Romance: Detective Romance: A Vicious Affair (Victorian Regency Intrigue 19th England Romance) (Historical Mystery Detective Romance) (83 page)

     As the church’s mustached, silver-haired pastor took the podium at the altar of the chapel, Jacob somehow found it difficult to concentrate on his opening words until, that was, his lovely angel took her own place at the head of the church.

     “Our own Lorelei Harris would like to speak to the young people of our congregation about her wonderful new riding club here at Willowbrook,” the pastor announced, joining the now smiling congregation in applauding the young lady who now took the stage.

     “So I guess these folks do like somebody, after all,” Jacob mused, even as he joined in the round of applause that filled the air around them. “Consider yourself lucky, girl.”

     Soon, his troubled meditation was disrupted by the sound of a soft, sonorous voice; one that soothed his addled nerves as its bearer faced the crowd.

     The lass came dressed in a full length calico dress of sweet cornflower blue, one trimmed down the front and at the cuffs with lustrous lines of sweet ivory lace.

     “It’s so odd,” he reasoned in silence, “this girl and her gown do not rival the glamour of the woman I left behind earlier this week. Yet somehow, in some way, she transfixes me far more.”

     He seemed, in fact, to hang on her every word as she opened her pearl pink lips to speak.

     “Howdy, all,” she greeted the congregation, meeting their applause with a deep dramatic bow that drew laughter from those gathered. “Well, as you know, I am Lorelei Harris, equestrian extraordinaire—that is to say I roughly can tell the front end of a horse from its back end, and also happen to know a few folks who take pride in
actin’
like the back end.”

     Her angelic grin turned downright devilish as the crowd chortled loud in response to her words.

     “Sorry, Pastor,” she told the abiding reverend, adding as she spread her hands out wide before her, “well, like Pastor said, I have indeed started a riding club at this here church—one open to just about anyone who is either young or young at heart. Bring your own horse and a picnic lunch, and feel free to meet us this afternoon at 4 p.m. sharp,” she declared, finishing off her spiel with a hearty, “Yee-haw!”

     “Yee-haw!” Jacob responded, whipping his tall white hat clean off his head and waving it high in the air above them. “I shall be there with bells, you had better believe it!”

*****

That afternoon, Lorelei once again found herself riding astride her prized ivory mare, reins held firmly in hand as she and Daffodil coursed the length of the meadow.

     Having exchanged her church dress for a long black riding skirt and
a practical
button down denim shirt, the enthused rider brought her horse to a smooth cantor as she greeted the arrival of one of her loyal club members:
a prim
, petite brunette named Norma Grey.

     Appearing as usual rather petrified to be riding the back of a large and rather ungainly beast, Norma nonetheless managed a faint smile as she approached her best friend from finishing school.

     “I am the first to arrive for the
club
today, as is customary,” she announced in a tone that expressed the belief that someone would actually place any value and importance on this fact.

     Lorelei grinned.

     “Hey Norma,” she greeted her friend, adding with a sharp nod, “you are indeed the first to show today, but we have to wait for at least four or five others—including the very handsome newcomer we saw at church today.”

     Norma shook her head.

     “I am sorry to tell you this, my dear, but we must be very wary of that gentleman,” she advised her friend, adding as she inclined her head sharp in Lorelei’s direction, “in point of fact, I am not even certain that we should allow him admittance into our club.” She paused here, adding as she tilted her pert chin to high and haughty effect, “We are, after all, a Christian organization.”

     Lorelei had heard enough.

     “We are indeed a Christian club,” she affirmed, adding with an affirming nod, “and as such, we must be accepting and loving of all who wish to come into our flock. This is how we would want it, and this is how the good Lord would want it.”

     Norma sniffed.

     “Why don’t you ask Mr. Jacob exactly what he wants,” she countered, adding in a confidential, most scandalized tone, “his answer is likely to run along the lines of, ‘married women.’”

     Lorelei froze.

     “What are you tryin’ to say, Norma?” she asked her friend, her own voice lowered to a concerned whisper.

     Norma sighed.

     “Do I have to draw ya a picture, my friend?” she asked Lorelei, pursing her lips in a show of blatant sarcasm.

     Lorelei shook her head.

     “Actually, I prefer that you not,” she told her friend, cheeks flushing bright red at the very thought.

     Completely and totally ignoring this rather pointed directive, Norma bellowed out in the loudest tone possible, “He ruined Lillibet Townsend!”

     Lorelei blinked.

     “Lillibet Townsend is married,” she reasoned. “How in the blazes can you ruin a woman who has already been,” she paused here, striving to find the most appropriate word for something totally inappropriate, “married?”

     Norma shook her head.

     “Lillibet betrayed her husband with this immoral demon!” she declared, adding as she pointed an authoritative finger straight in the direction of her gaping friend, “and it is for this reason that we cannot admit him into our group. We cannot permit him to taint our holy pool of sanctity with his evil ways.”

     Lorelei pursed her lips.

     “Lillibet is a grown woman, is she not?”

     Norma nodded.

     “She is,” she admitted, tone slow and begrudging.

     “She is,” Lorelei repeated, adding with a shrug, “and unless Mr. Jacob forced himself on her, which I take it he did not, then what we have here are two adults who have sinned—as we all have, at some point in our lives.”

     “You, my lady, are a very bright woman—one I’d surely like to get to know better.”

     Biting her lip as she realized too late that she and Norma were not alone, Lorelei lifted her head to regard the subject of their conversation, one currently mounted on a sleek ebony charger as he rode across the meadow straight in their direction.

     Jacob Clayton, she just had to note, looked even more handsome in the light of the sun; his honey blond hair and sky blue eyes shining in the scope of its ebullient rays.

     He also happened to cut a handsome figure atop his stately charger, his muscular frame the very picture of stateliness and regality as he trotted with regal grace in her direction.

    
Only this gent is no white knight
, she reminded herself, adding aloud, “Welcome to our club, Mr. Clayton.”

     She relaxed a bit as he met these words with a devastating white toothed smile, one that came accented by the charming tip of his tall, ivory white hat.

     “It’s Jacob,” he corrected her gently, adding as he inclined his head in her direction, “And I thank you kindly, Ma’am.”

     After waiting for other members of the club to join them in the meadow, the leader of the riding club led her enthused minions in a steady procession along the side of a brook; steady, at least until her newest recruit challenged her to a race.

     “Come on, Ms. Lorelei,” Jacob invited her, digging his heels into the sides of his mount as he rode up alongside her, “let’s ride with the wind!”

     Never one to pass up a challenge, Lorelei soon found herself flying on horseback, soaring once again as her horse galloped at a frantic pace—her hooves barely touching the grasses beneath her as the two floated together in radiant tandem.

     This time, though, they did not fly alone.

     At one point, Jacob and Lorelei turned to one another as their gazes collided between them, also sharing a secret smile as their horses ran neck and neck.

     Suddenly, they found themselves sharing a divine and almost ethereal experience; reveling in the ride as their horses carried them into the realm of heavenly paradise.

     Their gazes held as they ran together in search of a certain goal; yet instead of racing proper, passing one another with breakneck speed, each seemed to hold back a bit so as not to pass the other.

     Then, as they reached the end of the meadow, Jacob and Lorelei shocked and totally scandalized the riding club by holding hands between them.

     Crossing what seemed to be an imaginary finish line moments later, the couple laughed in spite of themselves as they came to a dead stop at the center of the meadow.

     “Let’s call it a draw, sweet Lorelei,” Jacob told her, squeezing her fingers between his own as they finally dismounted.

     Within moments, they joined their fellow and sister club members for a picnic by the brook; balmy breezes blowing their hair as they enjoyed a spread of ham and cheese sandwiches, sweetest hominy, fresh buttered yeast rolls, and creamy refreshing goat’s milk.

     Seated close together on a crisp checkerboard picnic cloth, the couple talked of their lifelong love of horses, as well as the duties and responsibilities that both bore out on the range.

     “I have always wanted to know what it was like to tend my own ranch,” Lorelei told Jacob, adding with a shrug, “now, of course, I love helping out my parents as they sow and tend their land. Still and all, I would love someday to claim some land that is only mine—something of my own.”

     Jacob nodded.

     “Well, do allow me to assure you, Lorelei, that there is indeed nothing quite like the experience of culling your own land, growing your own crops, having a ranch that belongs only to you,” he assured her, adding as he made a broad gesture across the gem green meadow before them, “I lose myself sometimes in all that natural beauty—all the flowers and trees. I feel as though I have my own personal haven, one situated well away from all the noise and bother I find in town.”

     Lorelei smiled.

     “Sounds wonderful,” she praised, adding as she cast a contemplative look in the direction of the azure sky, “you know something, Jacob? I never did want to be a farmer’s wife, as much as I wanted to be a farmer. I want to be out in the fields and the great outdoors, not hidden away in the kitchen.”

     Jacob nodded.

     “Well, you can do both, you know,” he reasoned with a shrug, adding with a meaningful look aimed straight in her direction, “some gents might rightly favor a wife who can lend a helping hand out on the ranch, showing a real sense of adventure while bringing her own special ideas and perspective to the mix.”

     Lorelei shrugged.

     “I must say that it is good to hear a gentleman express that sentiment,” she praised him, adding through gritted teeth, “I am afraid, however, that your ideas do not seem to be shared by the vast majority of men in this age. And this distresses me greatly, as my parents have been pressing me as of late to find a husband—and quick.”

     Jacob looked at her for a long moment, then took her hand once again in his.

     “Miss Lorelei, I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed this afternoon,” he told her, tone soft and sincere as he raised her hand to his soft full lips for a long, lingering kiss. “I also cannot express the depths of my appreciation to you for accepting me without prejudice or reservation into your group.”

     Lorelei nodded.

     “The pleasure is mine, Jacob,” she told him, adding as she squeezed his hand in hers, “all of us make mistakes in life, and each and every one of us was born a sinner. What’s important here,
Jacob
is that you are committing yourself to the pursuit of purification; committed to leading a Godly life, rejecting all of the sin and temptation that may have plagued you
before
this moment.”

     Jacob shifted his gaze to the blanket beneath them, fighting a wave of unbidden tears that suddenly flooded his eyes.

     “You have such a dear and kind heart, Ma’am,” he praised her, adding as he lifted his gaze to stare deep into her eyes, “I can’t help but to have the feeling that I met you at just the right time.” He paused here, adding with a charming smile, “I do hear, Miss Lorelei, that the church will be hosting a barn dance next Saturday. Would you care to be my date for the evening?”

     Lorelei blushed, grinning in spite of herself as she considered this sudden but very flattering invitation.

     “No,” she replied. “Absolutely not.”

*****

“No?”

     Jacob blinked hard as he sat back harder on the surface of their checkerboard picnic blanket, regarding the woman before him with a deep frown as he pressed her, “Did you just say no?”

     Lorelei nodded.

     “What’s
wrong
cowboy, never heard that particular word from a woman?” she asked, her eyebrows arched in a caustic fashion. “Well, if it helps you out to hear a definition, the word no is the direct opposite of yes …”