Playing To Win

“Tattersall’s.”

“But ladies don’t go there!” he blurted out.

“Well, I’m not going, of course—you are.”

“Why are you riding with me, then?”

“I want to try the horse out straightaway. We shall be near Hyde Park, anyway.”

When they reached Tattersall’s, Sera rode boldly into the courtyard and commanded a lounging groom to take her horse.

“But you said you were not coming,” Jeffers protested.

“Not to the sale, silly. That won’t start for an hour or more. I must at least look at what they have to know what I want.” She strode past the line of carriages under the portico and into the stables themselves. Jeffers looked about nervously, but there was no one to be seen except a few stable boys, who merely gawked at Sera as she wandered from one stall to another. She gave a blood chestnut a good deal of attention, commanding Jeffers to check the animal’s feet. This nearly got him kicked, and Sera spoke threateningly to the horse in a low, menacing voice that Jeffers could hardly credit as coming from her.

She had learned a trick or two in the theater, and was not above using them. The beast snapped to attention, as though he were trying to see where the new voice came from.

“Well?” she demanded.

“He looks sound enough, but you can’t be thinking about buying this one. Lord Cairnbrooke would have my head if I bought this beast for you to ride.”

“Let’s see what else they have.”

But Sera was not much interested in the rest of the stock, now that the chestnut had taken her fancy. She could remember Casius being so cresty and snorting proud in his youth. Ivy’s colt had possessed just such a temperament, she thought sadly. Tony was right about one thing. She did need a younger horse. She had forgotten what it was like to be challenged by a beast to a contest of wills.

“How long before he comes up to auction?”

“I don’t know. We could be here all day.”

“I told you, I don’t intend to stay. Here’s the money. You bid on him. Go up to two hundred. After that, use your own judgment. I’m going to trot around the park until you’ve done.”

“M’lady, I can’t leave you to ride alone!”

“What can possibly happen to me on this horse?” Sera demanded as he gave her a leg up. “Either you stay and bid on the chestnut, or I will. Those are your choices.”

Jeffers looked miserably torn and Sera took pity on him.

“Trust me, Jeffers. I know what I’m about.” Somehow this did not steady Jeffers’s nerves.

It was little more than an hour later when Sera saw Jeffers leading the chestnut toward the park.

“You got him! Switch my saddle over onto him.”

“I think I had best lead him home. You can try him tomorrow,” Jeffers suggested, knowing full well Lord Cairnbrooke would prevent such a disaster.

“Nonsense,” said Sera, guessing exactly what Jeffers was thinking. “That would give him another day to rest. Now is the time to best him, when he’s still tired from his travels. I do know how to saddle a horse myself, and I can get on one alone if I have to.” Sera said this in such a threatening way, Jeffers led the horses to a more secluded part of Hyde Park to make the switch.

“Lead the bay. I won’t get too far ahead of you,” she said, as he helped her mount the chestnut.

“But m’lady—” Jeffers gave up all hope then. The young Lady Cairnbrooke would surely be killed, and he would be to blame. It was not himself he was worried about. Even though he had served in the Cairnbrooke household since his youth, Sera’s pathetic situation had won over his sympathies, as well. He could see young Lord Cairnbrooke turning into just such a tyrant as his father had been, and he did not like it.

Sera kept the chestnut at a controlled canter to show Jeffers she could. “Now for a bit of a gallop to see what he’ll do,” she said over her shoulder.

“No, I beg of you!”

Sera let the horse gallop for a few minutes, until they were approaching a line of trees, then pulled him in with a series of determined tugs. The beast tried to grab the bit and wrestle control from her, but she persisted and, despite some head-thrashing and a few choppy bucks, she brought him to a halt that reassured Jeffers to some extent. He had not seen Sera ride before, and now wondered how his master could ever have thought a mare would be too much for her.

“Safe enough in the open,” Sera commented. “I wonder what he’ll do among the trees. We used to play hunt-the-squirrel in the woods around the farm.”

Sera let the chestnut trot, then canter, as they twisted and turned among the trees. The beast changed leads naturally, and had a certain military grace to him. That was when it hit Jeffers where he had seen the animal before. He was one of Major Kurtland’s war-horses. At least he shouldn’t spook over nothing, but who could guess what bad habits he had picked up in the cavalry?

Still, the horse seemed to be following Sera’s commands until they came to a straight stretch of trail and the beast appeared to miscalculate. He would surely carry the girl right into a tree! Just as Jeffers was about to yell a warning, Sera gave the left rein a yank and caught the beast a rap across the left ear with her whip. The chestnut went down on his right shoulder, and Sera hopped off before he could recover himself. When the horse stood, he looked around suspiciously.

“Yes, it was me, you fool. That’s the oldest trick a horse has ever invented. Don’t try it again.”

That strange voice, low and penetrating, was now surely coming from Sera. The horse regarded her with new respect, as did Jeffers. “Are you hurt, m’lady?” he asked, dismounting.

“No, of course not. I do not think I have hurt his mouth too badly. I would never do that to a young horse, and a cut across the ears could ruin a novice, but he had it coming. I think we shall give him one more go at this stretch and then call it quits for today.”

“You don’t mean to get back on? I just remembered who he is. They call him Satan at Kurtland’s stable.”

“No, I think Satin would be better, Red Satin. And of course I will ride him home.”

“You will scare Lord Cairnbrooke to death if he sees you on this horse.”

“Do you think so? Then we have bought the right one. Now give me a leg up.”

Jeffers complied and trotted after his mistress, beginning to be a little afraid of what she had in mind. She turned the horse and rode him straight at the same tree, as Jeffers looked on.

A shout of “Don’t even think about it!” made Satin’s ears prick back, but his eyes did not again stray to the tempting limb. Sera praised him fulsomely for not trying to kill her again and let him walk to cool down a little.

“This does not make him safe, you know,” Jeffers warned.

“I expect he will try it at least once more.”

“Where did you learn that trick?”

“From Chadwick. You are sure he is coming back?”

“I know he has not been dismissed, but he did not say where he was going. You could ask Lord Cairnbrooke.”

“Without knowing the answer, it’s not a safe question. So few of them are,” Sera confided. “Tony is a man of deeds, not words. Makes it very hard to communicate with him sometimes. I never really know what’s eating at him.”

Jeffers looked bleak at this news, and he followed Sera, leading the bay and hoping his employer would not see them until he could prepare him for the news.

* * *

When Sera came in, glowing from her ride and full of plans for worrying Tony, she found Armand Travesian sitting with Lady Amanda, and Lady Amanda laughing. Sera had never before seen her mother-in-law blush, but Armand could charm anyone.