Page 6 of How to Capture a Duke

Olivia pulled back on the reins, and he joined her. She could hear water and realized there was a stream up ahead. He must intend to water the horses.

After dismounting beneath a large oak tree, he helped her down from the mare. He only touched her briefly and only where necessary to aid her, but she felt a similar shiver as when he’d helped her on the mounting block.

While the horses rested, he sat on a flat rock and motioned for her to join him. She hesitated before taking a seat on an adjoining rock and smoothing her skirts.

“What ails you?” he asked.

She blinked in surprise. “Pardon?”

“You r…r-ide well, but it’s the way you ride, as if you want to escape something.”

He could discern that simply from their gallop across the fields? He was much more perceptive than she’d thought.

She shrugged a shoulder, hoping to exude an air of indifference. “I dislike house parties.”

“I thought all young ladies loved social gatherings, and a duke’s house party would be especially enticing.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Is it not the goal of all your sex to hunt for the most suitable husband?”

She eyed him with wariness, her tone sharp. “Perhaps you should not group all ladies together.”

“Ah, you miss the r…r-igors of the London season.”

“Hardly! I don’t give a fig for the season,” she snapped.

His eyes narrowed as he watched her. “Then what?”

Frustration bubbled inside her. Whether it was due to his presumption that she was a title-and-fortune-seeking woman or because of his intense scrutiny, she wasn’t certain. All she was sure of was that she wanted…needed to correct his misconception.

She took a deep breath. “I do not wish to be paraded about in gowns while painting a fake smile upon my face, all for the sake of catching a gentleman’s eye. Most likely a gentleman who cares for naught but himself, who only desires a wife to continue his line, and who plans on promptly dismissing her to attend his clubs and his mistress.”

She was acutely aware of his condemning silence. She experienced a burst of anger. He was a head groom, for goodness sake. How dare he judge her? “What? Do you find my opinions shocking?”

“Have your siblings had bad matches?”

“No. Both my sister and brother have wonderful, loving spouses.” That was part of the problem, wasn’t it? Ian and Ellie had set impossible standards. Love. What would it be like for a man to love her more than himself? To gaze upon her as if she were the last sip of water in an endless desert?

“Then why are you so jaded?”

Once again, anger seared her chest, and she felt her cheeks burn. “I am not jaded, just realistic. My siblings are fortunate. There is a strong likelihood that I will not be.”

At his continued silence, she felt the need to explain, to defend her views. “The marriage mart is like gambling. The odds are against the bettor.”

“What would a young lady know about g…g-ambling?”

She snorted, quite unladylike. “More than you know. My family owns the Raven Club.” She would never speak it out loud in the manor. The fact that her brother opened the club years ago and that her sister and her husband, the marquess, managed the establishment now was not well known. But Caleb was merely a groom, and she didn’t feel the need to guard her tongue around him.

It was quite refreshing, actually.

His brow creased. “The notorious club in London?”

She blinked in surprise. “How have you heard of it?” He worked in a country stable. Had he traveled to town? Had he visited the Raven Club? Highly improbable. A country groom, even the head groom of a ducal estate, would not have been allowed inside. The club’s members were wealthy merchants or titled aristocrats, men who could afford to spend coin at the tables.

His jaw hardened a fraction, and he shook his head. “Gentlemen t…talk when they come to the stables.”

His explanation made sense. “I am not ashamed of my family’s establishment,” she said. “Because of the Raven Club, I have a different perspective than the other debutantes. I have seen men’s preferences firsthand, and generally they are not for their wives.”