People descended on Rand, shaking his hand, telling him how glad they were he had returned. They stared at Kimi with unbridled curiosity as Rand introduced her. Evidently, the gossip had already started.
“Are we ready to go?” Jon Erikson looked a little drunk on a big chestnut thoroughbred, as he shouted over the baying hounds.
“No, Lenore isn’t here yet. Wouldn’t you know she’d want to make an entrance?”
“Mercy me, here she comes.” Vanessa strained her eyes toward the horizon. “Looks like she stopped to get Shelby.”
The two cantered up together, Lenore leading a tall, ebony mare that snorted and swung its head. The two riders were dressed in dark coats. Kimi admitted to herself that Lenore looked very fashionable in hunt clothes.
“Good morning, y’all.” Lenore gave the assembled crowd of riders a dazzling smile and cooed, “Rand, dear, do ride beside me. I brought Onyx for Kimi.”
Kimi looked at the black horse. There was something about the way it laid its ears back and stamped its hooves that warned her.
Rand studied the mare and shook his head. “Lenore, this looks like a lot of horse for a small woman who hasn’t done any riding to the hounds. Why don’t I exchange horses with her?”
Lenore frowned. “You’d have to change the saddles and there isn’t time. Onyx is a perfectly safe horse–if Kimi can ride.”
It seemed a belligerent challenge. Kimi looked her in the eye. “I can ride,” she said, “Rand, give me a hand.”
He appeared as if he would protest as he stood there slapping his whip against his thigh. Then he seemed to realize the silent war that was raging between the two women. Even as he offered his hands to boost her onto the big horse, Kimi realized with a sudden shock that the saddle was unlike anything she’d ever seen.
Vanessa must have seen her dismayed expression. “Mercy me, haven’t you ever seen a sidesaddle?” She laughed, and a ripple of laughter went through the mounted ladies. “This is the way civilized ladies always ride.”
Kimi looked around at the other women riders. Sure enough, they all sat with both legs on the same side of the horse, long skirt trailing almost to the ground.
Rand must have seen the uncertainty on her face. “Kimi, you don’t have to do this. You can wait for me to change saddles out and give you my reliable–”
“No, on the contrary,” Kimi fixed Vanessa and Lenore with an icy glare through the veil of her jaunty hat. “Miss Lenore has chosen this horse and I think she and your sister intend to have a little fun at my expense. I wouldn’t disappoint them for the world!”
She swung up on the tall horse and settled herself in the sidesaddle. She couldn’t imagine how anyone rode with the thing. It put a twist in her back that she knew would be aching before she had ridden very far. First pointy shoes, corsets and yards of skirt, now a sidesaddle. At least she had her medicine charm back, safely hanging from a gold chain under her riding jacket.
All these dozens of people and baying dogs gathering to go after one small fox? They must not have much to keep them busy. If it had been a herd of fat buffalo or some tasty deer, it would be worth the trouble. She was fast losing her envy and awe of white civilization. The servants circulated among the riders, offering a final stirrup cup to brace them against the crisp autumn air.
The black horse moved restlessly under her, ears laid back. Kimi was an expert rider, but she’d usually ridden bareback and astride. Defiantly, she nudged Onyx and moved up next to Lenore, Shelby, Vanessa and Rand.
Lenore frowned at her. “Since you’re a novice, you really should ride in the back with the ‘hill-toppers’ so you won’t have to try to keep up with us.”
Kimi looked at her. “Where will the best riders be?”
“Why, for pity’s sake, in front, where the action is, of course.”
Kimi set her mouth stubbornly. “Then that’s where I’ll be, too.”
Rand scowled with worry. “Have you ever done any jumping before, Kimi?”
“Only a few creeks and logs.” She saw Lenore and Vanessa exchange satisfied smirks. Kimi had been too trusting. Of course they hoped to make her look like a fool in front of Rand and all the Erikson’s friends. She made a silent vow that she wouldn’t allow that to happen.
The huntsman blew his horn and the dogs trotted across the field, sniffing for a scent. The group of riders followed behind at a slow trot.
Kimi looked over at Lenore. “I don’t see any weapons except whips.”
Rand said, “those are for the dogs, Kimi, we won’t need any weapons.”
“Why not?”
Vanessa and Lenore giggled with delight at her ignorance. “Because, silly, the pack of hounds tears the fox to pieces if they catch it. If we’re to have any of it at all, someone has to whip the dogs back.”
Kimi frowned. “There won’t be much of the meat or fur left after the dogs get through, will there?”
Lenore looked at her as if she were too stupid to be believed. “All we get out of this is the ride, although someone may be awarded the fox’s tail or mask.”
Kimi looked around at all the riders trotting across the field after the big pack of hounds. “It seems like a lot of work for nothing.”
Vanessa said loftily, “It’s a ritual. Of course, we wouldn’t expect an uncivilized girl to understand–”
“Stop it, Vanessa,” Rand snapped.
Lenore smiled. “Now, Rand,” she cooed, “just to show our heart’s in the right place, we’ll see your little friend gets blooded–”
“What?” Kimi asked.
Rand looked ill at ease. “When they take a novice on a first hunt, they smear some of the dead fox’s blood on that rider.”
Kimi looked at him incredulously as they rode. “Rich people are smearing blood on white ladies? And you call the Sioux ‘savages’?”
“For pity’s sake, it’s not the same,” Lenore snapped.
At this point, Kimi decided to say no more. Actually, she was enjoying the ride. Onyx was an excellent mount, but a little spirited.
Abruptly the pack of spotted hounds began an excited baying, took off across the field toward a split rail fence. The huntsman blew his horn to alert the riders and the riders urged their horses into a gallop, following the pack.
Kimi was an excellent rider, but unused to riding sidesaddle with a swirl of skirts. She urged Onyx forward, gritting her teeth as the spirited mare loped toward the fence. The satisfied smirks on the two girls’ faces let her know they expected her to get dumped and they hoped to be there to lead the crowd in laughing. Her pride had gotten in the way. If she had had any sense, she would have let Rand change mounts with her. His bay looked steady and reliable.
The black mare cleared the fence and came down hard on the other side, its hooves throwing up bits of turf as it landed and galloped on. If it hadn’t been for the sidesaddle, Kimi would have loved the ride.
Onyx obviously didn’t intend to be left in the back of the pack of riders. Kimi had a hard time slowing her down as she picked up speed and pace. She glanced around. Somewhere over the past half mile of meadow she had lost track of Rand in the crowd of riders. Up ahead the baying of the hounds echoed over the crisp October morning.
Kimi leaned into the jump, willing herself to feel lighter as the big horse took a low stone wall and kept going. When she glanced back, she saw a chestnut with a blaze face refuse the jump and the lady rider went over the wall in a tumble of skirts with her hat askew. A rolling meadow lay ahead, and the speed of Kimi’s mount put her near the front of the pack of riders. Onyx jumped a brook that caused two horses to refuse, and their riders went tumbling over their heads into the water. Up ahead was a solid brick wall that looked as tall as a man’s head. Her heart pounded uncertainly as she galloped toward it. She could turn her horse aside, not attempt it. Then she looked behind her and saw Rand coming in the distance, shaking his head and signaling with one hand to go around, not to chance it. On each side of him rode Vanessa and Lenore, pleas
ed smirks on their faces.
Kimi knew it was a big jump. Many of those ahead of her were reining in, going down to the gate through the fence several hundred yards away. In the distance, the excited yelping of the hounds increased as they picked up the pace. She would show Lenore! No doubt the white girl was an excellent rider who had ridden this course many times. She intended to best Kimi here, make Rand admire her, show him he really belonged with a Kentucky lady of wealth.
For a split-second, she almost turned aside, then stubborn pride took over and she urged Onyx toward the wall. The mare hesitated, then sailed off the ground. Kimi’s heart seemed to stop beating for a split second, then Onyx hit the wall and fell back on the same side, throwing Kimi in the dirt. Her jaunty top hat was crushed, the veil torn.
Behind her, she heard Lenore and Vanessa’s delighted laughter and Rand’s shout. “I’m coming, Kimi. Are you hurt?”
Gritting her teeth against the pain of her bruises, Kimi stumbled to her feet, quickly checked the horse to make sure it was all right. All around her, horses were refusing the jump. If it weren’t for the damned riding skirt and the sidesaddle, she would have made it.
Rand and the majority of the riders would reach here any second. Kimi intended to clear this wall and she didn’t intend that anyone should stop her. Quickly, she stripped the saddle off, hiked up her skirts and swung up astride on the mare’s bare back.
“Look at that girl, she’s riding astride!” A chorus of voices expressed shock and dismay at the sight of Kimi with her white lace drawers showing as she backed her horse up, skirts flying.
“Kimi, what are you doing?” Rand shouted behind her, “You aren’t going to try it again? Kimi?”
She would not be stopped. Even as he galloped toward her, Kimi spurred the big horse and raced again toward the wall. For a long, heart-stopping moment, they hung in midair, Kimi leaning into the jump, urging the horse, giving her plenty of rein. Onyx hit the ground on the other side, bits of turf flying, and kept running. Behind her, she heard a cheer going up from some of the men and gasps and murmurs of shock from most of the women.
“Did you see that? Riding astride like a man!”
“The lace on her drawers is showing! Has she no shame?”
Kimi ignored them, and kept galloping. Up ahead the huntsman and Jon Erikson, master of the hunt, had dismounted, while the hounds ran about in confusion, sniffing the air and yelping.
Mr. Erikson smiled at her. “Well, young lady, you beat Lenore and Vanessa here. Too bad the hounds have lost the trail.”
Kimi heaved a sigh of relief. “Then we won’t kill the fox?”
“No,” Jon took off his hat, wiped his face. “We’ll go back to Randolph Hall and have a big hunt breakfast and some good Kentucky bourbon.”
Kimi shook her head as she dismounted. “The breakfast sounds good.”
Behind her came the rest of the hunters, their horses lathered and tired. The men seemed to be looking at her with veiled admiration, but the women appeared shocked and hostile.
Rand swung down. “Kimi, are you all right?”
She nodded, patting Onyx. “Good girl.”
Vanessa and Lenore reined in, glared at Kimi. “It’s not proper for a lady to ride astride.”
Kimi glared back. “Is it proper for ladies to try to set a guest up for a deliberate nasty spill?”
Rand smiled, slapped his whip against his leg as if he’d like to use it on the pair of conspirators. “Sister, Kimi only gave you two tit for tat, even if it was a little unorthodox.” There was admiration in his eyes and his voice.
Shelby leaned on his horse’s neck and grinned. “Sweet Jesus, what a sight! My congratulations, Miss Kimi, on a great ride.”
She felt triumphant and justified. However, when Kimi looked around, she saw the hostility on the faces of most of the women and some of the men. “Isn’t that the young savage who’s been raised by the Indians? She behaves like poor white trash.”
Judge Hamilton had driven his buggy out to see the end of the hunt and now he chuckled as he stepped down. “Young lady, you’re not only a good rider, you’ve got spunk! Allow me to drive you back to Randolph Hall.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I do hope you’re coming to Carstairs Oaks tonight for the little dinner party; Elizabeth told me to extend an invitation. She admires spunk.”
Kimi looked around at the closed, hostile faces and the frown in Vanessa and Lenore’s eyes. She did not belong in this group of elegant people, and she could not earn her way into it. She would have to be landed gentry, born to wealth and privilege to ever become part of them, part of Rand’s life. She couldn’t win, but she was too valiant to give Rand up without a fight.
She smiled at the Judge. “Why, of course I’ll consider that a personal invitation, sir.” Kimi tried to appear confident, but her heart was aching as the judge helped her into the buggy and tied Onyx on behind.
Nineteen
Kimi never got a chance to speak to Rand when they got back to Randolph Hall because of the crowd that gathered for the hunt breakfast and stayed to drink and visit. No one seemed to have any work to do except the blacks. While a few of the men complimented her on her morning’s performance, the majority of those present, particularly the women, seemed chilly and distant. Snobs, Kimi thought, or friends of Lenore Carstairs. Rand’s parents had evidently heard about it, because Mr. Erikson seemed to be almost smiling for a change, but his mother glared at her. More and more, Kimi realized the vast chasm between her and these rich people.
On the other hand, Rand seemed to fit in easily, although he didn’t look as if he were having all that much fun. In fact, he didn’t look much happier than his father, who appeared to have already been drinking at this early hour. For a man with wealth, land and a socially prominent wife, Jon looked almost tragic. Yet he belonged to this local wealthy gentry, a closed group that seemingly did not accept outsiders into their midst.
She stood there talking to the judge, feeling awkward and out of place. Every time she looked up, Rand was watching her. She had a distinct feeling that he wanted to talk, but Lenore hung onto his arm as if she never intended to let go. Shelby Merson seemed to be watching her, too, but Vanessa kept him occupied. Kimi could hear the silly banter and giggles from the women. They seemed insipid and shallow.
Later that afternoon, when everyone was gone, Kimi hoped to be able to speak to Rand. However, the next thing she knew, Lenore and Jon Erikson had taken Rand out to inspect the year’s crop of colts, and Kimi found herself alone in her room.
A knock at the door. Who could that be? “Come in.”
Mrs. Erikson entered, smiling and self-satisfied, wheezing a little in her tight corset. “Kimi, I thought while everyone else was gone, we might have a little talk.”
“Yes?” Kimi offered her a chair, sat down on her bed.
“I don’t quite know how to put this delicately, my dear.” Her stern expression said the lady didn’t intend to be delicate at all. “And your background or whatever relationship you might have had with my son is really none of my business.”
Kimi steeled herself and looked her in the eye. “When people say something is none of their business, why do they always follow that with questions that are none of their business?”
“My! You are quite blunt, aren’t you?” Mrs. Erikson’s nervous hands fluttered. Her eyes were as cold as pale blue ice. “Very well, then, we’ll get right to it. I had my son’s attention diverted this afternoon just so you and I could have a little chat. Naturally you won’t tell him we had it.”
“Naturally. I suspect you think it would anger him. Hinzi is a little more independent than you might think.”
“Hinzi?”
“It was his name among the Sioux. It means ‘Yellow Hair.’ ”
“How quaint.” She fanned herself even though the room was not warm. “Kimi, Randolph is not a savage; he’s from some of the bluest blood in Kentucky and along with his background comes money and position, and responsibility.
”
She knew what was coming. “Mrs. Erikson, let me assure you I have no interest in your son’s money or position.”
“But you are interested in my son?” She leaned closer, her frame tense.
Kimi started to deny it, realized it must show in her face. She said nothing.
“My side of the family, the Randolphs, have always bred thoroughbred horses. To us, background and breeding are of utmost importance.”
“And I come without a pedigree, unable to tell you whether I come from a proper dam and sire?”
The lady smoothed a pleat in her full skirt. “Correct. Rand will marry Lenore Carstairs. Everything about her is perfect—family, social position. Since her father, mother, and younger sister are presumed lost on a trip West, Lenore will be the heir to the vast Carstairs fortune. It has always been my dearest wish that we combine the two biggest land holdings in this county by his marrying Lenore.”
“What about Rand’s wishes?” Kimi said. “Did you even ask him? What about love and his happiness?”
“Love! It is very much overrated.”
“Is it?” Kimi flared back. “Somehow I doubt that you know very much about it. Your husband is the saddest-looking person I ever met.”
Rose Erikson stood up, bristling. “You are not only a nobody, you are impudent besides. Totally unsuitable!” Her nervous hands fluttered. “Very well, I can be forthright, too. Rand could be disinherited if he goes against his family’s wishes. I don’t know what went on between you and my son before and I really don’t care. Men will be men, after all. However, when good sense prevails and parents have a little talk, a young man generally sees the light and marries properly and in his own class.”
Suddenly Kimi realized why Jon Erikson looked so unhappy. “And did someone have ‘a little talk’ with your husband’s ‘unsuitable’ woman?”
“There was no need,” Mrs. Erikson snapped as if without thinking. “His mother sold her! She was only a mulatto–” She took a deep breath, paused, as if realizing she had let herself be led into revealing things she didn’t want known. “You will not marry my son, you little snip.” Her voice was cold with barely held anger.
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