Page 125 of Ten Lords for the Holidays

To his confusion, however, he noticed that the saddle was not a lady’s side-saddle but rather one for riding astride.

Turning back to Lady Holly, Evan intended to point out the mistake, and chivalrously offer to wait while a suitable saddle was readied.

Before he could speak however, he was rendered dumb by the sight before him.

It appeared the saddle was no mistake. For Lady Holly was even now mounting the beast and sitting astride as though she’d been born in a saddle.

Her skirt, he realised, was cleverly designed to split in two. And – his throat tightened as his gaze travelled over her – revealed a pair of tightly fitting breeches underneath.

“Shall we?” She looked down at him from atop her horse, her brow raised, her eyes still spitting fire.

And before he could answer or even move, she kicked the animal into action and took off across the gardens, leaving him and his shock behind.

CHAPTER5

Holly knewit wasn’t a good idea to act thusly in front of a gentleman of little acquaintance. Of course, she did.

And if Grandmama were to find out, she’d have Holly’s head.

But she hadn’t been able to resist. Not in the face of his patronising arrogance.

Especially for a lady,he’d said. And Holly’s temper had burned hot enough for her to throw caution to the wind.

Nobody outside of her household knew of Holly’s penchant for riding astride.

Grandmama disapproved, of course. And it was only Holly’s assurance that nobody would ever find out that stopped the dowager viscountess from ridding the estate of its horses.

Yet in less than thirty minutes, Lord Stockton had riled Holly into showing him exactly what she got up to when company wasn’t around.

And the worst of it was, Holly wasn’t even sorry.

One of the few passions she had in life was horses. And she spent more of her time in the stables with them than on any of the ladylike pursuits Grandmama insisted she learn.

She could play the pianoforte. She could paint. She could embroider.

But the only thing she really loved to do was spend time with the horses.

The unfortunate truth was that Lord Stockton’s insufferable presumption had awakened Holly’s competitive nature. One that didn’t often get a chance to rear its head.

She’d had every intention of behaving herself during her morning with the earl.

That’s why she’d risen so early and broken her fast so quickly.

The idea had been to enjoy a brief, exhilarating ride on her favourite horse and be back in plenty of time to meet Lord Stockton for a more leisurely jaunt.

Now, he’d gone and ruined all of that.

The unmistakable sound of hooves beating the frozen ground interrupted Holly’s thoughts. Or rather, asecondset of hooves.

She turned her head to look over her shoulder to see that Lord Stockton had annoyingly caught up to her already.

Turning back, she lowered her frame over Artemis and gave the mare her head.

The winter wind was bitingly cold, but Holly didn’t let that stop her.

It watered her eyes and pulled pins from her hair until she felt the curls tumbling down her back.

Still, she didn’t stop.

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