Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
She was a good girl all through Battle giving me a twenty-minute riding lesson before we headed out.
But she got stuck with a dud in me.
With some “whoas,” tightening my reins and his, he stopped us.
“And why don’t you have those sticky-uppy pommels like American saddles do?” I demanded.
“Have you ever seen an American saddle?”
“In Western movies.”
“So, when you said you’d never ridden, you really weren’t joking.”
“Look, Your Grace, not all of us were born with an English riding saddle in the barn.”
He studied me, visibly fighting laughter, and if I thought I could do it without falling off this damned horse, I would have smacked him a good one.
“Can’t we go back, and I’ll ride you?” I offered hopefully.
With that, he burst out laughing.
“I wasn’t being funny,” I said through it.
And I wasn’t!
He then took my life in his hands by nabbing me at the back of my neck, pulling me to him and laying a wet one on me.
I was a little dazed when he was done, but miracle of miracles, I kept my seat.
“I like riding,” he said softly, his hand still warm on the back of my neck.
“Okay,” I replied.
“And I like you,” he went on.
The kiss daze was receding, but at that, it came back.
“Okay,” I repeated.
“And it would mean a lot to me if you learned how to ride so we can do it together.”
Argh!
“However, if you really hate it—” he began.
“No, no, no. I’ll get the hang of it.”
Maybe in ten years.
“We’ll go slow. Find your seat. Trust Noelle. She doesn’t want you to fall off either. And you’ll start to get comfortable.”
I nodded, even if my nod was a total lie.
“Ready?”
I nodded again (and again lie-nodding).
He let go of me and the reins, clicked his teeth and dug in his heels, and I did the same.
We started walking slowly.
How embarrassing.
Well, out of this at least I got a mini-tour of the south side of The Downs, which included mostly parkland, but obviously, the stables along with Chassie’s greenhouse (of course, it was bigger than I expected it would be) and the garage, which was a surprising clip away from the house (Battle had told me to hang on the steps while he went to get the car last night, he was gone a long time, now I knew why).
And on our journey, he pointed out the gamekeeper’s cottage tucked in the edge of the trees in the south forest (no Christian, though), as well as the steward’s cottage, which was opposite the gamekeeper’s, close to the tall stone fence at the front of the property.
Now we were riding in the field that I always saw sheep in.
And today was the same in regard to the sheep keeping us company.
“Things go well, cooking with Chassie?” he asked.
I was oh-so not going to point out she was different and how. If he didn’t notice, and it wasn’t what I thought it was, I didn’t want to give him hope.
So I said, “I taught her how to flip a pancake.”
“Those were delicious, darling.”
Honestly?
It made me feel good to make them all breakfast, and not because I liked to cook.
Because I felt like I was doing something for them after all they’d done for me.
Though, I would never tell Battle that.
Hell no.
I’d hold that to me until I died.
“Glad you liked them.”
We walked, or our horses did.
Then I asked, “Hey, do you know if Tempie is seeing someone?”
He turned his head to me. “Why do you ask?”
“Because Chassie said she’s seeing someone.”
“Chassie knows?”
I guess that rumor was true.
“She is? Tempie, I mean.”
He nodded and turned forward. “She is.”
“So, he’s not a candidate?”
At that, he whipped his head toward me.
“Oh yes, Battle, she used the word,” I shared.
Again, he turned forward, muttering, “I’m seeing the disadvantages of you being close to my sisters.”
“Really? You and Tempie use the word candidate?”
“Tighten the reins, don’t pull, and squeeze her with your full leg, not your thighs,” he instructed.
I did that, and Noelle stopped.
Well, hell.
It worked!
His blood bay, Oberon, stopped too.
“You should know something,” he announced.
Oh boy.
“What?” I asked.
“I will never live anywhere but The Downs or Burleigh House.”
“You are the duke, so I can’t say that’s a surprise.”
“And neither will my sisters.”
“But, Chassie says Tempie has a flat in London.”
“Tempie has a flat in London because I walked in on her blowing a man in the lounge at Burleigh House.”
I grimaced.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he agreed. “Click your teeth, slack the reins, and loosen your legs.”
I’d already done the leg bit, so I did the others, and Noelle and I started walking again.
Oberon and Battle did it beside me.
“She and I decided to give each other space until we settled,” he shared.
“You could have just made a rule that any kind of fornication happened in a bedroom or put a sock on the door to the lounge or something.”