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Chapter 16
Alice was still browsing the shops in the High Street when there was a clatter of hooves. She looked up to see Jack riding on a large brown horse and with another grey one in tow.
"I was just coming up to see you," Alice smiled.
"Then it's you lucky day. Why don't you ride back to the centre with me."
Melanie appeared out of her office and waved to Jack. But, seeing Alice, didn't come over and instead walked rapidly off down the road. Her tight skirt was not made for speed and Jack watched the exaggerated hip movements with relish.
"You can put your eyes back in now," said Alice, "I thought she was also married. You're a bit of a naughty boy, aren't you Jack?"
"You've discovered quite a lot in such a small amount of time, I see," said Jack, not seeming to mind her criticism. "So, are you coming for a ride or not."
Alice had not ridden for many years and although she was wearing a pair of soft linen red trousers to match her red polo neck, climbing aboard the horse was not easy. Jack dismounted and gave her a helping hand that unnecessarily spent a long time on her bottom. She gave him a disapproving stare in return but he just grinned.
Then they were off at an easy loping gait down the high street and then onto a bridle way that led up the hill. At the top, the moors spread out in front of them with yellow gorse and green bracken.
"Fancy a gallop?" Without waiting for a reply, Jack leaned over and slapped Alice's mount and it shot off like an express train.
"Aaahh," yelled Alice as she struggled to keep her seat.
Then Jack was besides her encouraging both horses forward with wild cries. The ground underneath her was moving at a frightening speed. The occasional tree whipped overhead causing Alice to duck or be knocked off. The moors spread out beneath them as the hooves pounded on the turf.
"That was a pretty stupid thing to do," yelled Alice, as she struggled to stay on her mount, "you could get us killed riding as fast as this."
Jack's only reply was another wild yell as he urged his mount forward even faster.
The edge of the moor was coming closer now and the horses, who had done this ride many times before, began to slow until they were again at walking pace well before the track came to an end. Alice brought her horse to a stop and looked over the edge down the side of the hill. The track they had followed must have been curved because the riding stables were just below. She was flushed with the excitement and out of breath with the effort but relieved she had come to no harm.
Jack came up besides her looking at her with a strange expression.
"You're one heck of a rider," he said.
"And if I hadn't have been?" Alice left the rest of the sentence hanging on the clear air.
"The ground is soft up here. You wouldn't have been hurt," he said defensively.
Alice snorted in derision but left it at that.
Jack led the way down the hill to the riding stable. There was a group of people waiting so Alice couldn't say any more. Had she been given the chance she would have given him a piece of her mind he wouldn't have forgotten.
She knew the gallop with a rider who was untried and untested was an extremely dangerous thing to do.
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