Painting The Races Red | Tommy Shelby

Chapter Twelve ✔

C h a p t e r T w e l v e
A L a d i e s ' W a r

Lynette left Tommy to deal with the arrangements with the auctioneer, it made far more sense for him to take control now because he had alerted the man to his interest prior to the auction. Now that they were out of the eyes of the posh snobs that had attended the auction, Lynette had allowed herself to ease up a bit by taking off the ridiculous hat and removing the uncomfortable clips from her hair, allowing it to tumble around her shoulders. However, her own special hair accessory remained hidden in plain sight, holding a few strands out of her face.

She and the others were gathered outside the small office as they waited for Tommy to finish with his business arrangements. She had spent the time defending poor Michael from the teasing as they asked him how his first 'big boy' trip had went.

The chuckles of the men and the redhead were interrupted by the noise of a very feminine clearing of the throat. All of the individuals looked over to see the woman that had attempted to outbid Lynette standing nearby, a polite smile on her face. Lynette's own smile disappeared while the others - in particular Arthur and John - struggled to control their sniggers.

"Well, um..." Arthur began, shuffling in his place with a coy grin. "We'll leave you to it then, eh Lynn?"

"Yeah," John added while clapping her on the shoulder. "We all know how you love your 'Lady Talks', Lynn."

They walked further down the corridor, laughing under their breaths as they did so. The redhead glared at the group as they abandoned her in the company of the posh brunette that she would rather avoid at all costs. Lynette was seething. She let a deep, steady breath escape through her nostrils before she turned to look the woman up and down.

"You beat me to it, Mrs Shelby."

Lynette forced a sweet smile onto her lips as she looked to the woman with a furrowed brow. "My apologies, but I'm sure that my bid was higher," she pointed out, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"I was trying to nab a filly for my stud. Lynette Shelby from where?"

"From Birmingham."

"But you have a Scottish accent?" the woman asked with a confused expression.

Lynette tilted her head. "And?"

The woman seemed to have decided to ignore Lynette's stand-offish behaviour and instead held her hand out to shake. She accepted the gesture reluctantly as the brunette introduced herself.

"May Carleton. I breed racehorses and train them. What is it you do?"

Before Lynette could feed a lie to the woman, Tommy had emerged from the office behind her with the paperwork proving the purchase of their new mare. "Ready to go?" he asked his fiancé before noticing the brunette in front of them.

May looked more sheepish now in the presence of the two tense individuals. "Sorry, Mr Shelby. I didn't mean to hold up your wife," she apologised.

Tommy's tongue poked out to lick his lips, his face remaining blank as he muttered quietly, "Its alright."

Lynette continued to eye the woman, clearing her throat slightly before she spoke. "Tommy, this is May Carleton. She was just asking what we do for a living."

"Tommy, come on, hurry up! We've got to go!"

Arthur's call was a relief to Lynette. She didn't want to be there anymore with May Carleton, she hated to admit that she felt threatened in the presence of the brunette woman. She hated being around all the posh toffs, their attitudes in society left a horrible taste in her mouth. It wasn't a jealously of the money they own, but a great distaste for how privileged they were. At least she could say that Tommy and his family had worked hard for what they owned, even before she had met any of them.