Page 42 of Lady of Fortune
CHAPTER21
Eddie was not particularly pleased about dressing that evening for the nobility of Newmarket. The status of a jockey was a curious one. Some jockeys were frowned upon for their unkept demeanor and crassness. But those who had begun to prove their worth were celebrated.
Eddie had seen it many a time, and yet now that he was beginning to win much more frequently, and most often for Torrington, his name was certainly becoming more recognized, though he wasn’t entirely sure of his face. How much the crowd saw as he sped by them at over thirty miles per hour, he had no idea, and typically Torrington was on hand to take his horse before Eddie had barely stopped moving.
Eddie didn’t particularly care how famous his name became. It wasn’t why he rode. Sure, with fame came higher paychecks, which were not something he would complain about, that was certain. If the nobility wanted him, they could lure him that way, not with the promise of anything else.
He was a jockey because he loved to ride. That, no one could take away or cheapen for him.
But tonight he would go to this blasted party, though only because Julia asked him to. Ah, Julia. What he was going to do with her, he had no idea. She had seduced him into agreeing with her that perhaps they could have a future together, but now that he was out of her embrace and back into his own surroundings, he was beginning to wonder how he could have been so stupid to think it might be possible.
“Fool,” he muttered to himself as he exited the stable, deciding to walk the short distance to the party, which was taking place at the home of Julia’s friend, Lady Elizabeth Moreland.
Lady Elizabeth was of the banking Clarke family through her mother’s side, he had learned. Between her mother’s connections at the bank and her father’s noble family, the Morelands held significant power.
But at least Lady Elizabeth wasn’t likely to turn him away at the door.
“Ed!” He turned when he heard his name being called once he had walked no further than a few yards, finding Will running up behind him, waving him down.
“You’re off to the Morelands, are you?”
Eddie nodded.
“I’ll walk with you. I’m on my way to meet Maybelle, who will be released from her duties for a spell after Lady Julia leaves for the party.”
“Ah, yes, how was your meeting with Julia’s father today?”
“Oh, it was fine,” Will said slowly, and Eddie looked at him sharply, aware that there was something he was not saying.
“But…”
“Lord St. Albans appeared with not only Julia but the Duke of Clarence. Clarence! I rode for him a few years ago, Eddie, do you remember? He accused me of stopping his horse, but I don’t race that way, as you well know. I would never hold a horse back. So he let me go and I haven’t ridden for him since. At the very least, he didn’t sully my name at all, thank heaven.”
“Did he recognize you?”
“I’m not entirely sure. He asked if we had met before, and I told him that no, we had not, though of course I knew of his name. It seemed to appease him. You and I, Ed, we’re not the type that most remember, as you well know.”
Eddie nodded absently. That he did.
“I wonder what he was doing there,” he said with some contemplation, and Will had an answer for that as well.
“It seems he is looking for a new jockey,” Will said. “If James Smith performs well this Saturday, he may hire him.”
“Well, he’ll be disappointed, for James Smith will be retired following Saturday, and I’m assuming you have no wish to ride for Clarence again.”
“No,” Will said with a grimace. “I’d really rather not. Besides that, a man such as the Duke prefers to hire on his jockeys to him exclusively, while I much prefer the life of freedom I am currently living.”
“Freedom, you call it?”
“I do. I can race when I please, on the horse I choose, for an employer who pays me well. With a sole employer, you must agree to his whims, and I am done that life. No, this is the life for me, Ed.”
“And you’re lucky enough that a lovely woman has agreed to allow you to visit,” Eddie said with a grin.
“That I am, Eddie, that I am,” Will said with a sigh and a dreamy smile of his own, and Eddie had to laugh at him. It seemed Will, who typically enjoyed all sorts of women, was particularly enamored by this one. “I saw her briefly yesterday when we arranged the time for our meeting. To be honest, I had been slightly worried that perhaps the drink made her prettier in my mind than she actually was, but no, she’s even more beautiful in the daylight.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Will.”
“Me too,” his friend agreed fervently. “Ah, here’s your stop.”
