Page 15 of The Earl’s Inconvenient Nemesis

Hopefully people they met would be aware of the family connection between her and Anthony and would not think they were courting and were out together without an escort… aside from the potential scandal that could cause, she wanted all the bachelors of the Ton to know she was very much available!

The weather was glorious, one of the first properly warm days of the year. They rode for an hour. Rosalind proved an absolute delight: gentle, responsive, and perfectly sized for Alice’s petite frame. If she had not known better, she would have said the mare had been chosen exactly for her, being smaller than ideal for most women.

"Are you ready to turn back now?" Anthony asked. "I have a meeting to attend at my club."

"Of course," said Alice reluctantly. She would have loved to have kept going for longer, but maybe another day… Surprisingly, she was not actually hating riding with Anthony. There was not the ease they had developed when they had ridden together the summer Henry had broken his leg, and she was very aware of him being near her, but he did not actually irritate her and left her to her thoughts, which was about the best she could expect.

They returned to Aunt Jane's house where Anthony dismounted first. "Would you check his front right shoe, please?" he asked the groomsman as he handed him the reins to his horse. "He may have been limping a little on the way back."

With the groomsman occupied, Anthony moved to assist Alice. She panicked at the thought of his hands on her waist and tried to descend too quickly on her own. Her right foot caught in the stirrup. With a startled cry, she pitched forward, landing straight into Anthony’s waiting arms.

His strong, muscular arms gripped her tightly, making Alice's heart beat so fast she feared it might burst out of her chest. The scent of leather, sandalwood, and warm male filled her senses.

He released her gently and she took a step away from him, needing to distance herself despite her body seemingly yearning to be back next to his.

"Good God, woman. Give a chap some warning before you fling yourself at him like that!" Anthony exclaimed. “You are lucky I did not pull my back.”

Mortified beyond words, Alice stammered, “I… I’m sorry.” Her face flaming, she fled up the steps into the house.

Alice hid in her room under the excuse of a headache, desperately trying to regain her composure.

Why did she have to embarrass herself so spectacularly in front of Anthony of all people? She was a very competent rider, and was certainly capable of getting on and off a horse. She had never done anything like that before. She had just got so flustered at the thought of Anthony… What exactly had she thought he was going to do? There was a step she had used to get up onto Rosalind, he was probably just going to move that over for her. She was such an idiot. How was she going to face him now?

And why was she reacting so strangely to him? She had known Anthony and been tormented by him for her whole life. Some of her earliest memories were of him teasing her, calling her by much loathed nicknames like Little Squirrel, the one that had unfortunately stuck, and playing endless practical jokes on her.

She had always known he was good-looking in an abstract sense, but why was her body betraying her like this? Was it seeing him at his best, suited and booted for society that was doing this to her? Or was it just that she was so intent on finding a husband and focused on comparing bachelors that she was subconsciously analysing Anthony as well? Which was ridiculous. If there was one man Alice was sure would never settle down with a wife, it was Anthony, regardless of what he might say about potentially looking for one.

What she wanted was a nice, kind man, who enjoyed spending most of his time in the country. Who liked riding and animals. Not someone who frittered away his life gambling and drinking, leaving a string of mistresses in his wake. It would also be preferable that the man she married actually liked her and did not just see her as a nuisance.

She needed to stop wasting her time thinking about Anthony and focus on finding a man who would make her a good husband.

Alice sighed, she was going to have to come out of her room soon. Anthony would have left for his club by now and she imagined he would be there for hours. She was beginning to feel less flustered knowing he was out and was able to think about the rest of the day ahead. She and her aunt were shopping for shoes that afternoon. She needed a new pair before attending her next ball and would be picking up the first of her evening dresses ready for this event as well. Not that she was looking forward to putting herself through another ostentatious social gathering, but at least she would feel properly attired this time and she was going into it better prepared.

The only thing she was a little concerned about was her dancing, which was hardly proficient, but aside from practising by herself in her room, there was not much else she could do to improve that. She should be fine as long as she had strong partners to lead her, she reassured herself.

Determined to put the dismounting incident from her mind, Alice threw herself into preparing for the evening. The shopping trip with Aunt Jane that afternoon was very successful. Despite having little natural interest in fashion, she was pleased with her new acquisitions: several pairs of evening shoes, gloves, and two evening dresses were ready, which were much more in keeping with what she had seen the other young ladies wearing at the first ball she attended.

They returned home and Alice hurried back up to her room. She wanted plenty of time to prepare for dinner. She rang for Beth who had spent the day practising new hairstyles on Aunt Jane’s lady’s maid. Alice suspected her poor maid sometimes got a little frustrated with having a mistress who spent most of her days in clothes she could clean out the stables in and with her hair in a plait.

But what better way to show Anthony how in control of herself she was than to try out one of her new dresses and hairstyles? She would apologise to him for her abrupt departure earlier, citing her headache as an excuse. Then she would be sophisticated and witty all evening and prove to him that his catching her as she fell had had no effect on her whatsoever.

When Alice finally descended in her new pale pink empire-line gown, she felt more confident and elegant than she had since arriving in London. Alice had to admit it was lovely to wear a dress that was fitted for her rather than her sisters' hand-me-downs. She guessed when she was married she would have to continue to make more of an effort with her appearance. She doubted her future husband would appreciate her sitting down to luncheon not noticing she had a piece of straw in her hair, so she had better get used to dressing up.

Doing her best to calm the nerves in her stomach, she walked down the main staircase of the house as gracefully as she could, not knowing when she would encounter Anthony.

She entered the drawing room to find her aunt enjoying a pre-dinner sherry.

Aunt Jane beamed with approval at Alice’s appearance. “My dear, you look lovely! That colour suits you beautifully and gives you such a charming waist. It is a shame there is only me here to appreciate it tonight.”

“Oh, is Lord Tonbridge not joining us?” asked Alice, trying to appear as disinterested in the answer as possible.

“No, he had a prior engagement.”

Alice felt herself deflate. How would Anthony know that she was unaffected by what had happened earlier if he could not see her being unaffected and marvel at her composure?

“But he did leave something for you,” Aunt Jane added, gesturing to a small parcel on a table next to Alice’s favourite chair.

Intrigued, Alice opened it. Inside was a book, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen, and a note, ‘Something for you to read while you are stuck inside being a gentlewoman. A.’