Ahead of her, James had ridden into a clearing in the middle of the glade. He pulled Bambi abruptly to a stop and flung himself out of the saddle. Georgie saw him dismount and immediately assumed the worst. If he was getting off his horse then Bambi must have thrown a shoe.
“James!” She cantered Belvedere up alongside and quickly vaulted off. “Are you all right? Is Bambi OK?” “She’s fine,” James said.
‘Then why did you dismount? What’s wrong?” Georgie took the reins over Belvedere’s head and led him over to where James and Bambi stood.
Both of the horses were sweaty and heaving. She could feel her own heart racing from the exertion of the gallop. “Why are we here…?” she began to ask. And then suddenly he was standing so close to her that she could no longer tell if it was her own heart racing or his, pressed up against her.
“I think I can smell aniseed,” was all she managed to squeak out, as he moved his face even closer and met her lips with a kiss.
It had quickly become obvious that James had no intention of rejoining the hunt. Instead, he took Georgie on a tour of the estate. They followed a bridle path, riding through woodlands and open fields, and by lunchtime they were starving and miles away from the Kirkwood mansion.
Georgie thought she was going to faint from hunger when James finally led the way through a gate out on to the main road and they rode along the grass verge to the junction where a petrol station, general store and diner stood on the corner.
They tied the horses up there and bought burgers and fries and sat down to eat beside their horses on the grass. Georgie was horrified by James’ habit of dipping his fries in his chocolate thickshake.
“It’s a trick I learned at Blainford,” he admitted. “The food in the dining hall is so bad, you learn to improvise.”
On the way home they cantered over the fields, jumping low hedges and spars rather than bothering to stop and open the gates. It was almost dark when they finally made it back to the stables. Georgie took Belvedere to his stall and had started to untack when James stopped her. “You know we’ve got staff who do that,” he told her. “Leave him with the grooms and come up to the house.”
Georgie shook her head. “But I want to do it.” She couldn’t stand the thought of handing over her horse for someone else to do the dirty work. Exhausted as she was, she didn’t want to abandon Belvedere, leaving someone else to mix his hard feed and rug him up. “I’ll groom him myself,” she told James.
“Suit yourself.” James looked mildly amused, as if the idea had never occurred to him. Georgie realised at that moment that the Kirkwoods treated their horses as if they were just pieces of equipment – like a motorbike or a tennis racquet to be put away at the end of a game, rather than a living creature. The horses in this stable virtually had their price tags hanging off them. Which made it even more insulting that Mr Kirkwood had refused to give her Tinkerbell to ride. He didn’t trust her to ride his horse in the same way that he wouldn’t trust a one-armed juggler with a Ming vase.
“I’ll see you back up at the house,” James said. “I’d steer clear of the conservatory if I were you – that’s where Patricia and Dad will be having their post-hunt drinks. A lot of bores with mud on their breeches telling their lame war stories.” He smiled at her. “I’ll be in the games room hiding from them.”
Grooming Belvedere took Georgie longer than she’d expected and somehow all the mud and sweat that had been on the big, brown gelding managed to transfer itself on to her in the process. Her jods were covered in muck and she had the worst case of helmet-hair she’d ever had in her life. It was in this bedraggled state that Georgie entered the mansion. She had planned to go upstairs and get changed, but when she heard Mr Kirkwood’s voice on the landing she detoured immediately and headed to the games room in search of James.
In the games room Kennedy Kirkwood was playing pool. She had taken off her top hat and coat and was leant over the table dressed in her breeches and white blouse, her frilled hunting stock still tied at her throat. Beside her, also holding cues, were Tori, Andrew and Damien.
“And what happened to you on the hunt field today?” Damien raised an eyebrow and gave her a cheeky look. “You seemed to vanish.”
“We should be so lucky!” Kennedy commented as she took her shot and managed to sink the black ball mid-game by mistake.
Andrew swept his arm across the table to clear the remaining balls. He didn’t even acknowledge Georgie’s presence and seemed determined to pretend she wasn’t there as he racked up for another game.
“Where is my brother anyway?” Kennedy glared at Georgie. “You didn’t actually manage to lose him on the hunt field?”
“He told me he was going to be in here,” Georgie said. “I haven’t seen him since he left the stables…”
The large French doors in the games room opened straight out to the gardens and the sound of giggling and splashing could now be heard right outside.
“Well we know where he is now,” Damien said, peering out the window. “He’s out by the fountain with Arden.”
Georgie felt herself turn strangely cold. It was almost nightfall outside. Why was her boyfriend hanging out in the garden?
Her suspicions got even darker when James and Arden tumbled in through the French doors, giggling and panting, as if they’d been playing chase. James was still in his riding clothes, but Arden had got changed into a stunning emerald green chiffon dress. Her hair was blow-dried perfectly and tied back loosely and she’d taken off her strappy high heels and was carrying them delicately dangling in one hand, as if she’d just stepped out of Vogue.
“Georgie!” James seemed surprised to see her. “Finished mucking out the stables then?”
Georgie tried to take his teasing in her stride. “Yeah, well, Belvedere is a big horse – it takes a while to groom all of him,” she said. Then she added, “What were you and Arden doing outside?”
“None of your business!” Arden said airily, dropping her shoes on the floor and collapsing dramatically into a chair.
James gave Georgie a grin. “We weren’t doing anything,” he said. “Just hanging out.”
Frances entered the games room at that moment to announce it was time for dinner. Somehow Arden managed to manoeuvre herself closer to James as they walked to the dining room and snaffled the seat beside him at the table. She then spent the entire meal whispering in his ear, winding Georgie up even more. Unfortunately the Kirkwoods served dinner in six courses and it took forever. All the time, James hardly even bothered to look at Georgie and by the time dessert was being served she felt close to tears. Unable to stomach any more of Arden’s flirting, Georgie said she wasn’t hungry and left the table. She was heading for her room when she heard footsteps behind her in the hallway.
“Georgie! Wait!”
It was James. He ran to catch up with her. “Going to bed early?” he asked.
“I’m just tired, I guess,” Georgie said unconvincingly.
“Don’t go,” James said. “We can go back to the games room.”
“Why don’t you go and hang out with Arden?”
The words were out of her mouth before Georgie could stop herself. She looked at James’ face, and saw a brief smile cross his lips.
“Don’t