Page 82 of The Trouble with Anna

“But what about the horses? Suppose someone has a tremendous beast you’ve not yet heard of?”

“All the best horses are in Newmarket at this time of year. That’s where Archer is, but I’ll have Soussi send him down. On Archer, the clods in town can’t touch me.”

Charlotte’s eyes began to glow. “Imagine how the gentlemen would froth.”

“Precisely! They’ve underestimated us again and again, which is why it’s been so easy to win. They don’t do anything sensibly when their pride is at stake.”

“We’ll use their own arrogance against them!” All at once,Charlotte slumped. “It won’t work. Julian will forbid it, and Gran will string us up by the thumbs for even considering the idea.”

Anna met her gaze and held it. “Really, Charlotte? With your talents? You organized the ball of the century right under their noses. Is one little horse race beyond you?”

CHAPTER35

CHARLOTTE WAS WIDELY ACKNOWLEDGED TObe devious, clever, and daring, but she rarely got credit for her relentless practicality. She knew Julian would discover the race—it was only a matter of time—and all it would take was one slight shake of his head to send all the other gentlemen scuttling off, taking their lovely money with them.

Her only chance was to hold the race as quietly—and quickly!—as possible. That, and to pray that heaven was on their side. Which seemed to Charlotte rather doubtful, unless heaven’s position on gambling had undergone a recent, radical change.

“Next Friday? That only gives us a week!” yelped Marby when Charlotte cornered him in Hyde Park and told him of the plan. “Are you mad?”

“Simply ambitious.” She cocked her head. “Interesting. Does ambition look like madness to you when you see it in a woman?”

Marby reddened. “Dash it, Charlotte, you know it’s impossible!”

“All I ask is that you secure a track and inform a few of the sporting set. Poor Marby, is that really too much for you?”

“Of course not! That is, perhaps if… dash it all, Charlotte. One week?”

“One week!” Charlotte agreed cheerfully. “And discretion, Marby! Remember, discretion.”

The Honorable James Marby was not immune to the lure of mischief and he did his best. Securing a track was the work of two days, and finding a gentleman to ride against Lady Anna presented no problem at all. The young bloods of London all bayed for the job, and Marby soon had more would-be jockeys than he could count. But the request for discretion was doomed from the start.

Marby chose only the most reliable of his set to tell, but the word of Lady Anna’s challenge spread with the swiftness of any good scandal. It wasn’t long before Marby couldn’t enter his club or even cross the street without being mobbed, and in the last few days before the race he had to confine himself to his apartments.

On Wednesday afternoon, with two days left to go, Marby sneaked over to the Dowager’s. Lady Alice was at her garden club, Julian was out on business, and the three conspirators had some much-needed privacy to finalize their plans.

“Who am I riding against? Is it decided?” Anna asked.

Marby drew himself up and puffed out his chest importantly. “Harrow was the front-runner, of course, but none of us could bear his crowing. So Wycombe put forward Count di Cavour. Imagine! Have you seen his Bellario? A beautiful stepper, but much too short in the—”

“Good lord, Marby!” said Charlotte. “We need an answer, not a speech in Parliament. Who’s the rider?”

Marby gave a wounded sniff. “Lord Byrne, riding Saltram.”

Charlotte looked at Anna, her face a question.

Anna answered with a cool nod.

“And the odds?” Charlotte asked, turning back to Marby.

“Ten to one against.”

“Ten to one?” Anna’s voice dropped dangerously. “Ten to one, in favor ofByrne? Have they seen him sit a horse?”

Marby hiccupped out a nervous laugh. “I’m afraid it was ten to one before a rider was chosen.”

Anna leapt to her feet. “It’s an insult!”

Charlotte tugged Anna back into her seat. “It’s aprofitableinsult. Immensely so. We’ve laid out more than half our funds on this race, Anna.”

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