“You mean the secret that you are not, in fact, James Smith, but the lovely Julia I met last night?”
Julia let out a slight shriek at the voice that suddenly came from behind her, and she whirled about to find Eddie’s friend Will leaning against a fencepost, his shock of red hair hanging low over his eyes from beneath his cap. His eyes were twinkling, a dimple in his freckled cheek as he stared at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I — I —”
“So you finally figured it out, did you, Will?” Eddie asked, smacking his hand against his friend’s shoulder, motioning them both to follow him into the stable. “I was wondering how long it would take you to clue in. You are usually more perceptive.”
“Well, I have to admit that it took a sober mind as well as a morning free of distraction,” he admitted, to which Eddie let out a bark of laughter.
Julia looked at Eddie as though he had lost his mind.
“Eddie, might I have aword?” she asked, her tone clearly imparting the fact that she was not pleased with this turn of events, nor, more than anything, Eddie’s easy reaction to it all.
“Julia,” Eddie said as they continued walking Orianna to her stall, where Eddie began to remove her saddle, “Your secret is safe with Will. I’ve known him for years and he would never say anything. Would you, Will?”
“Of course not,” Will said, shutting the stall door behind him as he looked at Julia, not hiding his careful exploration of her face. “I must say, I’ll be damned that I ever thought you were a man. I had considered you a bit… feminine, to be sure, but now that I’ve seen you as a woman, I cannot see you as anything else. No wonder Eddie was so keen to help you. I was wondering why he was going to such great lengths to train a competitor.”
“Julia and I have known one another for many years, Will,” Eddie said from the other side of the horse. “It’s that loyalty I cannot seem to shake.”
Eddie looked overtop of Orianna to see Will nodding, though his expression made it clear that he was aware there was more than just loyalty at play here. Eddie wondered if he was really that transparent.
But there was, at the very least, one positive opportunity here.
“Say, Will … I don’t suppose you’d do us a favor?”
Will smiled. “For you? I’m not so sure. But for the lovely Julia here, well I may be convinced to do so.”
“We need you to pretend to be James Smith for one quick meeting with … a man who would be aware that she is not who she says she is.”
Will looked from one of them to another. “This sounds rather intriguing. Do you have any more information to impart?”
“That’s about the whole of it,” Julia said quickly, her cheeks reddening. “I would be ever so appreciative, Will. It wouldn’t take long at all. You barely have to say anything. He might ask you a bit about your race strategy, about your experience. I’ll tell you all that you would need to know, which isn’t much at all, for James Smith is a rather untried racer as it is. Either today or tomorrow — whenever you have time.”
“And who is this man?” he asked, and Eddie saw Julia cringe slightly.
“Lord St. Albans.”
“I see,” Will said, narrowing his eyes. “And just how would Lord St. Albans know you?”
“He … I …”
Julia was clearly at a loss, and Eddie rounded Orianna to place a hand on her arm.
“If you trust me, little one, know that you can trust Will as well.”
She nodded, though her eyes still showed some hesitation.
“He’s my father.”
Will whistled, startling Orianna, and realizing his mistake, he reached out and stroked her neck.
“Damn,” he whispered as he looked from Eddie to Julia, knowledge filling his eyes, and Eddie could no longer meet them, not now that Will knew the full truth of it and the fool he truly was. “You’ve got yourself into quite the conundrum,” he said, and while Julia didn’t seem to realize it, Eddie was aware that Will was no longer speaking to Julia but to him.
“Yep,” Eddie agreed whole-heartedly, “That would be the way of it.”
“Very well,” Will said slowly. “I’ll do it. But I have a favor to ask you in return, Lady Julia.”
“Just Julia, please,” she insisted, and he nodded. “But yes, of course.”