Page 35 of His Wild Duchess
Vaun seemed to enjoy it as much as she. He twisted around trees and lept over rocks, not once daring to even slow down. He sped around and kept going. At one point, his head leaned to the side, eye glancing over in Penelope’s direction, as if he wished to check and see how she was holding up.
Her hands gripped the reigns as she leaned forward, raising her bottom in the air while keeping her feet close to his sides. They moved even faster when she did that, feeling as though she might take off on her own at any given second.
Eventually, Vaun began to lower his pace to a gentle trot. She guided him with the reins back to the stables, moments away from jumping down to lead him back inside. Running her hand along his mane, Penelope leaned down, wrapping her arms around his thick neck.
“You’re a brilliant steed, Vaun,” she whispered against his skin. “You have made me happier today, and I doubt you’ll ever truly know it.”
Vaun neighed, throwing up his snout slightly, as if he understood.
As she lifted her head, her eyes landed on George, who stood outside the stables, a skinny and young stablehand looking nervous beside him. George held his hands on his hips, a look of utter disbelief prominently displayed across his face.
Penelope, feeling the change in Vaun’s heart rate beneath the saddle, slowly dismounted, keeping one steady arm around his frame.
“What the devil do you think you’re doing?” George shouted.
“You should know better than to approach a horse angry,” Penelope called out to him.
George’s eyebrows flung up, his face reaching a new shade of red. “Are you out of your mind?” he asked, storming up to her. Vaun snorted and sidestepped uneasily/ “What, did you think him to be just another retired racehorse, easy to ride around and back again?”
“I am not a fool,” Penelope snapped.
“And yet, you’d ride a beast that is not yet tamed as if it were nothing!”
Penelope paused, glancing up at Vaun.
George kept coming, his hands wound into tight fists at his sides. “Tell me, now, are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“I -”
“God forbid the beast threw you off,” George continued, only a few feet away. “God forbid the pair of you were injured in your stupidity!”
Penelope stared up at him in shock, almost forgetting that Vaun was directly beside her. Sure, she had seen the Duke angry before, when her surplus of animals got in his way or managed to interfere with his business, but it wasn’t anything like this. She could tell that he enjoyed the dogs much as he berated them. Butwith the stallion, it was as though something else drove him wild in anger, ready to fling himself across the field towards them.
Before she could gather her thoughts appropriately to speak, the reserved and meek stablehand crept towards Vaun. He reached for the reigns that hung down around his neck, his body visibly shaking as his fingers managed to barely graze the horse.
Almost immediately, Vaun stepped backward and reared. The stablehand shouted, falling flat against the groundwith a sharpsmack.Vaun’s legs were high in the air, moments away from crashing down over the innocent boy.
Penelope, no longer preoccupied with her thoughts, jumped in front of the stablehand, blocking Vaun’s sight of him.
“Calm, Vaun,” she called out to him, keeping her voice level and free of tension. “It is alright.”
The stallion’s front legs landed on the ground with a thud. He stopped backing away’ instead, he crept closer to her, his snout pressing against her extended hand with a loud exhale. Penelope reached around his neck, taking a firm hold of the reins.
“Don’t worry,” she said, turning to the stablehand that crawled backwards away from them, “I’ll take care of him.” Still holding onto the reins, Penelope walked him to the stable, approaching George with a defiant look on her face. “Don’t you see? There is nothing to be so worried over. Vaun and I work quite well together.”
George glanced around, his gaze stuck on Penelope’s firm and confident grip on Vaun’s reins. He frowned before releasing a heavy, exasperated sigh. “Just…just tell me you’ll be careful next time.”
“What gives you the implication that I wasn’t careful this time?”
Raising his hands, George rubbed his palms over his eyes. “Why even ride him?” he asked. “You have a perfectly fine mare to take for a ride rather than a half-wild stallion.”
Rolling her eyes, Penelope tugged on the reigns to pull Vaun gently alongside her as she pushed the stable doors open wider. Ignoring the sound of George’s heavy footsteps following behind her, she guided Vaun into his stall to begin to remove the saddle from his back.
“Why must you feel the need to do things you shouldn’t?”
Penelope shot him a glare. “When did this become a general accusation? Did I not just take your precious feral beast on a ride?”
“Don’t act like this isn’t the first time you’ve done something like this.”
