Bridgerton - A Girl To Remember

Chapter Eight

Louis's point of view

I have been assisting at the manage for two days now and I start enjoying it more every minute. I have truly missed the feeling of being invisible and this experience was needed, knowing this freedom will be gone in two weeks. The old clothes and dirty stripes on my face deceive people, I mean, who would expect the help at the manage to be the prince of England?

I am very fond of horses and so the stables were not an odd place to settle, a friend of my mother's arranged it and now I can feel what it is like. Being a true citizen. I will enter society in London, to find myself a suitable wife, but how do I know what I am looking for if all the women I talk to want nothing but my money?

I am painting a fence when suddenly I hear someone shout,

"someone get her! Stop her now!" I look behind me and see a white horse escape from the field. No one seems to notice nor act, so I am the one who starts running, following the horse into the woods. She outruns me of course and I get lost easily, all trees look just like one another.

After fifteen minutes of walking I see her rush by and I now approach her slowly, if she hears me, she may leave again. I stand behind a tree when suddenly I notice I am not alone, in fact, another human being is in my sight. She is wearing a pretty dress, not very suitable for the woods, and she gets closer to the horse I am trying to catch. To my surprise, the horse is okay with it and less than ten seconds later the girl is petting her.

I step away from the tree and cannot help but speak,

"May I ask what you are doing here?" I can see her hand freeze in position and her muscles tighten. It was not my intention to scare her. She turns around with a guilty look on her face and apologies,

"I-I am so sorry, I did not know she belonged to someone.."

"she belongs to the stables, she ran off"

"there are stables here in London?"

"of course, did you not know?"

"No. I did not..."

"do you ride? Miss..."

"Miss... Borough. And no I... well yes, uhm.. sort of"

"sort of?"

"I used to"

"why did you stop?"

"is this some sort of interrogation sir?"

"I am just curious why a girl in such pretty dress is wandering around in the woods... and please do not call me sir.. I am not that old.." she smiles and her eyes twinkle, making me sigh relieved,

"if not sir, then what should I call you... your grace? Your royal highness maybe?" for a second my heartbeat rises; does she know who I am? I look her in the eyes and realise she was only joking, and I quickly make up something,

"my name is Christian. But you may call me Chris"

"should I feel flattered now?"

"no... you should not. But now that you know my name, I would like to know yours.."

"My name is Julia"

"Okay, Julia, why did you stop riding?"

"I do not believe you wish to know..."

"I believe I do, actually. But if you wish to leave my question unanswered than that is truly no problem. I did not mean to force you..." I realise my questionnaire may have scared her,

"I had to sell my horse, due to lack of money.."

"and you used the money to.. buy this dress?" by the diamonds surrounding her arms I cannot help but think this may be one of the most expensive dresses I have ever seen. And that says a lot. Julia looks down at the ground and she is now turning red,

"the dress.. is not mine. I.. stole it" she does not look like a thief,

"why did you steal?"

"People do not accept you otherwise.. not in the clothes I wore before"

"why do you feel the need to be accepted by them?"

"it does not matter. I must leave" she turns around and looks back, "I am sorry for.. the horse..."

"Julia please wait... if.... If you want you can come to the stables and.. ride again. I am sure the owner does not mind.."

"Chris, I am a woman." It is the first time she says my name, it is not my real name, but she addresses me,

"yes. and I am a man" by the deadpan look on her face I arrive to the conclusion that was not what she wanted to hear,

"Women never ride... like I do. I don't dressage, I jump. And the only reason I was able to do that was because I... I pretended to be a boy.." she is right, I have never seen a woman in a jumping contest. Neither have I met a girl so brave,

"than do it again."

"you mean... the boy-pretending acquaintance?"

"I can help you out. If.. you want to.."

"I am not sure if I am able to pull it off again, Chris, we could get caught..."

"meet me tomorrow night in the stables, when the sun has set.."

"this is a bad idea. My family will murder me if they find out"

"then we make sure they do not find out"

"Chris.."

"Julia.."

"it could ruin me.."

"you stole a dress, you sold your horse, whatever should you have to lose?"

"my freedom.." we lock eyes and I remain speechless for a number of seconds, she may be right, but I have to know if she is the girl I think she is, if she is the person I am looking for,

"you cannot lose, what you do not have.."

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NOTE: Hi, I feel like this sucks. but I'm not even sure... how nice :)