Alice was browsing the tiny village shops in the High Street and wondering whether buying West Country holiday home cottage accommodation in this small Devon village would be fun when there was a clatter of hooves behind her.
She looked up, startled, to see Jack riding on a large brown horse and with another grey one in tow.
“I was just thinking of coming up to see you,” Alice smiled, knowing she wasn’t.
“Then it’s your lucky day. Why don’t you ride back to the riding centre with me?”
Melanie appeared out of her office and waved to Jack. Seeing Alice, she didn’t come over but instead walked rapidly off down the road. Her tight skirt was not made for speed and Jack didn’t hide he was watching her tight hip movements with relish.
“You can put your eyes back in now,” said Alice, following his gaze, “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 horse riding or not.”
Alice had not ridden a horse 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 seemed unnecessarily to spend a long time pushing on her bottom. She gave him a disapproving stare once she was mounted but he just grinned.
Then they were off at an easy loping gait down the village lanes and then onto the bridleway that led up the hill. When they reached 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 which immediately shot off like an express train.
“Aah,” yelled Alice as she struggled to keep her seat.
Then Jack was besides her encouraging both horses forward with wild cries. The ground underneath Alice was moving past at a frightening speed. The occasional tree whipped overhead causing Alice to duck or be knocked off. The moors spread out beneath them and the sea was in the distance as their hooves pounded against the turf.
“That was a pretty stupid thing to do,” yelled Alice, as she struggled to stay mounted, “you could get me 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. Did Alice detect a note of disappointment in his voice?
“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,” Jack said defensively.
Alice snorted in derision.
Jack led the way down the hill to the riding stables. There was a group of people waiting so Alice couldn’t say any more. Had she been given the chance she would have given Jack a piece of her mind that he wouldn’t have forgotten.
Alice was certain that Jack, as an owner of West Country riding stables, would know that to go horse riding and break into a gallop with a horse rider of unknown ability was an extremely dangerous thing to do.