Riding to the Moon Read online

  “It is something I would enjoy doing and I have looked forward to riding in England, but I may not be good – enough – I do not know.”

  “You will have a chance tomorrow to see the course, and that will give you the answer better than I can.”

  “Can I really do that?” Indira asked eagerly.

  The Marquis smiled.

  “I can see it is going to be a choice between my stables and my library and I wonder which will win!”

  “If I was really forced to choose,” Indira replied, “I should say the library.”

  “I will be generous and allow you to sample both.”

  “Thank you – thank you – very much.”

  As Charles came up to join them, he wondered why Indira was looking so happy.

  *

  The following morning Indira came down to breakfast to find Charles alone in the breakfast room.

  “Am I late or early?” she asked, as he rose at her approach.

  “Early,” he replied. “You went to bed before midnight, which was very sensible of you. The rest of the party stayed up very late gambling and drinking far too much to make an early rise enjoyable.”

  “I had no idea you were going to gamble,” Indira said. “I would like to have seen the tables.”

  “They were in the next room,” Charles replied. “But what do you mean that you would like to have seen the tables?”

  “I have heard so much about gaming in England and of course the Chinese play very different games, while the Indians prefer talking, which is usually about politics and they become very heated on the subject.”

  Charles laughed.

  “I won a few pounds last night, then slipped off to bed. I wanted a clear head for the steeplechase, which is what the Marquis always has.”

  Indira looked at him enquiringly and he explained,

  “He always wins his own steeplechase and I am convinced it is because he drinks very little and is extremely fit.”

  He lowered his voice as he added,

  “Because he is an excellent host, his guests are stupid enough to indulge themselves at his expense. Too much claret does not make for good hard riding, which we will all need if we are to finish the course.”

  “I want to ride too, “ Indira murmured.

  “I heard a lot of talk last night about Lady Sinclair taking part in the race,” Charles replied, “but I did not believe it.”

  “Her Ladyship is quite certain that she is going to win.”

  “Then you must certainly beat her!” Charles said quickly. “You can have one of my horses. I have four with me.”

  “You must not give me the one you want for yourself,” Indira replied. “And Lady Sinclair thinks she is very very good. So please don’t be disappointed if she beats me.”

  “‘What is all this?” asked Jimmy, who had come up behind them while they were talking.

  “Indira is going to take part in the race and I only hope that she can ride well. We shall feel very guilty if she ends up with a broken neck.”

  “I can ride anything from a donkey to an elk,” Indira told them, “but what we are concerned with at the moment is a really good jumper. The Marquis has promised that I can see the course today.”

  “He did?” Charles exclaimed. “Well, if he offers you one of his horses, jump at the chance! They are all superlative.”

  “I expect he is keeping the best for Lady Sinclair,” Jimmy said, “and you realise that if Indira beats her, she will scratch her eyes out!”

  Indira looked worried.

  “I have no wish to upset her and, if she wants the Marquis to admire her riding, I will not compete.”

  “What we want,” Charles said in a low voice, “is for him to admire you.”

  Indira helped herself from a silver dish that was offered her before she answered,

  “What you are asking me to do is too difficult and I think it would be wise to let me leave today.”

  “If you do that,” Charles said sharply, “it will be most ungrateful, besides being very stupid from your own point of view.”

  Indira gave a little cry.

  “I have no wish to be ungrateful. As you must know, I can never thank either of you – enough for all you have – done for me. It’s just that I am – very bad at – intrigue.”

  As she spoke, she was aware that the Marquis had come into the room.

  He was looking magnificent in his riding clothes and his boots were so highly polished that they seemed to reflect like mirrors.

  Charles and Jimmy would have risen to their feet, but he said,

  “No, please don’t move. Good morning, Lady Mary, I am surprised to see you so early. The rest of my party will doubtless sleep late.”

  “Lady Mary is very anxious to enter the steeplechase,” Charles said, “but to tell you the truth, I am astonished that you are allowing women on the course. I should have thought that the jumps were far too high for them.”

  “I have lowered the first ten,” the Marquis replied, “but after that you will find the rest are more difficult than they have ever been.”

  The Marquis said no more while he refused two dishes that were offered to him and took a small spoonful from a third before he went on,

  “Lady Mary is going to see the course this morning and I know she will be sensible enough to withdraw from the contest if she thinks that it’s too much for her. If there is a female casualty, no woman will ever be allowed to jump at Ardsley Hall again.”

  “I promise you I will be very honest about my capabilities,” Indira said, “but I find it frustrating to think that men are convinced that no woman can ever equal them in sport if in nothing else.”

  “How can they?” Jimmy asked before the Marquis could reply. “You can hardly have women jockeys or women game shots. And how could a woman pugilist stand a chance?”

  Charles laughed.

  “That is certainly ludicrous! But riding is rather different and some women ride extremely well.”

  “In Rotten Row!” Jimmy exclaimed scathingly. “Most of them in the hunting field look for a gap in the hedge or the nearest gate.”

  “You are talking rather scathingly, Overton,” the Marquis said, “but I agree with you, women should not compete in men’s sports or really in anything else.”

  “I see that your Lordship has Eastern ideas of women’s place in the world,” Indira remarked.

  The way she challenged the Marquis made Charles look at Jimmy with a twinkle in his eyes.

  They both knew Ardsley’s views on women.

  “Women,” the Marquis replied a trifle ponderously, “should be beautiful to look at and entertaining to talk to, but they should certainly not encroach on what are traditionally male prerogatives. That, of course, includes strenuous games or anything that is dangerous.”

  He spoke positively and as if there could be no possible argument.

  Indira did not reply, but there was a little smile on her lips before she said,

  “If your Lordship will be kind enough to let me see your horses and ride one before everybody else appears who will need your attention, I will go and change into a riding habit so that I can be ready when you have finished your breakfast.”

  She did not wait for the Marquis to agree, but went quickly from the breakfast room.

  “I must congratulate you, Frodham,” the Marquis said when she had gone. “You certainly played the ‘Knight Errant’ to a very charming and lovely young lady when you saved her from the highwaymen.”

  “She is also very intelligent,” Charles replied.

  “So I discovered last night,” the Marquis said, “and I shall be interested to see how she rides, but I expect I shall be disappointed. The type of animal that is available in Eastern countries could not be compared with the horses in our stables.”

  “No, of course not,” Charles agreed. “At the same time, with this innovation of yours, women will at least have a chance to prove themselves as Amazons.”

  “I
hope that will not be the case,” the Marquis said sharply. “If there is one thing I really dislike, it is a hard riding, hard drinking woman! And that is unfortunately the species which is developing in Leicestershire and in some of the more fashionable hunting Counties.”

  “I agree,” Jimmy said. “A woman should be beautiful and feminine. Equally some of the Cyprians in London look very alluring in Hyde Park on the horses they ride for the livery stables.”

  There was a faint twist to the Marquis’s lips as he remarked,

  “I also have eyes in my head, Overton!”

  “I thought you would not have missed them,” Jimmy said quickly. “They cut quite a dash in their colourful habits.”

  “And in one’s pocket!” Charles added ruefully.

  As he spoke, he was thinking of one charmer for whom he had bought a very expensive horse and when their liaison was over he learnt that she had sold it at a considerable profit.

  The Marquis finished his breakfast and said,

  “I expect you will want to ride too, if we are going to the course. Have you ordered your horses?”

  “I will do so at once,” Charles replied.

  He went from the breakfast room and Jimmy followed him a few seconds later.

  Charles was waiting for him in the hall.

  “I have ordered your horse as well as mine,” he said.

  “I am hoping to God that Indira does not make a fool of herself. Things are going very well and did you realise last night that Lady Sinclair was seething with rage because the Marquis paid her so much attention? She was happy only when Indira had gone to bed and she had him to herself again.”

  “If you ask me, she is on the way out,” Jimmy commented.

  “She is far too possessive with him and I am sure he is intrigued with Indira, although it’s too soon to hope for big results.”

  “Much too soon,” Charles agreed positively.

  He walked across the hall and onto the steps to wait for the horses to be brought to the front door.

  Then he said,

  “I wish now we had told Indira not to ride, but how were we to know that the Marquis had changed his rules and was letting women in on the race?”

  Before Jimmy could reply, the Marquis joined them and at the same time they saw the horses being led down to the side of the house from the direction of the stables.

  They were certainly magnificent to look at, their silver bridles glinting in the sunshine and the horse with a side-saddle was a superlative animal, jet black except for a white star on his nose.

  Charles’s horse and Jimmy’s were both extremely well-bred, fine looking horseflesh which any man would be proud to own, but they could not compare with the magnificent stallion that belonged to the Marquis and which seemed in its own way to be not only as majestic but also as dashing as he was.

  The men were just descending the steps when Indira came running down behind them.

  She was looking as alluring as Charles had hoped she would and even more so in a very smart summer habit of dark green pique edged with white braid.

  The tight-fitting jacket gave her a tiny waist and her high crowned hat with its gauze veil trailing behind was extremely becoming.

  Charles also noted that her hair was arranged as neatly as any woman might have worn it in the hunting field and he thought with a sigh of relief that it was something he had forgotten to tell her.

  She might easily have appeared with untidy curls, ringlets or some other type of coiffure which would have been taboo for any Lady of Quality.

  He went towards her, but before he could get there the Marquis was before him and putting his hands on each side of her waist he lifted her onto the side-saddle.

  She placed her leg over the pummel and, with an experienced hand, he arranged her skirts over the one stirrup.

  She looked down at him and smiled.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Now will you kindly allow me to become acquainted with my mount, which is something I consider important if we are to show our paces together?”

  She bent forward as she spoke, patting the horse’s neck and talking to him in a quiet almost mesmeric voice, which made the animal twitch his ears as if he understood.

  “I see you are experienced enough to know that is necessary,” the Marquis said drily.

  “It is especially necessary if one is riding a rampaging elephant or a racing camel!” Indira replied.

  He laughed before be mounted his own horse, then they set off, moving slowly away from the house and into the park.

  “There are rabbit holes here,” the Marquis said, “as strangers learn to their cost, so hold in your horse until we are away from the trees.”

  Charles, however, was concentrating on Indira.

  She seemed very much at home in the saddle and he thought that she looked extremely attractive and at the same time so graceful as to appear fragile. He was afraid that if the horse pulled, she might not be able to hold him.

  It took them a little time to ride beneath the great oak trees to where on the other side of the Park there was meadowland and the young grass was filled with cuckoo flowers and cowslips.

  The Marquis looked at Indira and enquired,

  “Would you like to give Meteor his head?”

  “I hope he lives up to his name,” she replied.

  She did not wait for the Marquis to lead the way, but touched Meteor very slightly with her heel. He sprang forward and Indira knew with a feeling of delight that she was riding a perfectly trained and exceptional animal.

  She was well aware that all three men were appraising her and she made no attempt to ride more quickly than they were doing.

  She merely let Meteor take his pace from the Marquis and they galloped without trying to race each other for nearly a mile.

  Then the Marquis turned his horse to say,

  “The steeplechase is a little below us. You can see the beginning of it and the first fences from here.”

  They all pulled in their horses and the Marquis showed them how he had laid out his steeplechase on some flat fields where he had erected fences which to Charles and Jimmy from that distance did not appear to be very formidable.

  “Shall we go down and try them?” the Marquis suggested.

  They followed him to the beginning of the course.

  The fences were broad with plenty of room for all four horses to have jumped them together, but because they knew it was a test, both Charles and Jimmy stood back to let the Marquis and Indira go ahead.

  Meteor leapt over the fences almost disdainfully and at the end of the first five the Marquis drew in his horse to say,

  “Now this is where the ladies break away from the male riders. They will turn to the left and jump another five fences which are equivalent to the ones we have just taken. Then they will have a guide to lead them across country so that they can be at the winning post, where the men will finish, about two miles from here.”

  “It sounds very gruelling,” Charles remarked.

  “When you see the rest of the fences, you will realise that is the right word,” the Marquis said with a smile.

  “What happens if a lady wins the steeplechase?” Jimmy asked.

  “You can surely not accuse me of being parsimonious when it comes to racing,” the Marquis answered mockingly. “Instead of a cup, the winning lady will receive a necklace, which I may tell you is a very attractive one and I am splitting the two thousand guineas into two portions, male and female, which you must admit is permissible in the circumstances.”

  “I am sure the winning lady will consider it an achievement, not because of the prizes, but because she has persuaded the Noble Marquis to initiate something that puts her on almost equal terms with him.”

  The way in which Indira spoke made the Marquis look surprised and Charles gave her a warning glance.

  Then she added quickly, as if she felt she had said too much,

  “At the same time I think it is a wonderful idea and very encouraging
for the women, who are always kept out of anything competitive.”

  The Marquis moved his horse to her side.

  “I have the feeling, Lady Mary, that you are jeering at me!”

  “No, no, of course not, my Lord,” Indira replied. “And I hope that you will allow me to – compete in your – steeplechase.”

  “Having seen the way you took those jumps on Meteor, how could I possibly refuse?”

  “Thank you.”

  As Indira spoke, she deliberately turned her horse and he had the strange feeling that while she was excited about the race, she disliked him being close to her.

  Chapter 4

  The Marquis, having changed his clothes after riding, came down the stairs aware that there was a murmur of voices in the drawing room.

  He thought he recognised Lady Sinclair’s childlike tone and decided that he did not wish to encounter her at the moment.

  He was quite certain that she would be reproachful and plaintive because he had been riding without her and would be exceedingly jealous when she realised that he had been accompanied by Lady Mary.

  If there was one thing that bored the Marquis, it was women who became excessively jealous when they had no reason for it. Before he reached the hall he had come to the conclusion that he had finished with Lady Sinclair.

  The suddenness of his decision surprised him, for usually in his many and fiery love affairs there was a ‘cooling off’ period before he finally made up his mind that he was bored and had no intention of continuing a liaison that no longer interested him.

  He was quite ruthless where women were concerned, for the simple reason that he had no respect for married women who betrayed their husbands with him or with anybody else.

  It was a sentiment that would certainly have surprised his contemporaries if he had confided in them, but as he had long ago told himself, his principles, if that was what they were, were out of date and quite ridiculous.

  Nevertheless, every time he went into another man’s house to find his wife waiting eagerly for him, her arms outstretched, her lips lifted to him, he despised himself and the woman in question.

  Then he told himself that, although he had mistresses like every other Gentleman of Quality – it was in its way the same as owning superlative horses or fine paintings – these women were not of any great importance in his life and were very easily dispensable.