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“Oh, yes,” Sam continued, lost in her memories. “She never mastered a sidesaddle as a child, and her grandfather taught her to ride astride instead.”
“You don’t say.” John shook his head with a smile.
“Indeed. Many a gentleman would be rather surprised to learn that little fact about her. She pulled me out of my grief and misery that summer, and she’s been a great friend to me ever since,” she concluded.
“What about you?” John asked after a moment of silence. “Have you ever ridden astride?”
Sam laughed merrily, and he delighted in the sound. “Evie tried to teach me several times, but such a scandalous activity is not for proper ladies,” she said with a purposefully pretentious accent.
John laughed alongside her. All his worries moved to the background.
“I love to ride as much as anyone,” she continued. “But I mostly do it because I have trouble sleeping sometimes.”
“Do you?” He was surprised that they had one thing in common.
She gave a sound of acquiescence. “When I am in the country, though, my rides usually have a destination. There is this boulder by the creek, I like to sit on it and sketch.” She gave a self-deprecated little laugh. “Not that I am any good at sketching, I just like to do it.”
“You don’t think you’re good? Oh, I beg to differ.” He laughed, and she raised her brows at him.
“Oh,” she said once she realized what he meant. “That’s right, you’ve seen my sketches.”
John gave her a crooked smile. Her expression changed every time he brought up the letters. He wished he hadn’t mentioned them.
“I just mean, from what little I’ve seen, you are very good.”
“Thank you. That is very kind of you to say.” She smiled and turned her face to the sun.
“Isabel would say not to do it,” she said after a moment, her head still turned up and her eyes closed. “She’d say that it would give me freckles. But what are a couple more freckles?” She was speaking as if to herself, not requiring an answer from him, and he couldn’t give her an answer if he tried.
He was distracted by the expanse of pure white skin she exposed to him by tilting her head back. Her soft, creamy neck, so enticing and succulent, just begged for his lips to touch it. For his tongue to—
She opened her eyes sharply and looked forward. “Oh, Lord,” she exclaimed. “The sun is so high already. My family will be looking for me soon. I better get back.”
All John could do was nod. Sam flashed him a quick smile, and he watched her disappear behind the bend.
* * *
Sam rode home lost in thought. Evie was going to get married soon, to John. The thought was accompanied by a slight pang in her heart. She couldn’t comprehend if this was because she was slightly jealous of her friend getting married before her, if this was because she worried Evie was making a mistake, or if it was because Evie was marrying John.
She scoffed at how easily she thought of him as John and not Lord Ashbury. She felt safe with him, at ease. There was a peculiar feeling at the pit of her stomach every time he was next to her; sometimes it would make her breathless. She couldn’t interpret that feeling, and perhaps it was best that she couldn’t.
She liked him. She knew that much. She liked spending time with him, talking with him, riding. Even standing still and silent seemed pleasurable in his company. But her physical reaction to him was something else. He wasn’t handsome, not in a classical sense. At least she hadn’t found him handsome when she first met him. But the more she saw him, the more appealing he became.How did that happen?
She could look at his unfathomable hazel eyes for eternity. His hard mouth lured her lips to his. And she had a fickle urge to trace the scar on his cheek with her tongue. She almost laughed out loud at the thought. She’d never thought about licking a person before. She wondered what he’d taste like. She closed her eyes and had to shake her head. Hard. He was Evie’s future husband. Evie—who was her best friend. And so was he. A friend. And nothing more.
Sam dismounted as she neared the front door and scaled the steps. The butler opened the front door, and she saw Isabel coming toward her. Sam smiled at her sister as she came in and started taking off her bonnet, gloves, and pelisse.
“You are awfully late from your ride,” Isabel said as she reached Sam’s side.
“I like the exercise,” Sam answered, not looking at her sister. “Why, were you looking for me?”
Isabel regarded her quizzically. “No, it’s all right. I just worry about you, that’s all.”
“Worry?” Sam looked at her sister then. “Why would you worry?”
“Well…” Isabel gestured for Sam to proceed up the steps. “We haven’t really talked for a while. You seem to be quite busy lately.”
“I am never too busy to talk to you, Isabel.” Sam smiled over her shoulder. They were silent until they reached Sam’s bedroom. Gina was waiting for Sam inside, as per usual, but Isabel dismissed her and started helping Sam out of her clothing herself.
