Page 21 of The Dangerous Love of a Rogue
The lawns and paths were not busy but there were others about.
Once he’d ridden a few hundred yards he swung back, turning on to the outer path. She was a couple of hundred yards into the park, rising and falling in a trot, with the groom riding beside her.
She was not looking in his direction, but he somehow knew from her stance that she’d seen him.
He rode towards her, slowing from a canter to a trot, lifting his hand as though he’d just noticed her. ‘Miss Marlow! Well met!’ He rode the last few yards with his hand raised. Then he lifted his hat and bowed his head in greeting, ignoring the glaring groom.
‘Lord Framlington.’ Her voice rang with a bright false pitch of surprise, but there was a more hesitant note too.
She was worried.
A surge of something he was not used to feeling for anyone other than his sister, Caro, surged through his blood – a need to reassure and protect.
‘You are out riding early, Miss Marlow?’
‘I had a restless night.’
‘May I ride beside you?’
‘If you must.’
Drew smiled and turned Athena to walk beside her stallion.
She smiled at the groom and lifted a hand that said,stay back.
As they continued, Drew felt the man’s glare boring into his back.
‘You are late,’ he said quietly.
‘Well, that is a woman’s right.’
‘Is it…?’ he said, through a wry smile. He was falling into the enchantment of her guileless ways – fast and hard. He no longer cared that she’d kept him waiting.
The fabric of her habit hugged the curve beneath her breasts, the arch of her lower back and her slender arms. His hunger was intense. She had an aura which pulled him close and wound around him.
It was probably just her beauty affecting him… All men must be dazzled by her. She was exceptionally pretty.
‘Let us race,’ she said, tapping her short whip on the horse’s flank, informing the animal of her command, not waiting for his agreement. It was off, tossing up divots of grass at him.
He kicked his heels and followed, rising from his saddle, balancing on the stirrups with his body low over Athena’s neck.
The rhythm of the horses’ hooves pounded on the earth. Her laughter trailed on the air.
He gained ground and then led. She did not concede but tore on towards the Serpentine.
When they neared the lake, he pulled up, a full half-leg in front. She stopped too, her horse turning circles. Her groom had been left a quarter mile back, but he could see them.
‘What was that?’ he asked.
‘Fun!’ she answered, laughter dancing in her eyes. ‘I was not going to come, you know.’
‘Then why are you here?’
‘I always behave. I always do as I should. I wished to kick up my heels.’
‘Then this is not to be taken as any indication you will marry me?’
‘Definitely not. If my family knew I was with you, they would?—’
