Page 80 of When the Marquess Was Mine
“Are we ready?” asked Tom curtly. “I’ve already had to speak to one constable, wondering why I’m out before dawn with three horses.”
“By all means, return to your bed.” Rob unhooked the lead from Artemis’s bridle and took his own horse’s reins and mounted. “I don’t need your help any longer.”
Tom made a face, but he fell in line behind Georgiana as they started off. There was virtually no traffic in the streets, and it took no time at all to reach the park. It had been a long time since Rob had been up and about so early, rather than so late. Normally when he saw dawn it was at the end of a night he barely remembered. Today, though, he didn’t want to miss a moment.
The sky was the color of slate by the time they reached Piccadilly. Rob turned into Green Park and nudged his horse into a canter. Behind him Georgiana gave an exclamation of glee, and followed suit. He supposed Tom kept up as well, but he didn’t care either way.
They skirted the basin and followed the path. Normally one couldn’t ride this way in Green Park, but today it was deserted. They kept up the easy pace until they reached Hyde Park corner, where they had to cross the road. Aside from a few carts bound for market, they might have been the only people in the world.
He drew up his horse and let her come up beside him. “How is she?”
“She’s a dream to ride!” Georgiana leaned forward to pat the horse’s neck. Artemis tossed her head and jangled her bridle.
Rob looked out into the expanse of the park, silent and still, a thin miasma of fog hovering above the grass. “Shall we run?”
Her eyes lit up. “Can we?”
He winked. There was no one about to say they couldn’t. “Race you to the Ring.”
For answer, she touched her heel to Artemis’s side. With a joyful snort the horse shot forward, taking off at last. Georgiana’s whoop of excitement made him smile, and Rob sent his own horse after her.
He didn’t want to lose, but he did like watching her ride. Heedless of decorum, she almost lay across the horse’s back, her blond braid bouncing on her back in time with the beat of Artemis’s hooves. Her skirts fluttered up, revealing her boots and stockings. And when she glanced back to see how close he was, her face was alight with joy and determination. Her hat flew off, but she didn’t stop.
They veered north, following the path around the Serpentine toward the Ring, the enclosure where carriages could make elegant turns to display their occupants. It was deserted now, of course, the balustrade spindly in foggy solitude.
He beat her by half a length. “Unfair!” she cried even as she laughed. “Your horse is taller!”
“Fair! I even gave you a head start,” he declared, circling his horse back around to fall in beside her.
Georgiana stuck out her tongue at him. “Don’t you dare say that ever again. I don’t want a head start.”
“All the better to appreciate your form, my dear.”
She gave him a coyly flirtatious glance, and stroked Artemis’s heaving neck again. “You were splendid,” she crooned. “We’ll take him next time.”
His heart leapt at that casual phrase. By God, he wanted there to be a thousand next times. He’d forgotten how exhilarating it was to fly across the park on Bethel, his long-legged gelding. Doing it with Georgiana was ten times better.
Georgiana raised her head. “Have we lost the major again?”
There was no sign of Tom. Rob had asked his brother’s help in carrying off this escapade, but made sure to mention that once in the park, Tom should feel at liberty to take himself off for a bite of breakfast or back to bed, as he desired. To his credit, Tom had been an able accomplice—especially now, leaving him alone with Georgiana.
“He’s out there somewhere.” He glanced at her. “Are you worried for propriety without him?”
“No, but I would hate to leave him to wander lost and alone, vulnerable to thieves and brigands.”
Rob scoffed. “Tom? Pity the thieves and brigands who try to lay hands on him. He could use a good thrashing, though.”
She laughed. “That’s the way of it?” Rob gave a mock salute in acknowledgment. “I never know,” she remarked. “About siblings.”
Ah. “Tom and I get on well most of the time,” he explained. “Always have. We were the oldest two. Will and George are a few years younger, and they had their antics while Tom and I had ours.” He grinned, remembering the tales dredged up from memory recently. “Tom always had more spirit for adventure. I was the more responsible party.”
“You?” Georgiana exclaimed incredulously.
“Of course I was,” he retorted with some indignity. “Relative to Tom, that is.”
She was still laughing. “The pair of you must have been a threat to all peace and serenity!”
Rob grinned proudly. “We were. Not any longer, of course. All quite respectable and proper now—”
