Page 64 of His Spirited Lady
“Tomorrow.” A day might not make any difference, but she wasn’t going to be impatient. Not now. She followed him out and locked the door.
He was already in the stable, saddling Molly.
“Are you rushing me off so you can break in and uncork that barrel?” she teased.
“I’m sending you home to put your feet up and read a book.” He brushed his fingers along her jaw.
Amelia was kissing him before she knew what was happening. Richard’s sharp inhale stole her breath a moment before he tunneled his fingers in her hair, cradling her to him. The sinful heat made her toes curl.
“I wanted to do that the moment I saw you out here,” he murmured, resting his forehead against hers.
Amelia closed her eyes and imagined what could happen if they got lost in the moment again, out here alone. It was a dangerous path to travel. “I don’t think we should arrive at the house together.”
“Probably not.” His laugh dusted her cheeks. “I’ll pick up the road and come that way. You go through the fields. We’ll look surprised at the door.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And I’ll try to miss as many rabbits as I can.”
*
“Is your eyesightfailing?” Oliver asked as he broke his shotgun open to empty the barrels.
Richard followed suit, even though his shotgun was already empty. “What gives you that impression?”
“I’ve never seen you miss so many times.” His friend clapped him on the back, laughing. “Marriage is ruining your focus.”
“It isn’t that.” Richard followed him the front door into Felton House’s grand front hall. “And If Augustus thought I’d be scrambling about the woods all day to feed my family, he’d have never agreed to—”
Simon was sliding down the banister with an ease that was both impressive and terrifying.
He reached the bottom and looked up at them with a wide smile and frantic wave. “Did you see, Papa?”
Oliver’s breath came out in awhoosh. “I did,hijo. Well done.”
“I did just want you told me.” Simon leapt to the floor and came running at them. “How was hunting?”
Richard knelt for a hug and lifted the boy in one arm as he stood, though his knees buckled with the extra weight. He considered surrendering until Simon slung an arm across his back. Oliver’s snicker doubled his resolve.
Lionel took their weapons and carried them past the stairs to the back of the house.
“I did well,” Oliver said. “But Richard missed three out of four shots all day.”
“Are you sick,Oncle?”
Given thatsickhad always been the best explanation for a hangover, Oliver’s laughter rang through the hall. A baby’s wail followed a moment later.
“No, I’m not.” Richard lengthened his stride to keep up with Oliver as he headed for the drawing room. Simon’s boots thudded against his thighs with every step. “I was trying not to embarrass your papa in front of his friends.”
“So now your father-in-law thinks his daughter will starve.” Oliver rounded the doorway and met Thea’s glare as she comforted Carys. “I’m sorry,pepinilla. Simon—”
“Do not blame our son for your humor, good or otherwise.” Despite her scolding, she laughed. “And come take your daughter. She’s tired of me.”
Richard knelt and puthis sister’sson on his own feet, ruffling his hair before he stood.
The boy made a beeline for the sofa, where he wedged himself between Oliver and Thea and patted his sister on her apricot-colored hair. “I went down the staircase faster than ever.”
“You did, did you?” Thea asked, drawing his attention from brotherly ministrations. “Was anyone else in the hall?”
“Papa andOnclewere there at the end.” Simon grinned at her. “Don’t be cross. I only went down the lowest one, and I did it just the way Papa showed me.”
Richard suspected the butler had stayed close by but out of sight.
