Page 3 of Shining Knight
“You already look improved,” Graham said, as though reading her mind. “Go and change into your habit. I will meet you at the front entrance.”
Eugenia dressed and returned downstairs in less than ten minutes. One thing she had learned, whilst being raised by four brothers, was that they would not wait for her. If she could not be presentable in fifteen minutes or less, it was not worth doing. Now, being in Town and having to wear the latest fashions did not quite fit that mantra, but she still did not fuss over her appearance like most ladies. There were times when she longed for trousers to go riding, but she did like feeling feminine and wearing bright colors.
She smiled at Winfred, who handed her her gloves and riding crop, then opened the door.
“Well, you are very…bright, are you not?” Graham said carefully.
“You do not approve,” she answered, trying not to feel disappointed. She loved her new jonquil riding habit with the green trim. Her brothers teased her mercilessly over her dress, but Graham was considered to be the height of fashion amongst thetonand it smarted somewhat to know he disapproved. She looked up into his bright green eyes that were much too beautiful to be a man’s along with his perfectly chiseled face, golden locks and easy smile. No, she certainly was not envious of his looks or the way that every female in the room stopped to look at him or fall over themselves flirting with him.
“Not at all,” he said, lifting her chin with his finger. “You look like a ray of sunshine.”
She did not meet his eyes. “You do not have to lie to me, Graham.”
“That is one thing I would never do, but this self-pity does not become you.”
She looked up at him quickly, with suspicion, ready to argue.
“That’s better,” he said. His smile told her he had deliberately goaded her.
She turned away, towards her sleek black mare, Cleo, short for Cleopatra. He boosted Eugenia into the saddle as he always did. They walked their horses while they negotiated the morning rush of wagons, carts, and carriages. Really, she was unusually maudlin and she did not like it one bit, and it was too bad of Graham to mention it.
As soon as they crossed into the park near Rotten Row, Eugenia was spoiling for a gallop. Sybil was afraid of horses and they always had to keep to a walk when she was with them. Eugenia glanced over at Graham with a mischievous smile before she let her mare have its head. She heard Graham shout her name, but she only laughed as she leaned over Cleo’s mane. Galloping was so exhilarating and the speed made her feel freer than she had in months. From the corner of her eye, she vaguely registered people staring at her and a small warning bell began to jingle in her head.
Was this one of those rules she had forgotten about? She had always lived by the premise that it was better to ask forgiveness later, but Society was extremely unforgiving. It was still not enough for her to slow down before she reached the end ahead of Graham, someone would see and admonish her. She reined in and waited for him, which was not long.
“I assume, by the look on your face, that I did something wrong again. Are you very angry with me?” she asked, as one of the bright flowers from her bonnet flopped down into her face to mock her.
He let out a big sigh. “It is difficult to be angry with you, Genie, and you know I think the rules are ridiculous for gently bred females, but Society is not kind if you flaunt its dictums in its face over and over and over.”
“I concede your point. It was an innocent mistake. I truly had forgotten about the rule until I noticed everyone staring at me. We have been riding with Lady Sybil, of course, and it slipped my mind.”
“It will not stop the gossip columns from mentioning it.”
She groaned for the third time at least that day. It was becoming too much of a habit lately, and she hated to have Graham scold her like a small child. “That means Rowley will hear of it.”
“He has eyes and ears everywhere, regardless,” Graham muttered. Then he swore as a group of gentleman riders came towards them.
She recognized several of them as friends of Graham and her brother Heath. Lord Perth was one of Emma, the Duchess’s, cousins.
“Capital seat there, Lady Eugenia,” Sir Martin Hardy said appreciatively.
“Do not encourage her.”
“I am right here, thank you,” Eugenia said, tired of being treated like a petulant child. So what if she had the memory of a wigeon. She was not hurting anyone else!
“Are any of your brothers coming back to Town soon?” Perth asked.
“They are not,” she answered curtly, turning to Tinsley. “And I absolve you of playing my nursemaid, Graham.” She turned her mare around and galloped back from whence she came, leaving the group of them behind.
*
Petersham whistled. “Ido not think she appreciated you speaking of her like a child.”
“She is certainly not a child,” Hardy remarked—rather too warmly for Graham’s liking.
“She needs to stop behaving like one if she does not wish to be treated like one,” he snapped.
“It is hardly an irredeemable quality to gallop,” Petersham argued.
