger man just stared at him derisively. "Pierre, no one calls me that." Turning his attention back to Constance, the scowl on his face became an almost flirtatious smile. "And what may I call you, Mademoiselle?"

Ignoring his question entirely and still refusing to shake his hand, she turned instead to the elder man. "Shall I take these two into the clean stalls, Pierre?" she asked, flicking her head in the direction of the fence where d'Artagnan had tied the horses.

"If you could, Constance, thank you." Putting on a smile to ease the tension, he watched her stroke the Gypsy Vanner's nose as she untied her and led her toward the stable before coming to stand beside d'Artagnan. "You watch yourself, lad. She might not look it, but Constance is three years your elder, married and a bit of a firecracker when the mood takes her."

"I shall remember that in future," he replied, running one hand through his hair. He moved to take the other mare into the stable, but Pierre grabbed his arm with a surprising amount of force.

"I'll take her in and see if I can't soften Constance up a little, you get Estelle and take her into that field for some exercise, would you?"

Constance did her best to ignore d'Artagnan as he took the golden Palomino outside, though her attitude did a complete 180 when Pierre came in with the Boulonnais. "Why in the world would that horrible man ever want to sell such beautiful horses?" she asked, running a brush over the other horse d'Artagnan had brought.

"Don't chew the lad up too much, Constance. The d'Artagnan family have owned a farm about 25 miles from here for centuries, but Alexandre, Charles' father, fell dreadfully ill and passed away a couple of months ago, leaving him as the sole proprietor. The farm never made a lot of money anyway, they were still using horses like these to plough the fields, and the cost of Alexandre's medical bills pretty much bankrupted the boy. He just wants a fresh start somewhere that isn't haunted by the ghosts of everyone who's ever mattered to him. That's why he's retiring these two, so he can sell the farm and make a new life for himself."