“Penance! Penance is making amends. This isn’t penance—it’s torture.” She flicked the hard pommel in disgust. “Worse than torture, in fact. Sidesaddles are incredibly uncomfortable. Unbelievably impractical. They throw your balance off and give you a crick in the neck. If you’d ever ridden on a sidesaddle you would know that they are an abomination that should be banned.”
“But why would I know that when you are, technically at least, the one currently in the skirt?” He nudged Zeus forward to join the others and she swore she heard the scoundrel laughing.
They set off across the pasture at a sedate pace and remained thatway for the next fifteen minutes because all the young ladies bunched their horses around his. That didn’t please Zeus at all, and poor Guy had to work hard to control him while he made uncomfortable small talk with the debutantes. To her credit, Miss Yates was the only one who did not join the melee and instead chose to ride on ahead. Something she did with great aplomb too, the clever thing, as it meant that while all her rivals were scrambling to be noticed, she became the only one impossible to miss. The swan amongst the gaggle of hissing geese. It was a sensible ploy, even though it piqued Lottie’s jealousy some. It was obvious Miss Yates was her main rival—not that Lottie was in any position to compete.
Unable to even dare attempt to compete, she hung back so that she could quickly intervene if things—or debutantes—got out of hand, but she needn’t have worried. Guy veered off the pasture and took the group down a tree-lined path that naturally tapered until they all had to go in single file.
From the rear, she was rather left out of things and as a mere companion, nobody tried to include her, so with nothing else to do, she was forced to watch them all court his favor from afar. As, she supposed, a proper lady’s companion should.
She would leave here with Lady Frinton in just four days. The morning after Guy’s final unwanted birthday dinner. And then she might never see him again. Or only see him very occasionally if she remained in Lady Frinton’s employ. Neither were conducive to fostering an unconventional romance—not that he had given her any cause to hope for one. In the heat of the moment, he had told her with his body that he wanted her, but that had been a purely carnal confession. She and he were never meant to be more than ships passing in the night, but she wanted to leave on the same good terms with him as they had enjoyed days ago. The thought of him still angry at her duplicity and still calling her Miss Travers upset her almost as much as accepting that he could never be hers.
As she stared longingly his way, she realized that at some point during her wool gathering, the path had widened again and the hordes were once more huddling around him. Worse, Zeus was playing up. Shecould tell by the way the muscles in Guy’s arms bunched that the difficult stallion was fighting the reins.
Lottie kicked Juno into a trot and steered her up the verge to get as close as possible and was alarmed to see both Miss Maybury and Lady Lynette flanking him like sentries. So close to him that they would both be in danger if Zeus decided to flip. Then either they, or heaven forbid Guy, could be trampled.
“You absolutely must be my bridge partner tonight, my lord. I absolutely insist.” Lady Lynette was too busy fluttering her eyelashes to see where she and Blodwyn were going. Lottie knew from experience that Blodwyn, as lovely and gentle a mare as she was, wasn’t the brightest of horses and needed direction. “We will win, for sure, if we team up. If I say so myself, I amquitethe card sharp. Bridge, whist, piquet—pick your poison, my dear Lord Wennington, for I am equally formidable at all three.” Her practiced tinkling laugh was rapidly becoming as grating as Miss Maybury’s braying one. “In fact, and I shouldn’t brag…” She shouldn’t, but she would. In perpetuity, if she went unchecked, so that nobody else could get a word in edgewise. “I have not lost a game in over a year. The trick with bridge is—” Good grief, did she ever pause for breath? Lottie couldn’t intervene unless she did! “—to always check that—”
When Zeus snorted his displeasure, Lottie had no choice but to interrupt. “Have a care, Lady Lynette. His lordship’s Arabian doesn’t like to be too close to other horses.”
Lady Lynette’s head snapped around, her expression an ugly snarl. “How dare you give me instruction! Know your place, Miss Travers, and have more respect for your betters!”
“Now see here—” Guy, bless him, was about to take issue with the horrid snob, but had to turn his focus back to Zeus, who was now thrashing his head about as he sensed the fresh tension.
“I spent an hour admiring your lovely roses all alone again yesterday, my lord.” With an astounding lack of awareness, Miss Maybury decided that now was the optimum moment to attempt to seduce him again. “I shall be doing the same again today.” She reached across to caress Guy’s arm andbecause he jumped at the contact, Zeus did too. It took him a few moments to bring the horse into line, but the Arabian was far too agitated to be properly placated. Hardly a surprise, when he had been bred to run unhindered and not to be caged in a prison of slower horses.
Which gave Lottie an idea…
“So shall we be partners at the bridge tournament tonight—”
Guy was about to scream his frustration at the hideous Lady Lynette when somebody else screamed instead.
A proper, full-bodied, bloodcurdling scream that brought everyone up short.
“Help me! I can’t control her!” Lottie’s eyes were wide with fear as Juno reared beneath her. Instinctively, he tried to turn Zeus to assist, but there were too many horses to do it quickly. “Oh!Oh! OH!”
Juno reared again and Lottie struggled to hold on. In a thunder of hooves, the usually placid Arabian then set off at speed straight past him.
Lottie pulled on the reins and did her best to calm her, but something had spooked the horse and she wasn’t having it. She reared again, changed direction, and plunged into the trees, taking Lottie with her.
Guy kicked Zeus to follow, his heart in his mouth. This was all his fault! He’d put her on a sidesaddle for his own amusement and now she was in danger!
If she got hurt…
If he couldn’t save her…
Bile stung his throat while tentacles of fear wrapped themselves around his ribs, the guilt so heavy it settled like lead in his gut. He had to save her.Had to!There really was no other option. A world without Lottie didn’t bear thinking about.
As he broke through the other side of the trees, he was just in time to see her disappear over a small hill.
He gave chase, pushing Zeus as fast as he could, as Lottie flew across the pasture at a terrifying speed. Her trim body bent low over Juno to keepherself from being thrown. Runaway horse and rider disappeared again over the top of a bigger hill and by the time he reached it, there was no sign of them on the path.
He slowed Zeus slightly to look left and right, then, in desperation, checked the ground for any sign of hoofprints in the dirt to know which way to head.
He heard a whinny and as his head whipped toward the pond beyond, saw Juno. Riderless and munching on the long grass at the water’s edge as if she suddenly didn’t have a care in the world. He dismounted and ran toward her, scanning the area for any signs of Lottie’s broken body on the ground.
But there was nothing.
ChapterTWENTY-THREE
