Free Where Earth Meets Sky by Annie Murray Page A

blouse and jacket and pair of manly breeches. She was managing the animal with apparent confidence and obvious pleasure, a radiant smile playing round her lips.
    ‘Good morning, Mr Ironside!’ Susan Fairford greeted him. There was laughter in her voice and she seemed very different from last night. ‘I trust you slept well?’
    ‘Very, thank you,’ he replied. He nodded at Miss Waters, touching his hat to them both.
    ‘Good morning,’ Miss Waters said, and her eyes seemed full of joy as she looked at him, then shyly away.
    They passed on towards the stables and Sam watched, his eyes fixed on Miss Waters’s curving form above the shining rump of the horse.
    God , he found himself thinking. What a woman.
    The sun was higher when he returned from his stroll, beginning to burn off the mist. Captain Fairford came round from the side of the bungalow where they’d left the car, striding along manfully, still dressed in riding gear, jodhpurs and puttees. While slender, he was a superbly athletic man. Sam pulled his shoulders back, feeling conscious that he had only ever once sat astride a horse and that an old farm nag, to boot. The safety bicycle had been more his sort of ride!
    ‘Morning, Ironside!’ The captain sounded very cheerful, now he was free from the domestic realm.
    ‘Good morning,’ Sam rubbed his hands together. ‘Chillier morning than I expected!’
    ‘Ah yes – winter nights are pretty cold here,’ the captain said as they walked round to where the Daimler was parked. ‘You’ve come at the right time, though – gets damnably hot later in the year. Actually, you’ll catch the beginning of it. Come March, the temperature starts to creep up, and by May, June time, phoo! But you’ll be long gone by then. Course, we get the extremes here on the northern plains. Anyway – got your breakfast all right?’
    ‘Very nice, thank you, sir.’
    ‘No need to “sir” me – I told you. So, if you’re set, we can get cracking. Tell me about this car!’
    That had Sam straight into his element, of course. The car was a 45 hp, one of the first new 1907 models, and Sam knew it was an excellent choice. So far as he was concerned, you wouldn’t find a better on the market anywhere, and he had admired the captain just from his choice of motor without even meeting him!
    ‘Right then . . .’ He hesitated. ‘Did you not want your groom to learn about the car too, sir?’
    ‘Oh, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to teach Arsalan. He’s quick as anything. Just give me a onceover first.’
    ‘Right you are, sir.’ Sam was already enjoying himself. ‘Well, let’s start with the chassis. Of course, they’re all built on a pressed steel frame now, not like the old models, you know, all flitch plate, channel steel and wood frames . . . This is a strong animal, this one.’
    Animated, he pointed out all the special features, like the clearance between rear axle and side frames, and , ‘Look here.’ He ducked down at the back and beckoned to Charles Fairford to do the same. As they squatted side by side the odours of horse and sweat came off the captain, a pungent, manly combination. For a second, Sam found a powerful image of the women he had met earlier on flash into his mind. Miss Waters: as if she had been summoned by the primitive earthiness of smell. Bewildered, Sam banished her from his thoughts.
    ‘D’you see the height of the floorline?’ He was full of it now, rattling on at full speed! ‘Well, if you look at any of the models that went before, the floor’s been lowered considerably so it’s easier to get into the seats – especially for the ladies, of course. Now, you might be thinking, well that’s no good, because we’ll be scraping the car’s belly along the road at that rate.’
    He looked round at Charles Fairford and saw he had his complete attention.
    ‘Well, yes, so you would think . . .’
    ‘Ah – well, this is the thing. Just take a look underneath her.’
    As requested,