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I didn’t know whether gratitude or surprise was the chief emotion flooding me, but I rose and crossed the few steps between us, bringing me close to his side. I leaned my head back to hold his gaze, searching it for truth, while his spicy, tangy scent overwhelmed my senses. “Why are you doing this?”
He could not seem to keep his gaze still. It flitted from my hair to my jaw to whatever hovered behind me. Finally it rested on my face, and I held my breath from the intensity there. “Guilt? Or perhaps it is the innate desire to best you at something. I can be the better friend, and I will prove it.”
“Doubtful,” I said softly. “It is I who has a multitude of friends and am loved by all.”
“All?”
“Well, loved by everyone except you. I doubt that will change.”
He stared at me in a way that made my breath catch. “I suppose we shall see.”
Chapter13
BENEDICT
Mother was abed the following day with a headache. It was a common occurrence when she found herself overwhelmed, and I didn’t like being the cause of her added stress, but I’d made a promise to Thea and I kept my promises. A devil had somehow come over me in the parlor last night, for there could be no other explanation for the way I had spoken to Thea. I still was unsure what my proposed truce comprised of, but I supposed we would soon find out if it was even possible between the two of us.
My bets were on no. It was impossible. Thea’s dislike was too potent, too strong.
Stray sunlight peeked over the edge of the horizon, making the trees glow as though a fire bloomed behind their mass of tangled branches. The morning was unaccountably cold, even for November. Or was it now December? I’d lost track of the days.
Gregory had gone ahead and ordered Jasper to be saddled for me, and I marched down the short hall that led into the courtyard, the brick ceiling curving above my head. A woman in a deep violet riding habit was being helped onto a saddle not far from where Jasper awaited me, and it did not take long to recognize—despite the fact that I could not see her face—that it was Thea being helped onto a horse by a groom.
She turned her elegant neck until her eyes locked on me, and I forced my steps to remain consistent in their journey toward Jasper.
“We agreed to a truce, not a friendship,” she said lightly, though I could sense she was nervous. “Now you think we ought to ride together?”
“I am not opposed to beating you in a friendly race.” I strode toward my horse and obtained the saddle in a smooth, easy motion. I was quietly, internally relieved that swinging onto the horse had worked as well as I’d imagined in my mind, and that my horse Jasper had not stepped forward and botched my attempts at appearing like a Corinthian. I looked at her. “But I did not expect to find you here this morning.”
“Interesting.” She looked away when I met her gaze, her cheeks pinking slightly. “You are very confident in your abilities. It was I who won the last race, if I recall correctly.”
“You do. But I am trusting that, inevitably, your previous situations did not leave you much time for riding.” I turned Jasper toward the archway, the gates having been left wide open, and Thea directed her horse to follow me. Her silent acquiescence and agreement to ride together made victory silently soar through me. “Tell me, when was the last time you’ve ridden?”
“Too long ago to warrant mentioning.”
“As I thought.” We weaved out of the stables and toward the rolling hills covered in grass bleached of color in patches, the half-barren trees marking the turning of the seasons, their red and gold leaves fluttering in the wind and littering the ground.
“I can still manage a decent seat, I wager,” she said, as though not to be discounted.
“Care to place a bet on it?” I asked. It was Thea, after all, who had mentioned a wager.
“What would we wager? I haven’t much to give.”
“Mother told you of the assemblies next week in Bakewell?”
Thea nodded.
“The first to reach the folly chooses the other person’s partner for the first set.” I could see it now, forcing Thea to dance with hook-nosed Ned or fish-breath Timothy. There wasn’t a woman in all of Bakewell I would be miserable with or suffer through a set beside.
Regardless, I would surely win.
“Very well,” Thea said easily. She reached across the space between our horses, and I guided Jasper closer in order to take her gloved hand in mine. We shook once and released quickly.
I nodded to the brown horse she rode. “James lent you Luna?”
“Evidently Felicity doesn’t ride,” Thea explained, “so he told me Luna was mine to use whenever I wished.”
“That was kind of him.” It was true that my sister-in-law wasn’t fond of the sport. “Felicity has a mule and cart she uses when she wishes to go out in solitude. She is an adept hand with the contraption, according to James.” Though if she used it as often as James made it sound, that was no surprise.
