Page 14 of Lady of Fortune
“She seems quite taken with you. Was yesterday the first time you’ve ever raced her?”
Julia nodded. It wasn’t a lie. Itwasthe first time she had raced Orianna — at least, in an actual competition.
“Well, you did a fine job, I’m told,” said Finter. “In fact, I’ve heard that my lord is looking forward to meeting you. And a duke as well! Wherever you learned to ride, boy, you learned well.”
Julia swallowed hard. The meeting with her father was one aspect of this plan she had not quite yet figured out.
“Ah!” continued Finter when once again Julia failed to respond. “Here comes Francis now.”
As Eddie approached, he and Finter greeted one another like the old friends they were and Julia tapped her foot nervously as she continued to stroke Orianna, unsure of exactly how she should greet Eddie, particularly with Finter alongside them. Eddie, however, always sure of himself, a trait she both admired and envied, solved the problem for her.
“There you are,” he said, clapping a hand on her shoulder hard enough to nearly knock her forward a step. “Good to see you again, lad. That was a fine bit of racing yesterday.”
“Th-thank you,” Julia stammered and then, collecting her wits, she recalled that Eddie did not yet know her assumed name. “It’s James, sir — James Smith.”
“Of course, Smith,” he said, before turning his attention to Orianna, and Julia recalled from years ago that his bond with the animals ran much deeper than simply a job.
“A beautiful filly,” he murmured as he stroked her neck, and Julia stepped back, suddenly timid at his nearness.
“She is,” Julia said with a smile, her own affection for the horse shining through her nervousness, and from the corner of her eye, she noticed Finter continue on his way, seeing to the other horses, whistling as he went.
“How did you come to own her?”
“She was born in our own stables,” Julia replied with a smile. This was one topic she certainly enjoyed discussing. “Father has been ever so proud. He wanted to breed his mare, Flower Child, but searched for months before determining who would make the perfect sire. As it turned out, he wasn’t far at all.”
“Where was he?”
Julia grinned, at both Eddie’s curiosity as well as the surprise she had in store for him.
“In the stables of the Viscount Lowell.”
Eddie’s eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me it was—“
“Lightning King?”
She laughed at the shock that came over his face.
“Familiar with him, are you then?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Lightning was — well, I came to know him when I worked for your father.”
“You trained him,” she stated, and now he was utterly perplexed.
“How did you know?”
“It’s difficult to keep a secret around our stables,” she said with a shrug. “Most of our staff are quite loyal to my father, for he treats them well. I heard my father talking to my brother one day, telling him, ‘That young Francis has been over at Lowell’s again. The lad is quite the rider, I am told.’”
She colored when she realized she had been doing the impression of her father she typically reserved for her closest friends, but Eddie chuckled.
“I had no idea he knew,” he mused. “Your father was always more than fair to me. It was one of the reasons I remained so long in his employ.”
“Were there others — reasons, I mean?” Julia asked, though what had possessed her to, she had no idea. He certainly hadn’t stayed for her, the annoying girl with dreamy eyes who followed him around. Yet somehow, she hoped that affection for her had been a part of why he had enjoyed his time in her family’s stables.
Eddie looked down for a moment, silent as he held onto Orianna’s reins. “Your family always treated servants with respect,” he said. “Sure, there was still the divide, which became much clearer the older we became. But there was an understanding there, a civility between master and servant that is absent in many households.”
He paused and for a moment silence stretched between them, as Julia had no idea how to respond to his words. When he looked back up at her, his eyes had regained their usual twinkle, though Julia couldn’t miss the slight bit of strain that he seemed to be hiding from her.
