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Helena decided to allow him that one concession. "If you feel it necessary, Mr. Dixon. But I do assure you, I can handle the horse." She lost the battle to restrain her mirth and a chuckle emerged. "I expect you no longer admire this 'free-thinking individual' quite so much."
He gave her a half-resentful, half-amused glance. "Since you have so neatly hoist me with my own petard, I can't in fairness begrudge you the victory. In future, though, I will be on my guard!"
"I should like to continue our friendship, but I am what I am, so 'tis best that you are forewarned," she replied. "But come, let us discuss something we can agree upon. If the grays are as admirable as you say, I shall bow to your advice and purchase them."
Though Mr. Dixon was still somewhat disgruntled, it appeared he was too fair-minded to hold a grudge, for by the time she approved the grays, they stopped for ices at Gunters and arrived back at St. James Square, he had recovered his good humor.
"Behold me whole perhaps for the last time, Miss Lambarth,"
he said as he escorted her up the steps. "I return to Tattersalls to complete your commission, and when Adam sees the riding hack I've purchased for you, it shall likely be grass for breakfast
between us."
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"If he quarrels with anyone, it should be with me," Helena replied, giving him her hand to kiss. "By now he should know I form my own decisions, even in the face of well-intentioned advice to the contrary."
"Perhaps. But I intend to insure my will is in order, just in case!" With a bow, he left her at the door.
Being engaged with his man of business the afternoon of Helena's excursion to Tattersalls and spending that evening escorting his fiancée to a ball, Adam didn't learn of Helena's purchases until he arrived at his stables the following morning. As he brought Adam's horse, the head groom asked whether the master meant to join Miss Lambarth and Mr. Dixon in the park, where they were putting Miss Lambarth's new mount through his paces.
"Ah, so she purchased a horse, then?"
"Aye, sir. The auction folks brung him by late yesterday.
Rather a handful fer a lady, I'd a'said, iff'n anyone was to 'av asked me."
Though Adam had intended to return to the solicitor's office, the groom's remarks made him uneasy. Lady Darnell had told him Dix had offered to help Helena find a mount. Adam had been happy she would have Dix's expert opinion—even though he could not rid himself of the tiny nugget of resentment that Dix
could escort Helena as often as he wished, actively pursuing his acquaintance with this intriguing lady, while Adam had to keep his distance.
Though he'd certainly failed to do so during that episode in the library. He'd thought he'd succeeded in I II232 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
armoring himself against the attraction that always sparked between them. He'd resisted her looking like a goddess in her gold dress, had even steeled himself to suggest her to Nathan as a possible match. So how had she broken through his defenses?
Perhaps it had been the scare her flight from the ballroom had given him. Or the aftermath of the almost uncontrollable rage that had burned in him at the possibility that some man had frightened or imposed upon her. Or perhaps the compassion he'd felt at seeing her in distress, or the satisfaction he'd experienced at being her rescuer, had lured him into letting down his guard.
Whatever breached his hold over it, when they reached the library, elder-brother concern had been swamped by desire, his mind overcome by memories of her garbed in white silk, lounging on his sofa, her sensuality calling to him like a siren's. Nay, 'twas worse this time, for while that first night she had been surprised and hesitant, this time she had seemed to respond to the heat in him, leaning up for the kiss he'd almost been mesmerized enough to offer.
Ah, yes, she'd appeared eager to explore the desire she incited.
But it was not for him to initiate her into passion's embrace. He shook his head and shuddered at how close he'd come to dragging an innocent into scandal—his guest, a girl he was supposed to be protecting! Far better that Dix choose her horses, Nathan escort
her to parties, Charis and his stepmother keep her company. Lest honor prove too fragile a curb on an attraction that had just shown him how unexpectedly it could flame out of control.
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Still, she was in his care. If his groom, whose knowl edge of horses he trusted, disapproved of the one she'd bought, he ought to check on her. Surely, he thought with a touch of disgust, in broad daylight in the park he'd manage to keep his appetites under control.
Leaping into the saddle, Adam set off for the park.
It was early enough that Hyde Park was virtually deserted when he guided his horse through the gates. After scanning the carriageway and seeing no one, he set off down Rotten Row. At the crest of the first hill, he spied a rider in the distance. A rider in a scarlet habit poised sidesaddle on a huge black horse, a description that proclaimed her identity even before he saw Dix's chestnut gelding trotting beside her.
Anxiety mounting, Adam kicked his horse to a canter and went in pursuit. Just as he reached them, the skittish black, apparently spooked at hearing a horse approaching from behind him, veered sideways off the path and reared up, trying to unseat his rider.
Fear chilled his blood and a cry of warning caught in his throat. He watched in horror as Miss Lambarth fell backward, expecting at any moment to see her tumble beneath the dancing hoofs of her mount. But in the next instant he realized that, rather than being tossed to the ground or grabbing in panic at reins and saddle, Miss Lambarth had purposely thrown her head back—
laughing.
"Excellent, my beauty," she cried, and then must have commanded the horse to repeat the trick, for in the next moment he rose up again, forelegs pawing the air.
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Adam realized that, far from being carried off, Miss Lambarth was in complete control of her mount. And what a spectacle they presented! The rearing black horse, the scarlet-clad woman riding him so easily the two seemed almost to merge into one, like an ancient pagan deity. The feral excitement of the two half-wild beings crackled in the air.
The elemental attraction Helena exuded washed over Adam in a powerful wave that stood every hair on end, dried the breath in his throat and engulfed him in an irresistible urge to tame and possess.
"Magnificent, isn't he?" Miss Lambarth exclaimed, her eyes bright and her smile brilliant as she settled the horse back on four hoofs. "I just had to see if he would rear on command. Now for a gallop!" At the tap of her whip and the urging of her heels, the horse wheeled and exploded into a run.
When Adam managed to tear his gaze away from the racing horse and scarlet-clad rider to look over at Dix, his friend was still staring fixedly at Miss Lambarth, apparently oblivious to Adam's arrival. Mirrored on Dix's face Adam saw the same awe and lust still churning in his own breast.
A primal, instinctive jealousy fired him to rage. "Hell and the devil, Dix, have you lost your wits? Whatever possessed you to allow Miss Lambarth to buy such a horse? I thought she was about to be trampled!"
Startled, his best friend whipped his attention over to Adam.
Strong emotion must still be roiling in him, as well, for his normally easygoing face turned hostile.
"But, you notice, she was not trampled," he re- 235
sponded. "In fact she handled the horse as well as you or I would have , and better than any woman I know. Despite that, I did everything in my power to prevent her buying Pegasus."
"Pegasus? The beast should be named Charon, since he looks apt to ferry her straight to Hades! And I note how successfully you dissuaded her. Heavens, man, her dress makes her singular enough. Do you not realize that making a spectacle of herself on that beast, as intriguing as you may find it, could tarnish her reputation? If you have so little regard for protecting her good name, I shall have to forbid your escorting her!"
"She would command attention regardless of her mount.
Galloping a flashy beast in the park will not harm her reputation as much as bidding for the horse at Tattersalls, which, I assure you, she threatened to do if I refused to bargain for her. Besides—
" Dix eyed him narrowly "—I suspect you enjoyed that 'spectacle'
quite as much as I. There's something about her that wraps a fist about a man's throat so he can scarcely breathe." Dix shook his head. "I may have to marry her before she drives me crazy."
"Maybe you need to stay away from her," Adam retorted.
"Maybe you need to take your own advice," Dix flashed back.
"I've seen how you look at her. At least I'm free to act. May I remind you that you're engaged? I suggest that you hie yourself back to your fiancée and stop trying to put blocks in the path of
those who value Miss Lambarth as much for her spirit as for her..
.passionate beauty."
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At that moment Helena came galloping back and pulled up the black beside them. Cheeks flushed from the wind, eyes alight, she once again exuded a sensual allure that tightened Adam's chest and sped his pulse.
"What cowards they are, Pegasus," she said, patting the horse's lathered neck. "They didn't e ven try to catch us. But you see," she continued, looking over to the men, "he will be quite docile now.
