Ashford furrows his brows in anger, so I turn round to see who they’re referring to.
It’s Carter, who comes closer to greet me as soon as he notices I’m there.
“Hello, Jemma.” Then he turns towards the other two men. “Harring, Parker.”
“Didn’t you have anything better to do?” Ashford asks.
“Not better than what I see here,” Carter replies. I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but I think he looked at me while saying that.
“You’re not welcome.”
“How strange,” Carter says, pulling a card out of his jacket. “My invitation says the opposite.”
Ashford and Harring are totally baffled.
Okay, God helps those who help themselves… that’s what they say, isn’t it? Since I knew that Ashford would never invite Carter to the meet, I took one of the blank invitations, I put it in an envelope with his address on it, and I hid it among those to be sent.
“You look surprised,” Carter observes.
“I am. About what I did,” Ashford replies, holding the invitation in his hands with anger.
The field are gathering in the courtyard, so Ashford gives the invitation back to Carter. “It’s time to go.”
Ashford mounts his horse and rides through the crowd shouting ‘Tally ho’.
32
Ashford’s Version
‘My invitation says the opposite.’
Fuck you, Willoughby.
I didn’t send him a bloody thing. Apparently, Jemma’s completely in ecstasy about that good-for-nothing.
She looks at him with wide eyes as if he were the eighth wonder of the world and she hangs on his every word as if he were a guru.
If she knew what I know, she would stay miles away from him.
Wait a second.
Where the hell are they?
33
Jemma’s Version
We ride at full speed, because Ashford wants to keep it fast, certainly he wants to prove that he’s the best, as usual. So cocky. No man who’s really self-confident needs to prove anything.
Carter rides at my speed; when the rest are about to head deep into the woods, we slow down until our horses are almost walking.
“Aren’t you going to catch up with your husband?” He asks.
“I’ll give him a head start.”
“Bad idea. He’s a Parker. He’ll believe he deserved it,” Carter replies, getting closer to me.
“I have no doubt about it.”
