“I don’t see how anyone will see anything,” Althea said.
“It appears that they are spreading out near the racecourse. It is over a mile run, so better views will be had away from the finish.”
Of course, they needed to go to where the race would finish, so that did not help them much. Finally, after considerable dodging and weaving, they found themselves below the large stand where the royal family watched in comfort from on high.
That grandstand was the only permanent building, but other stands set up temporarily flanked it. A few large tents in turn surrounded them.
Clara forced herself not to look up at those stands. One belonged to Brentworth, who had a horse running. It would be his footman who came to invite them up, if anyone did at all.
“Do not look so glum,” Althea said. “I am sure that you have put more weight on his mood this morning than is warranted. Should the worst happen, you and I will enjoy the day, and you will stay with me in that very nice house tonight. It is so charming that I am becoming spoiled. I am sure he had to let it for more than two days. Perhaps you and I will stay there for a week before going back.”
Clara hooked her arm through Althea’s. “That sounds heavenly. We can spend the time plotting out the next three issues of the journal between visits to the spa for long soaks.”
They found a spot where they might see something other than men’s top hats and ladies’ bonnets. No sooner had they elbowed their way there than a liveried footman approached to inform them that the Duke of Brentworth requested their company in his stand.
“See,” Althea said while they followed the footman back through the throng.
Clara thought she would notseeanything until she looked in Stratton’s eyes again.
Chapter Nineteen
“We should put forth a bill to have the road from London improved,” Langford said. He stood beside Adam while they gazed out over the crowd to the ground that the horses would run. On Langford’s other side stood the fashionable and lovely Mrs. Harper. From the way she and Langford traded smiles, Adam assumed Mrs. Harper was a new and accommodating mistress.
Brentworth watched on Adam’s other side. Brentworth had left his mistress back in London. Adam assumed that most of the ton did not even know he had one.
Others milled in the stand. As the owner of one of the horses, Brentworth had created a celebration here and invited at least twenty guests to join him. At the back of the stand a table set with silver, tableware and fine cloth held enough food to feed fifty.
Langford and his new lover drifted away to sit on the comfortable chairs provided. They turned their attention solely on each other.
Brentworth glanced over at Mrs. Harper. “I daresay Langford will be much the poorer before she is done with him.”
“They both appear euphorically happy, so I doubt he will mind the cost.”
“Langford has looked like that at least a dozen times in my memory. We are all euphorically happy in the first blush of passion. Except you, apparently. You are brooding, despite your efforts to hide it.”
“It is passing.” And it was. The effect of seeing that place again had been soul shaking, and much worse than he expected. As he stood there it had all come back. The shock and the grief, and also the rage. He had known all of that waited for him out there. He had avoided returning for a reason.
“Perhaps when Lady Clara joins us, it will pass completely. Here she comes.”
“I don’t know how you can see anything in that horde.”
“I have my servants wear livery so I can spot the gold braid on their tricorner hats. Whenever I think of casting off the antiquated traditions, I think of that gold braid and how handy it is for occasions like this.”
Adam spotted the hat and the two women behind it. Clara looked up as she started up the stairs. She saw him immediately. Her smile appeared tentative.
He had behaved badly this morning when he found her at that pool. He had spoken too sharply. He had allowed the past to govern his reaction.
She had guessed why. He could tell she did from the gentle way she spoke to him and the manner in which she had urged him away from that place.
He watched her come, her lovely eyes glistening with humor while she laughed at something Althea said. He had been a chaos of dark emotions this morning, but her mere presence had provided what comfort he knew.
She and Althea entered the stand. He and Brentworth went to them, and Clara introduced her friend. They both thanked him for his kindness in inviting them to watch from this elevated spot.
Adam lured Clara aside. He could see the signs of her hesitation with him. The deep intimacy of the night seemed far away.
“Are you displeased that it took so long to find you and bring you here?” he asked.
“Not at all. With such a crowd it is a wonder the footman managed it.”
