Page 24 of Lady of Fortune
Julia’s cheeks warmed to what she was sure must be deep pink.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, primarily to her mother. “I-I’m simply not feeling well. Perhaps I must return home.”
“Oh dear,” her mother said worriedly. “I’m not sure that we can, darling. We came with Lady Nuffield and Rebecca, and I wouldn’t like to force them to leave early. Why, we have only just begun eating.”
“It’s fine,” Julia said. “It’s not a far walk.”
“Oh, you cannot walk, darling! Especially not if you’re not feeling well.”
Julia waved her hand in the air.
“Maybelle can accompany me. Really, Mother, it will take not twenty minutes to return home, and I think some physical exertion will help.”
Her mother looked somewhat torn. Julia knew she was worried for her, and yet she was also enjoying herself and if she forced the Charles women to leave, they wouldn’t hear the end of it for months to come.
“Very well,” her mother finally said, though she seemed to remain uneasy about the decision. “But be careful, darling.”
Julia nodded and went to find Maybelle. She did have to leave. But she wasn’t going home.
* * *
A week ago,Eddie had been jesting when he told Julia that he would be going for a leisurely afternoon ride around the meadow. But when Will asked him if he wanted to join him for dinner at the tavern, somehow his original, though fabricated, plan seemed much more tempting. It had proven to be a rather welcome respite and had become something of a routine every afternoon.
He saddled his own horse, Boomerang, who was always particularly pleased to be out of the stables. Eddie made his way to the meadows just beyond the racetracks and allowed Boomerang the freedom to run. They made a few turns about the meadow and then he dismounted and walked the horse for a bit before finding his now usual spot in the shade that had proven particularly comfortable for a nap. He had just settled down, his hat over his eyes with Boomerang contently tied to the very same tree which was shading him when he was startled awake. The footsteps behind him had come up so quickly that he turned in shock to discover just who had been able to so adeptly sneak up on him.
Julia. Not Julia as James Smith, but Julia herself. She wore a day dress of some soft material in a blue the color of the sky, and he couldn’t help but note just how angelic she looked, with blonde corkscrews curling around her face where they peaked out from beneath her bonnet.
“What are you doing here?” he blurted out, for as much as he wanted her to stay, he knew that she should go. Shemustgo, for he didn’t think he could handle spending any additional time with her without doing something he would regret. At least when she was dressed as a jockey and on the track in full view of all of the grooms and trainers that seemed to be constantly about, there was reason enough for them to maintain the charade. But alone, as man and woman… he could no longer deny he was attracted to her, but he had refused to think anything further of it. Julia was not a woman to simply have fun with, and there would never be an opportunity for anything further between them.
“I was nearby and knew that you would likely be here, as you have been most days. I thought that maybe… I would join you,” she said with a shy smile, and he felt his resolve weakening. How was it she could always do that to him? In an effort to fight the attraction he was attempting to deny, he had tried to keep their relationship as trainer and jockey very professional over the week, but seeing her like this, well… it made things far more difficult.
“I don’t think this is a wise idea,” he warned, and she wiggled her eyebrows at him impishly.
“Since when do you only do what seems to be the best idea?” she asked. “Has so much changed over the years? Is helping a lady win the Two Thousand Guineas an anomaly in the way you live your life?”
“I’m not helping a lady win the Two Thousand Guineas,” he replied with a teasing smile of his own, one that she seemed to coax from him despite his best intentions. “I am assisting the said lady to place second.”
“Is that so?” she queried, the dimple in her face indenting all the more, and his resolve now not only weakened but completely melted away.
“It is, and don’t you forget it. And very well, you can stay,” he continued with a sigh. “Where is your horse? And how did you find me?”
“I walked,” she said with a frown. “I wasn’t far from the Rowley Mile, and I asked where one might go if he was inclined to take a leisurely ride. I was at a picnic, you see, but I kept falling asleep as Rebecca wouldn’t stop droning on about her boring friends and their abysmal fashions. Finally I told my mother I wasn’t well and she allowed me to walk home, though Maybelle — do you remember her? — was with me. I sent her home. She’s not one for walks, that’s for certain, and she won’t say anything.”
“Well, I suppose I should be glad to see that you are working on your endurance,” he said with a grin, squinting up at her as she was now being silhouetted by the sun. “We’ll have to walk Boomerang home soon anyway.”
“Boomerang?” she queried as she settled herself down in front of him, and he leaned against the tree behind him, making himself more comfortable. Apparently they were staying for a time before their return.
He smiled at her question.
“Yes, Boomerang. He belonged to my first employer — my first employer as a jockey, that is. I raced him, but he was past his prime. Shortly afterward he was put to work at a stud farm, but it seemed he was taken with me, as I was with him. I was then working in nearby stables, and one day he showed up, somehow finding me. I returned him, but he kept coming back. Eventually, his owner and I worked out an arrangement. He could still breed him when he wished, but he was, in theory, my horse.”
“Boomerang,” she said, and he could have sworn her eyes became slightly misty. “Because he kept coming back to you.”
“That he did,” Eddie said with a nod. “He had another name previously, but it never seemed to suit. I started calling him Boomerang in jest, but it stayed with him.”
“I love it,” she said, her gaze upon the meadow below her, which was teeming with a colorful array of flowers, though Eddie couldn’t say what they were actually called.
She untied her bonnet and tossed it beside her in the grass as she lay back down, and Eddie didn’t think he had ever seen anything so beautiful in his entire life.
