“Indra!” she said, before turning to Sebastian. “Sir!”
Sebastian grinned and zipped up his trousers. “Good morning, Helen. It’s a pretty good one, I think.”
Helen glanced out the window. “It’s raining, sir.”
Indra barely suppressed a giggle and caught his grin.
“So it is,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair and reaching out for his shirt. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Helen looked away, her blushing cheeks revealing exactly how embarrassed she was.
“I’m sorry, Helen,” said a chastened Indra. “Sebastian and I had an unwelcome visitor last night. Someone had drunk too much and…” She paused, searching for an explanation for their predicament. He decided to come to her rescue.
“And he played a prank on us, not realizing we’d be stuck up here with no way to get out. Until you came.”
“Right,” said Helen, depositing some files on Indra’s desk. “Right,” she said again, smoothing down her perfectly ironed dress. She only looked at Indra now, whose blushing cheeks tried to out-perform Helen’s. “I’ll, um, leave you now, but call me if you need me to go over anything.” She took a few steps but still refused to meet Sebastian’s eye. “Sir,” she said in a strangled voice, before hurrying out and too firmly closing the door.
Indra fell back against the door and put her hand to her head. “Oh, no! How embarrassing was that?”
Sebastian shrugged. “I wasn’t embarrassed,” he said, stepping towards her. Her flushed cheeks looked flushed for another reason now. “Nothing to be concerned about. Wearemarried, after all.”
Her expression changed and he could see that, somehow, amongst all the passion of last night, she’d forgotten. “I guess we are.”
He finished doing up his buttons before he cupped her face and kissed her. “So, Lady Richmond, that makes last night totally appropriate.”
Her eyes were already dark with desire. “I guess it does.”
“Which would also make this totally appropriate, don’t you think?”
He slipped his hands under her clothes and played with her nipples. She gasped and closed her eyes. She swallowed convulsively until he could resist no longer and kissed her long and hard, pressing his erection against her, wanting her to know exactly how much he wanted her. She moaned and caressed his butt, bringing him even more closely against her.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Indra sprang away. She shook her head, half-laughing as she re-arranged her top. “We have work today,” she said. “Remember? You arranged for the horses to run at Holkham Beach.”
He had forgotten. And he’d also forgotten the real reason he’d arranged it. And that had nothing to do with the horses and everything to do with exposing Indra to the big wide world and one horse dealer in particular. As soon as Indra had mentioned which country her father had dealings with, he suspected his guess about armaments had been correct. It was well known that Russia was one of the largest exporters of armaments to India, and his investigators had confirmed it. And he’d located a Russian billionaire whose hobby was horse racing, and invited him to visit. He wanted to see Indra’s reaction to the Russian, hoping it would prompt her to confess her past to him. He could stop it now, but then, he might never know the full story around her past. And he still needed to know, except maybe, now, it was for a different reason.
Chapter9
Indra had never been to the coast here before. While her mother had been alive, she’d been vigilant about keeping a low profile and not moving far from the estate. And after her mother had passed away she’d stayed at the estate with Charles, who’d become anxious about her straying too far. And now, as she looked around, she realized how much she’d been missing.
At Holkham, the land was flat. Beyond Holkham Hall lay the beach, with its vast golden sands which stretched between the grassy dunes and the sea. It was the perfect place for showcasing the form of their best horses. She flattened her hand against the long strands of hair which had escaped her French twist, made fashionably messy by the brisk wind, so she could see the approaching horses. The sound of the pounding of horses’ hooves came closer, vibrating through the soft sands and into her body.
Sebastian touched her arm. “Over there!” She followed his finger to a point in the sand dunes around which three horses suddenly emerged. Their riders perched above them as they appeared to float across the flat yellow sands, hooves shooting up a spray behind them as they moved in front of the streak of gray-blue sea.
She listened to Sebastian talk to the visitors about the horses with a knowledge which she couldn’t equal. Her expertise was in estate management, the accounts and staffing, not the horses. But Sebastian spoke with an ease which he’d gained growing up on the estate. His love for horses was obvious and broke through his usual reserve.
The thudding increased as they approached, slamming by in a whirl of sand and vibration before galloping past, toward the line of pine trees which marked the end of the beach. It was a beautiful sight. The men began talking to Sebastian again about their form and what they could expect from the Richmond training center if they kept their horses there. But what Indra didn’t understand was why Sebastian had insisted she accompany him.
Between the Richmond training manager and Sebastian, they had everything covered. As the day progressed, she could only think of one thing—that he wanted her there for more personal reasons. He was certainly attentive, placing a casual, but proprietorial arm around her shoulders at various times during the day, even kissing her on the cheek in a rare display of affection which warmed her heart. Yes, everything pointed to him simply wanting her there as his wife. Maybe originally it had been to present a united front, but after last night, everything had changed.
“It’s so beautiful here,” said Indra, turning and walking a few steps backwards, to look once more at the vast stretch of beach before it became hidden by the pine forest through which the path ran.
“It should be. It’s been well cared for by the Earls of Leicester who own it, along with the nature reserve and the rest of the 25,000 acre estate. It had to be impressive for visits from their neighbors.”
She pushed her wind-lashed hair back from her face and smiled, glancing at the hall. “The royal family at Sandringham. I read that Queen Elizabeth and her sister used to come here as children, to play with the Earl’s children.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
They continued to talk easily as they walked back together to the line of Land Rovers parked along the grand avenue which led to the beach. At the other end of the beach, miles distant, stood the stately Palladian mansion of Holkham Hall, where they were headed.