Page 43

IS THE RACE EVER WON?

That evening’s dinner was full of the usual bonhomie when the friends were together.

Ferdinand Shilton entertained the company with talk of his country estate at Nonsuch, where they would stay for the Epsom races.

‘My servants are all atwitter at having the old house inhabited again. It’s only half an hour from the Downs. ’

Corinna passed him the bowl of roasted potatoes and said to the assembled company, ‘I’m staying here with Emma.

I don’t want to tire her after she’s just recovered from the fever.

Polly can chaperone Miss Gray.’ She smiled across to where Eliza sat quietly, embarrassed by the secret she and Mr Flynn by necessity kept from their friends.

Lord Purfoy also seemed abstracted, gazing into the fire. He stirred and met Mr Shilton’s blue eyes. ‘Ferdy, it’s very kind of you. If my memory serves me right, Nonsuch Place offers mighty fine quarters. We’ll be most comfortable, thank you.’

Alick Wolfe handed out slices of beef on the point of his carving knife. ‘Rav, I saw your under-groom setting off with Horatio this morning.’

Lord Purfoy accepted the beef and nodded in response. ‘Yes, he’ll take him down in easy stages and settle him. It’s only some fifteen miles away.’

Ferdy had also despatched his hunter. ‘I’m riding Avatar this year, my speedy bay.

He’s young so it’s really just practice for him.

’ Unlike the other owners who tended to be accoutred in sober colours for the race, he insisted on wearing a jacket of canary yellow, a flash of sunshine on the sombre field.

Alick waved some beef at Zadoc Flynn. ‘I suppose Ohio’s already down at Epsom?’ he asked and his cousin mumbled agreement, his mouth full of food.

The wine was flowing freely but Lord Purfoy demurred. ‘I have work to do later and need a clear head,’ he said as his friends turned their enquiring gazes his way.

Eliza only met Lord Purfoy’s eyes once and she quickly looked away, ashamed at her duplicity.

She was relieved when he abruptly stood up, ready to leave.

‘I’m off to my club,’ he said with a certain grimness.

He bowed at the men then took Corinna’s hand and kissed it.

‘Thank you for a delicious meal. I’m sorry we won’t have the pleasure of your company on the Downs.

Since breeding, you’re not as much fun as you used to be. ’ He smiled his rueful smile.

Corinna laughed. ‘Oh Rav, I know you have little time for the squallers, as you so sympathetically call them. And as for my dull character, I have long said that the irresponsible have always been easier to love, as you know full well!’ She gave him a knowing look.

Lord Purfoy still had her hand in his and said, ‘Well, my dear Mrs Wolfe, never easy nor dull, but always entirely lovable.’

Alick intervened with a snort of amusement. ‘Careful, Rav, that’s my line. Don’t forget she’s my wife. You missed your chance!’

Lord Purfoy saluted his friend then he turned to Eliza, his austere features softened with humour and a strange tenderness.

She wondered if it was thoughts of Corinna or herself that wrought this change in him.

He took her hand lightly in his and she felt the thrill of his cool touch.

As if there were nothing between them, he said, ‘Miss Gray, I’m pleased you will be joining us at Epsom.

I promise it’ll be a day to remember.’ And without further ado, he was gone, and the energy in the room settled back into predictable comfort.

Mr Flynn expostulated, ‘Alick, how can you countenance him treating Mrs Wolfe with such familiarity?’

Alick chuckled. ‘We are old friends and he knows Corinna well. He means no harm. It is his way of complimenting her and flattering me. I know where my wife’s heart lies.’ He looked across at Corinna with a warm gaze.

Zadoc Flynn was a different kind of man and could not see what Lord Purfoy’s friends appreciated in this elegant, haughty aristocrat.

He too was privileged with everything that great wealth bestowed, but the Flynn fortune had been ruthlessly wrested by his father from the emerging industries of a new republic, and now consolidated by his son.

The Purfoy millions were deeply rooted in the mists of time: ancestral lands awarded by the great King Henry for extreme valour fighting the French, nearly three hundred years before.

So it was that Zadoc Flynn looked at Lord Purfoy and saw a man with an unattainable sheen of sophisticated confidence and elegant sangfroid who did nothing but race his horses, gamble and drink with his cronies, while Lord Purfoy considered Zadoc Flynn an uncouth adventurer whose recent fortune could not gloss the fact he had barely strayed from his uncultured roots.

The Wolfe cook was famous for her plum pudding and it was brought to the table still tied tight in the linen cloth in which it had been boiled.

Corinna unwrapped it with ceremony and started to carve the ball into segments which she placed on plates that were passed around, accompanied by the sauce boat filled with a mixture of butter and brandy.

Zadoc Flynn looked down at the slice of bready mass mottled with raisins and said, ‘English plum pudding has a reputation abroad. I’m delighted to be able to report back to my family that I’ve eaten of the pudding that made England great! ’

Eliza took a spoonful and it lay heavy on her anxious stomach.

Noticing her pallor, Ferdinand Shilton said in his cheering way, ‘I think you’ll like Nonsuch, Miss Gray.

I’ve asked that the Queen’s bedroom be made ready for you.

It’s called thus because it was my mother’s.

It’s very pretty with a lovely view of the Nonsuch parkland and the distant Downs. ’

Eliza smiled at him. Mr Shilton was the kindest of men, without a shadow on his soul.

His wealth and angelic looks had awarded him a charmed life through which he moved on winged feet.

‘Thank you. I’ve never been to the races before.

’ Her voice trailed off as she realised that when she was young, the Prebbles had taken their circus to Epsom Downs for the Derby fair, one of the most riotous days of the year.

It all seemed so long ago and she was tired, and happy to withdraw with Corinna and leave the men to their brandy.

Corinna was on her way to check on Emma when she put out a hand to waylay Eliza.

‘My dear, may I have a quick word?’ She led her into her studio and closed the door.

‘I do not wish to pry but I have affection for both you and Raven Purfoy.’ She met Eliza’s eyes with her own concerned gaze before continuing, ‘He has endured some great tragedy in his life. His heart is neither as cold nor as armoured as he may like it to seem. I haven’t known him this emotional and vulnerable to wounding before.

Take care, dear Miss Gray, I fear you don’t know your power. ’

Eliza looked at her, startled. ‘I would never seek to wound Lord Purfoy. He is the only man I have ever loved. I knew this from the first moment I saw him.’

Corinna nodded, an anxious frown still on her face.

‘I understand your sentiment entirely. That first recognition of love is irresistible. But it’s not always what’s best for us, you know.

’ She took a deep breath. ‘Mr Flynn has told me that he has asked you to marry him and accompany him to New York?’

Eliza’s answer was emphatic. ‘And I have told him I cannot agree.’

‘Are you sure? He’s a good man, and with little family to detain you here you would have a comfortable life, an adventurous life in America – and you are an adventurous spirit and full of courage.

You should be proud of how you set out alone to make your way in a world too often harsh and hostile to a young woman such as you. ’

‘Why do you want me to consider him, Mrs Wolfe, when you surmise Lord Purfoy might return my affections?’

Corinna coloured at the direct question. ‘You’re right, it seems contradictory of me when I want Raven Purfoy to be happy. It’s just he’s a complicated man and perhaps not easy to love. Whereas Zadoc Flynn is plain-woven and as regular as they come, with a happy gift for optimism.’

Eliza felt a rush of affection for Corinna.

She recognised she had a maternal concern for her happiness too.

So rare was this in her life, it touched her heart.

She put a hand out and grasped Corinna’s.

‘I know Lord Purfoy is difficult; perhaps with the sensitivities of a thoroughbred, he’ll rear up, throw me off and bolt.

But when someone has captured your soul, how can you give it to another?

I am prepared for the challenges.’ She coloured at the thought that she even had a chance.

‘Anyway, I’m skilled at handling high-bred stallions.

’ She met Corinna’s eyes and they both laughed.

‘Well I’d rather it be you with that particular tricky beast than me,’ Corinna said, still smiling.

‘I’m very happy to have a steady prancer in my dearest Mr Wolfe.

’ She kissed Eliza on the cheek. ‘Sleep well. I must check that Emma is still peaceful. You see, responsibilities rather militate against the kind of transcendent passion you would live by.’ And with that, she turned and ran up the stairs to the nursery.