Page 11 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke
Juno responded willingly to the pressure of his heels, the shift forward of his weight.He felt the transition as the mare gathered those long legs and powered after the gelding.With the pair of lodges in sight, Hal drew level.The black horse had no more speed in him, but Juno, whose ancestors had been bred for warfare on one side and carriage work on the other, could keep this up for miles yet.
Ahead of them the gates were closed.‘A tie?’Hal shouted and saw Thea lift her hand in acknowledgement.Then they were both reining in and they arrived at a trot as the gatekeeper came running out, clapping his hat on his head.
The man swung the great wrought iron gates open, touched his finger to his hat brim and they were through, calling their thanks.
‘Do you know the way?’Thea asked as they trotted towards the turnpike road.
‘A bit late to ask that,’ he said, grinning, ‘but yes, I do.We go along this road for a mile, then cut across country, and we’ll come to the Bellmount Tower with a view down the eastern avenue in about an hour.’
After their race they took the rest of the journey more slowly, trotting or cantering through fields and along green lanes, the land low and undulating.Thea did not appear to feel the need to talk constantly, or to expect him to entertain her with conversation.Instead they rode in companionable silence, interrupted now and again as one of them pointed out a pleasing view, or they watched a kestrel hovering over a meadow.
It felt easy and companionable and Hal felt a kind of calm that had eluded him for what seemed like years now.
‘I think we are about to arrive,’ he said as the ground rose in front of them.‘The tower should be up there, I believe.I have seen a print of the grounds.’
They let the horses walk up a track and emerged onto a wooded ridge.Below them the park spread out, the long tree-lined avenue running ruler-straight towards Belton House.To their left the tower rose as high as the trees, a tall, very narrow archway, topped with a room and flanked on either side by low pavilions.
‘It must have been built as a viewpoint, a belvedere,’ Thea said.‘I must say, I do not feel inclined to try the stairs—that room at the top must be quite three stories up, if not more.’
‘Yes, a viewpoint and an eye-catcher from the house,’ Hal agreed.‘I wonder if it is open.I could see if I can see the Italian garden from up there.’He dismounted, led Juno over to a fence and looped her reins over it, then came back to help Thea down.
‘No need to climb all those stairs,’ Thea said.‘We can just ask.If the family is at home, which I doubt, they will invite us in for luncheon.Otherwise, I am sure someone will show us the Italian garden.’
She was right, of course.Any genteel persons, let alone an Earl’s daughter, arriving at one of the great country houses would expect to be welcomed.If they were of rank they would be received by the owners.If they were merely respectable, they could expect the head gardener to show them the gardens and, if the family were not at home, the housekeeper would show off the public reception rooms in return for a gratuity.
‘I confess I would feel somewhat awkward,’ Hal said, then felt considerably discomposed by the feel of Lady Thea in his arms as she kicked her foot from the stirrup and put her hands on his shoulders to let him lift her down.
She was tall and very slender, so he had not been expecting the unsettling sensation of feminine curves against his body as he took her weight and lowered her to the ground.
‘Oh,’ she said as she landed.For a moment he thought he had held on to her for too long, then he realised that she was embarrassed that she might have caused him discomfort by talking casually of gaining admittance, forgetting the difference in their rank.‘Yes, of course, we don’t want a lot of fuss made.’
‘Will you be all right here by yourself if I climb up the tower?’Hal asked as the door latch yielded under his hand.
‘Certainly.I will stretch my legs and admire the view from down here,’ she assured him.‘And I hope there is a flask of brandy in those saddlebags to revive you when you stagger down again.’
His instinctive response was ridiculous, a typical male reaction to female challenge.Hal knew it, even as he tookthe spiral staircase at a run, which lasted for the first three twists, after which he came to his senses and slowed to a walk.He was heartily glad there was no one to witness his staggering exit into the viewing chamber which spanned the top of the arch, an arch he now considered ludicrously tall.The man who commissioned it must have been an idiot with delusions of grandeur, he told himself as he clutched the windowsill and tried not to wheeze.
He was perfectly fit, he knew.He was able to ride from morning to evening—as he had the previous day.He could walk all day, come to that, and he could hold his own in a boxing salon or a fencing school without disgracing himself.But those confounded stairs…
It wasn’t the stairs.He could have walked all the way up them without stopping if he had set a sensible pace from the start, but no, he had to demonstrate his male superiority to a lady who wasn’t even watching him and start with a sprint.
The windows opened, he realised, and he took off his hat, unlatched the nearest casement and leaned on the sill, breathing deeply.
‘Oh, well done!’
Thea’s voice floated up from below and he looked down and waved.Far below him her face stared up at him, and then she laughed and turned to give chase as the ridiculous little tricorne hat she was wearing fell off and was caught by the wind.
Something inside him clutched uncomfortably and he pushed away from the opening.This was no place to suddenly develop a fear of heights.Warily, Hal rested his forearms on the sill and peered down again.His stomach stayed reassuringly in the right place.
Most peculiar.
He studied the landscape spread out before him.It was a mile down the avenue to the house, he estimated.Just tohis right he thought he could make out a large rectangle between the house and the church that looked more formal than the sweeping landscaped grounds around it.Probably that was the Italian garden.They could ride down the avenue and then turn off before the house.
If the family were not at home, a pair of well-dressed riders on good horses would attract little interest.If they were at home and strolling about their gardens, then they would be treated to a display of bad manners by two people they hopefully would not recognise.Thea might have no qualms about arriving unannounced, but the thought made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
He walked slowly down the stairs again and emerged to find Thea regarding him in mock admiration.‘Why, Mr Forrest, I declare you have not a hair out of place and your breathing is as calm as if you had merely strolled around the foot of the tower.I am most impressed.If I had attempted it I imagine I would be laid out on the floor at the top requiring carrying down.’
‘That was probably why it was built so tall,’ he remarked as they walked back to the horses.‘The gentlemen wanted an opportunity to gallantly carry the ladies and, at the same time, show off how fit they were.’
