Page 21 of Nothing But a Rakehell
They entered the woods after a short while. The path was wide enough for them to ride abreast. Fallen leaves and needles lined the way and they made their way in a strange silence.
He had to break it before it became too comfortable.
“You know, it was your reputation that made me ask about a chaperone,” he told her. “I’m sure everyone here knows my history. You won’t want them connecting you with me.”
“Everyone knows the stories about you. They also know of your interest in Betsy at the Crown and Cock.”
He scowled. “Listening to servant’s gossip again?”
“It’s the only way I learn anything interesting. No one tells me anything. They all think of me as a little girl.”
“I’m sure they all think of you as the terror that you are—they just won’t say so to your face.”
She laughed. “In any case, no one is going to think you are interested in me when you have Betsy waiting.” She lifted a shoulder. “Besides, everyone knows I carry this.” She gestured to the whip coiled and attached to her uniquely configured saddle. “And they know I know how to use it.”
“You never use that on Poppy!” he exclaimed.
“Of course not,” she answered, all indignation. “But this one is custom made for my height and reach and I have developed a certain skill with it. I can flick a fly off of your ear without touching the skin—or not, as I so choose.”
“A wise strategy,” he said. If she was going to ride out alone, at least she had one means to defend herself.
“You know, I truly am sorry if I caused offense.” She sighed. “Hiding was not my best notion.”
“You couldn’t have carried on much longer, in any case, surely.”
“Couldn’t have? Of course I could have. But I was already miserable.”
“There’s that stubborn streak again.”
She shrugged. “Ever present. But I was only thinking of my own feelings and didn’t consider how it might insult you.”
“Perhaps I overreacted.” He knew he had, suddenly.
“My mother would be disappointed in me, could she see me now,” she went on. “She always insisted that I should just allow my lameness to show and let people and their thoughts about it fall where they may.”
He scarcely heard her. He had overreacted. He should have been glad that his reputation had spread ahead of him and cleared the way of entanglements or expectations. Why then, did he continue to shy away from the idea of this amber-eyed sprite of a girl thinking badly of him?
It didn’t matter why. It wouldn’t do.
“You are suddenly wearing a most particular expression. What is it?”
He shook his head. “I was just thinking that my mother would be disappointed in me, as well.” And she would have. She would have seen the pain behind Lady Glory’s maneuverings and treated her gently. He sighed. “It would hardly be a novel sensation. I think she must be used to looking down and frowning at me from heaven, by now.”
“I’m sorry. You lost your mother, too?”
“Long ago.” The trail began to narrow and he urged his mount ahead of her instead of letting her pursue that conversation.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” she called. “We are going to take a path to the right, just ahead.”
He couldn’t see anything except for forest and a carpet of thick ferns. Straining, he saw a small break that might perhaps be a faint game trail. He hesitated.
“Yes. There. That’s it. Take it now,” she called.
“So bossy!” he called back, but he obeyed and the chestnut left the lighter thoroughfare behind, pushing through a belly-high sea of waving fronds and emerging into a dimmer section of forest. The dense canopy overhead blocked all but small dapples of sunlight. The trees were large and many grew at odd angles. Some of the thick trunks were covered with moss, others bore shelves and ridges of fungi. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“I know. It scarcely seems real, does it?” She and Poppy kept close behind and they followed the faint path as it led along a limestone ridge.
“It’s like another world back here.” The thought jarred him. “Wait. You are not taking me to the riverbank where Tensford hunts for fossils, are you? I promised him I would go when he makes an outing of it, with the rest of the house party.
