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“My pretty dress can go hang, frankly,” Harriet said.
Her cheeks were flushed, she could feel the warmth of them. But she refused to look away from Edward’s stare. A smile twitched at his lips and she returned it.
What are we doing? Rebecca has eloped, leaving her groom at the altar and Edward and I are…flirting!
Almost as if he were reading her mind, the smile faded from Edward's lips and he looked down, fussing with his own reins.
“You should go back inside. This is foolishness. I should go too. But…”
“But you would rather be taking action?” Harriet suggested.
“Yes.”
“And would company on your ride make it easier? A problem shared is a problem halved, as my father used to say.”
Edward looked at her in a way that made her feel as though she were naked. Her cheeks flamed brighter at the thought and she caught her breath.
“There is no one whose company I would rather be keeping,” he said.
Those words set off fireworks in Harriet. She smiled, unable to contain the grin, and was rewarded with an equal smile from Edward. She felt reckless. This day had started with the expectation that she would be one of many guests at the wedding of Rebecca Bolton. She herself was expected to sit with Damien Woodburn, Viscount of Middleton. He was ten years Harriet’s senior and recently a widower.
He had arrived at the house with the intention of seeking a new wife and, hearing that the Earl of Sandleigh had an eligible sister and cousin, Harriet had found herself the preferred candidate and had resigned herself to it. The match would help Simon, through her new husband she would be able to provide financial support until such time as Eleanor secured a marriage of her own. Now, she had cast aside duty and responsibility at the sight of Edward in distress.
It left her breathless, as though she were about to embark on a great adventure.
“Do I presume you are still unattached?” Edward asked.
“Yes,” Harriet said, not entirely truthfully, “and you?”
“Awaiting the marriage of my sister before I think of myself. It is important to me.”
“I can see that it is.”
Edward spurred his horse through the arch and Harriet followed. As the wind rushed against her face and she pushed her mare to greater speed to match Edward, she wanted to laugh. Cares were falling away, worries about the security of her family and thoughts of duty all blew away. Despite riding sidesaddle, she kept up with Edward effortlessly as he steered his horse away from the avenue and through the park.
For a moment, she wondered if their mad dash was visible to Simon and the others from one of the Castle’s windows. His reaction to the interest from Damien Woodford was curious. Almost as though he was resigned to Harriet marrying, but not content with the thought. That further cemented the worry that his feelings for her were more than filial devotion. Her mother had displayed an equally confusing response. Instead of congratulating Harriet for securing marriage with a respectable gentleman of good standing within the county, she had seemed subdued.
Perhaps she had romantic hopes that I would fall in love and marry for that reason, as I once did. If so, she has concealed that romantic streak very well.
Ahead of them, the sun was sitting a quarter of the way to its apex, the sky blue and unblemished. Edward urged his horse to a flat gallop and its tail streamed behind it. Now, Harriet did laugh as the wind plucked the bonnet from her hair. It bobbed behind her on its ribbon. She shook her head, letting golden hair fly free.
This is a brief moment of freedom. When we arrive in Southame, reality will reassert itself. But in the meantime, I will enjoy this moment with him.
CHAPTER 27
The distance to Southame was too great to sustain a gallop for long. Edward kept the pace until they were descending the hillside and Wrexham was lost to sight. The road was above them, winding its way down into the valley. Edward and Harriet were cutting through thick woodland, following the path of a stream that gurgled from the bed of a deep gully.
I am behaving as though I have no responsibilities today. Even a direct path as the crow flies will not be faster than following the road because of the nature of the country in between. So why did I choose this path?
The answer was blindingly obvious to him but wasn’t one he wanted to acknowledge to himself. He wanted to escape, to be free of duty and responsibility. Since becoming the Duke, he had strived to match the reputation of his father, to please the ghost of the man. To that end, he had made it his goal to see Rebecca secured in marriage before turning his attention to his own. A dalliance with Alexandria had been a single instance of a return to the adventures of his youth. Until now.
“You should know that this is not like me,” Edward said as they trotted through the woodland.
“Which part?” Harriet asked.
“Riding off like this. Alone with a beautiful young woman.”
“I must say that I have rarely, if ever, ridden alone in the company of a beautiful young woman. So, I find myself agreeing with your sentiment,” Harriet replied.
