Poor Tom hovered, unsure of what to do, so she did as she had threatened and walked the horse to the gate. When Guy opened his mouth to protest again it was her turn to hold up her palm and glare, but she made sure that her tone was soothing for Hercules’s sake.
“If I fall off and break my neck because you spooked this horse, then it will be your fault. Otherwise, it will be all mine and your conscience will be clear. But know that whether you forbid it or not, I am getting on Hercules at some point today regardless and I would rather do it while he is calm.”
“Then on your own head be it.” Guy wasn’t happy and she didn’t care. But she also knew that the chances of her being thrown were high. Higher still in this stupid riding habit that weighed a ton.
Still holding Hercules’s reins, Lottie reached for the ties of her heavy skirt and undid them. The only man who didn’t gasp at the sight of her breeches as the dratted thing pooled around her feet was Guy. That inconvenience dispensed with, she turned to Tom, who couldn’t seem to take his stunned eyes from her bottom half. “I am ready now.” She held back teasing him about his ferocious blush as the poor lad had likely never seen a woman’s body without layers of petticoats before, so the sight of actual curves and thighs had probably overwhelmed him.
Tom scurried forward and cupped his hands while Lottie cooed reassurances to the horse as she gently raised herself up, all the while keeping her mouth close to his ear.
To everyone’s continued surprise, including hers, Hercules barely protested as she carefully slid her leg over him. She gave him a moment to get used to her weight and then gestured to the men. “Start riding around the paddock. Let Hercules see what he needs to do next.”
With a surly expression, Guy nodded to Bill and they both did as they were told while she sat astride Hercules and watched. She let a good minute tick by before she risked sitting upright and could feel his impatience. And it seemed to be impatience to join them rather than condemn Lottie to the dirt.
“Want to give it a go, boy?” She gently nudged his belly with her feet. “Come on.”
The horse took a few uncertain steps forward, then tossed his head from side to side. But because she remained calm and encouraging, Hercules began to relax. When they set off again, there was one hairy moment when he suddenly ran to catch up with Juno, but she held on for grim death and the moment passed.
“Good boy,” she said as they came up level with Guy and Zeus, who both looked like they wanted to jump the fence and gallop off as fast as they could, and she couldn’t resist a dig. “You are so much better behaved than your father—but perhaps he’s only contrary because of his rider.”
He nudged Zeus into a trot, which encouraged his son to do the same, for an entire lap, doubtless just to test her mettle, and then they all fell into the same sedate rhythm. Lottie lost track of time and could have happily stayed where she was for the rest of the day, but Tom had been put in charge of keeping them on schedule.
“The ladies will be here in ten minutes, my lord.”
She heard Guy groan as he pulled his Arabian up, then dismounted in one impressive athletic movement to come and assist her. As he took hold of the reins and secured them for her safety, he offered her the ghost of a smile that never failed to make her insides flutter. “You enjoyed that display of stubborn willfulness, didn’t you, madam?”
“It is hardly my fault that I understand horses better than you.”
He didn’t deny it. “Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, Miss Travers.” Because of course the stubborn wretch was going to punish her with formalities until he deigned to accept her latest apology. “Do you need my help to get down?”
“Did I need your help to get up?” Ignoring his begrudging offer, she swung her leg back but Hercules danced as she did, and lurched sideways so fast she lost her grip. She would have dropped to the ground by the horse’s side in an ungainly backward lump if Guy hadn’t caught her around the waist on the way down.
Self-preservation had her grabbing his shoulders and clinging on for dear life, but she had no ready excuse to explain why her gaze latched onto his and held. Why her breath hitched. Why the odd moment felt incrediblysignificant. Or why neither of them made any attempt to end the embrace until Bill appeared in their peripheral vision.
“I’m not sure such a public clinch is wise with all the ladies due at any moment—but there is nobody in the tack room if you two need some privacy.” He winked as he sauntered away and left them both scrambling upright. “And you should probably put your skirt back on too, Lottie, unless you want to cause a scandal.”
With perfect timing, Lady Lynette’s voice drifted across the yard. “Yoo-hoo! Lord Wennington!”
Which meant that the only thing to do was to pick up her discarded skirt and run into the empty tack room before Miss Know-It-All saw her.
ChapterTWENTY-TWO
Lottie waited a full ten minutes before she ventured back out into the yard. By then, it was a hive of noisy activity as Bill, Tom, and Guy tried to match horses to the overexcited hordes wanting one. There were more than the planned seven debutantes too, as not to be outdone, three others had decided to join the fray, and so the men were fetching and saddling additional ponies. Guy did little to disguise that he was losing his patience.
Lottie waded in to help, seeing as this ghastly group ride was all her fault, and decided that the best way to do that was by sending all the ladies already assigned mounts to the opposite side of the yard to wait rather than get under the obviously increasingly frustrated Guy’s feet. Keen to show off her superior seat on a horse, Lady Lynette decided to mount Blodwyn to assist, snapping out loud orders for show while she tried to use Lottie like a sheepdog to herd them all together. The irony being that if Lottie had listened to her stupid instructions, then chaos would have ensued, but she allowed Lady Lynette to think that she was in charge because it was easier than challenging her. As her father always said, you couldn’t argue with stupid, and that arrogant irritant was about as stupid as they came.
Miss Maybury, who had hung back on purpose to spend more time in the yard pestering Guy with inanities, was the last lady to join therest. When he stalked off to fetch Zeus, Lottie helped Tom and Bill get everyone else mounted and hoped that went some way to giving him more of an excuse to forgive her. She was ready to wave them off when he returned with not one, but two Arabians. He was already seated astride Zeus but had a saddle draped over his shoulder.
“Put this on Juno.” He tossed the saddle to Bill. “One of the chaperones needs her.”
Lottie glanced back to where Lady Connaughlty and Mrs. Maybury sat perched on mares, ignoring their charges while trying to out-brag each other. “But the chaperones already have horses.”
“Those are theyoung ladies’chaperones.You,Miss Travers, are going to bemine.”
Bill chuckled as he slapped the saddle on Juno’s back. “They do say the punishment should fit the crime, but I think I’d rather prison.” He shifted position to tie one of the straps and that was when Lottie noticed the lopsided leather and hooked pommel.
“But that’s a sidesaddle!” She glared at Guy in outrage. “I loathe sidesaddles! Why can’t I have a proper one?”
“Because you are a young lady in the company of other young ladies and it wouldn’t be proper.” He shrugged with a devilish smile, enjoying her protest more than was gentlemanly. “And if I have to suffer throughout this awful ride, it strikes me as only fair that you suffer too. Consider it penance.”
