“My feeling was you would want to join the Bennets at their estate as soon as possible,” Darcy stated. It was the truth—mostly. “However, if I am in error, then I will wait for Invictus to be readied.”
“You are not wrong in your assumption. I intend to ride out in about an hour,” Richard informed his cousin. “Do you not want to join me at Longbourn? We are to have dinner there tonight after all.”
“I need a nice long, punishing ride. After my bath, I have some correspondence to review. When I have completed my business I will be happy to join you at the Bennets’ estate.” Darcy mounted Zeus and doffed his beaver to his cousin who gave him a jaunty salute in return. He wheeled Zeus and was soon trotting towards the fields. Once he passed the stables, he brought his stallion to a canter and soon thereafter a gallop.
As he had on his previous ride, horse and rider cleared the fence that separated Longbourn and Netherfield Park with feet to spare. Darcy had been riding for about ten minutes on Bennet's land when he saw a flash of movement in an adjoining field. There on Penny, riding astride at full gallop unapologetically, was his Helen of Troy. Like Menelaus, if any other suitors emerged for her, he would be victorious.
A little before he spied her on her black and white mare, Darcy had slowed to a trot. He spurred Zeus into a full gallop as he pointed him to a point where the two riders would intersect.
He had to grin when he spied the groom and footman on their geldings fighting to keep up with their mistress.
Luckily for the escorts, Miss Bennet must have seen him because she gradually slowed her horse. By the time he reached them, she had stopped the mare and was looking at him expectantly with an arched eyebrow.
If it was possible in the early morning light, she looked even more beautiful than she had the previous night at the assembly.
When Darcy pulled Zeus to a stop next to her, Miss Bennet was smiling. “Good morning, Mr. Darcy. Is this not too late for you to be riding? I have been at it for some time now.” Elizabeth smiled at the handsome man on his large stallion. She estimated his horse was one to two hands higher than Penny.
“It is good to see you again, Miss Bennet,” Darcy stated as he doffed his hat and gave a half bow while seated in his saddle. “Thanks to a rathereventfulnight, we did not get as much sleep as normal.”
Elizabeth did not feel like she could ask what he was referring to unless he volunteered more information. “I was about to return to the stables,” Elizabeth related. “As I intimated, I am at the tail end of my ride.”
“I see what you are doing,” Darcy stated with a broad grin.
“And what pray tell would that be?” Elizabeth challenged.
“Rather than lose a race to Zeus and me, you and your Penny have an excuse to retire from the field,” Darcy stated as he removed some imaginary lint from his riding jacket.
“Even though my Penelope has been running for some time, I am sure she will still best that enormous beast of yours,” Elizabeth responded. She got a determined glint in her eye. The handsome Mr. Darcy could not possibly have known she never backed down from a challenge—as long as it was safe.
“If that be the case, shall we,” Darcy prodded.
“Elizabeth turned to the groom. “Jim ride out to the tree,” she inclined her head towards the tree a little more than a half mile from them. “Signal me with your arm when you are in position.”
“Aye Miss Lizzy,” the groom averred with an inscrutable grin, and took off towards where his mistress had instructed.
In a few minutes, he was in place and waved his arm at them. “When you are ready, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth offered him the advantage of deciding when to begin. “Do not think aboutallowingme to win!” Darcy nodded he would not do that.
The two horses were side by side with about three feet separating them. Darcy looked at the magnificent woman next to him. Then he looked towards the distant tree where the groom waited. He took up any slack on the reins and as soon as he felt he was ready, he dug his heels into Zeus’s flanks and they were off. His stallion was at full gallop within seconds.
Elizabeth spurred Penny about a second after Mr. Darcy took off. A quarter of the way there she was riding next to him.
Darcy was rather shocked, he had not for an instant thought Penny and Miss Bennet would be able to catch up to him, never mind maintain the same pace as Zeus. Each time he urged his stallion to increase his pace, Miss Bennet and her mare kept the same position never falling back.
When they reached what Darcy guessed was the three-quarter mark, He heard the most alluring tinkling laugh above the thundering of the hooves. Miss Bennet looked at him knowingly, gave him an impertinent wave, and then lowered her upper body until she was almost lying on her mare’s neck.
At that moment, Miss Bennet and Penny increased their speed, and Zeus was unable to match it. By the time she reached the tree, there was close to two horse lengths between them.
When a roundly defeated Darcy pulled his horse up tostand next to hers, she was giving him an impish smile. “Did I mention Penny is one of the fastest horses to come out of Richard’s estate?”
“No, I was unaware of that,” Darcy remembered Richard speaking of a bloodline which had been bred for speed. He had always thought stamina would have to have been sacrificed in those horses, evidently he had erred.
“One of Penny’s sisters and two of her brothers have won at Ascot,” Elizabeth revealed.
“Poor Zeus will have a rather bruised ego to lose to a mare, and one smaller than himself,” Darcy lamented playfully.
“I am sure he will recover, all the others I beat have done so,” Elizabeth stated. “Now if you will excuse me, I am on my way home. After I break my fast I am going to visit Anne. She is due a report from the assembly.”
“Richard will soon be at Longbourn and I will join him later.” Darcy maneuvered his horse until there was barely any distance between Zeus and Penny. He took Elizabeth’s hand closest to him and impetuously leaned down and kissed it. “I look forward to seeing you when you return from Oak Hollow.”
