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“EASY THERE, MISSY MINE,” JESSIE told her horse. “We can’t go galloping wildly through Hyde Park. It isn’t done, and besides, this new side-saddle of mine is deuced uncomfortable.” How she wished she could ride astride, her hair uncovered and loose with the wind whipping it about without care!
London was not for her. Marriage was not for her, and at this moment in time, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to have children. How unnatural, she told herself. What is wrong with you?
“Never mind,” she said out loud. “Life will sort itself out.”
Her horse snorted and Jessie laughed. “Well, Missy, you agree then. Excellent.”
At Lady Jessica’s back, her elderly groom riding attendant called out, “M’lady...eh now, m’lady.” He had been with her for many years and spurred his horse forward. He had to reach her. Something wasn’t right!
Jessie had picked up her pace as she heard him call to her and teased, “Well then, Bootles...catch up!” With a laugh, she urged her horse faster, saying, “There, Missy...a little canter can’t be frowned upon.”
It was at this precise moment that she felt her saddle shift. “What the...” she said out loud just before her saddle slid totally to the left and went vaulting through the air, taking Jessie with it!
Blurred faces, shouts in the background, shades of green came through to Jessie’s conscious brain as the inevitable meeting of earth and body brought her fall to a conclusion.
She landed with one booted foot still in one stirrup and the saddle close by. Jessie was aware of a young maid rushing towards her yelling, “Oh dear...poor loidy...are ye hurt?”
Jessie groaned in response, as she was a bit winded from the fall. She stayed herself as she tried to regain enough strength to sit up, and heard an oddly familiar voice at her ear.
“Lady Jessica, can you hear me?”
It wasn’t her groom, and where was the dratted fellow? What had he done to her girth? For she was staring right at it, and could see it wasn’t attached at one end to her saddle.
“Lady Jessica, I don’t want you to try and move until you have answered me. Can you hear me? Is anything, do you think, broken?”
Broken? Zounds, she hoped not. Missy? Where was her horse? Jessie turned her head and looked up to stare into a familiar face. Don Rodrigo. La, of all the men in London, why had he been the one to witness her spectacular fall? She managed to answer him in a voice that was scarcely audible. “My mare...Missy?”
“She is fine. Your groom has her in hand. Now, if you will tell me.” Don Rodrigo’s voice was demanding yet strangely gentle in contrast. “Do you think you have broken anything?”
As an answer, Jessie actually, with his help at her shoulders, propped herself up. She shook her arms a bit and bent her knees under her riding skirt. “No, I don’t think so...if you discount my pride.”
“Do you feel faint?” he asked quietly.
She found his dark eyes appraising her, and a rush of heat infiltrated her cheeks. Why, oh why had she made such a spectacle of herself in front of this handsome devil? “Certainly not,” she answered with feeling.
He chuckled. “Good. What are you doing...no, don’t get up, not yet!” he objected as Jessie started to get to her feet.
She felt his arm encircle her waist, and was actually grateful for the support. She gave him a tentative smile and a simple, “Thank you.”
“My lady, my man has hailed us a hackney, and yours will see your mare and saddle back to your stables.”
“Nonsense,” she returned sharply. “I am perfectly capable of riding home...”
“No, your saddle’s girth has been torn away from the buckle. How your groom did not see it before he...” Rodrigo complained.
“The girth? It is not like Thomas to overlook something like that,” she said, diverted as she looked over her shoulder to see her groom inspecting her saddle.
“We can address that at some other time. Now, let’s get you out of the public’s prying eyes and safely home,” Rodrigo said softly.
“I can make it home on my own, and don’t need your assistance,” Jessie told him, unsure why she was so reluctant to allow him to help.
“Obviously, I don’t believe that. Had you been more capable, you would have checked your girth before you mounted your mare,” he said caustically.
“How dare you!” She was now feeling more herself, and her chin went up as she pulled out of his hold.
At this point, she found herself unceremoniously scooped up and into his arms as he carried her towards a waiting hackney.
“What the devil do you think you are doing?” the lady demanded in unladylike terms. “Put me down at once, you. You arrogant beast!”
