Page 8 of Needs Must
‘Thank you. But now if you will excuse me, I am late for an appointment. I am due to meet a Mr Dawkins at the cottage so that he can assess the repairs required to the roof, and I should not keep him waiting.’ Seemingly satisfied that the cob had suffered no injuries, she climbed back onto the box seat with the same dexterity that she had shown when alighting from it. ‘I apologise for using your land, and I assure you that it will not happen again. But I hope you shall not mind if I continue on my way. I will be horribly late if I have to backtrack.’
‘Feel free to use this path at any time,’ Cal replied. ‘I shall endeavour not to frighten you again.’
‘Oh, spirited stallions hold no fear for me,’ she replied confidently. ‘It is just that I had not expected to encounter you, and nor had poor Bertram here.’ She nodded at the cob.
Cal swung back into his saddle. ‘I shall accompany you,’ he said.
‘Good heavens.’ She raised a brow, genuinely perplexed. ‘Whatever for?’
Cal laughed aloud. She was probably the only female in the county who would question such an offer. ‘Dawkins is supposed to be working on my barn. I was about to go and examine his progress, but if he is engaged to assess your property then I shall not find him there.’
‘I hope you will not blame me for taking him from his obligations,’ she replied tersely, as she encouraged the cob forward with a slap of the reins on its sturdy quarters. ‘He suggested the time, not I.’
‘Are you always so defensive?’
‘I have found it necessary to be so.’
Mrs Harte pushed the cob into a trot and Cal and Emperor pranced along at their side. Despite the impression that he had given Celia, he was curious about the cottage, to say nothing of Mrs Bagshott’s unfortunate demise in the place, and would be interested to see it for himself.
‘Well, at least I can assure you that Dawkins will do a good job for a fair price,’ he said.
‘Thank you, my lord,’ she said, clearly striving for a contrite tone and not quite managing it. ‘That is a great comfort to me.’
Chapter Three
Donna did her very best to remain impervious to the earl’s dominating presence as gig and stallion made their way towards the hovel she had agreed to lease. They would make an incongruous sight ? plodding cob and spirited stallion ? but there was no one around to observe their progress. Besides, she got the impression that the earl wouldn’t give tuppence for the opinion of others. He was very much a man who did as he pleased and hang the consequences. That much was already evident to her.
She knew she had not spoken as contritely as she ought to the earl, but that wasn’t entirely her fault. She had not known who he was when he almost caused an accident, nor that she was on private land. His irresponsible riding had both angered and entranced her. Not so long ago she would have been the one struggling to control an independently minded mount, laughing as she retained her seat, feeling alive and momentarily distracted from her miserable marriage.
But those days were behind her, she reminded herself, and she was reduced to driving a humble gig. The obliging Bertram was no challenge whatsoever. He served a purpose though, and she must accustom herself to her straitened circumstances. Bertram hadn’t actuallybeenspooked, she conceded. It was more a case of his being surprised when the earl’s stallion came thundering round a bend in the track as though the hounds from hell were chasing him. Bertram had expressed that surprise by planting his large hooves in the soft earth and stopping dead, almost jolting her from her seat. It would have taken an earthquake to have moved him on, which was just as well. Otherwise someone – most likely the earl – would have taken a crashing fall.
Even after the earl had introduced himself, Donna found it hard to be civil. Or subservient. In fairness, she had never been the subservient type anyway, and her reduced circumstances would certainly not compel her to change her ways, even if the earl was a rather unorthodox example of masculine poise ? all rippling muscles and cool elegance. It annoyed Donna that she had even noticed his disarming vitality and reluctantly reacted to it. She absolutely did not want to admire anything about him. She was not that shallow.
Part of her wished that Mrs Cooper had warned her this was private land. The rest of her was glad that she had not, which gave her considerable cause for concern. She felt comfortable in the company of this stranger, but she had good reason to know that men were not to be trusted. If her chequered history had taught her nothing else, at least she was sure of that much.
She had heard Mrs Cooper praising the young earl’s integrity and fairness towards his tenants. But Mrs Cooper was bound to be biased, Donna reasoned, since her husband’s tavern benefited from the custom of a large number of his estate workers. The great man himself, apparently, was not above gracing the taproom with his presence from time to time.
She had not believed it before but now that she’d met him for himself, she could easily imagine him making himself at home, drinking ale with a roomful of farmers and corn merchants.
‘Is that creature one of Cooper’s nags?’
The earl’s deep tone recalled her wandering attention. Good manners forced her to look at him – something she had studiously avoided doing until that point. He was far too easy on the eye, and she had no intention of being taken in by a handsome face or an irreverent smile. For all she knew, the earl might have inappropriate thoughts in mind, given that she was a widow living alone and unprotected. She knew from experience that most men’s thoughts drifted in that direction when they discovered her circumstances, arrogantly assuming that she would be grateful for their attentions.
She was not unprotected, she reminded herself. If Miriam even suspected the earl of having dishonourable thoughts then his elevated position in society would not prevent her from bashing him over the head with a frying pan and telling him precisely what she thought of him.
The possibility made her smile.
‘No, Bertram is mine,’ she said on a note of pride. ‘Mr Cooper sold him to me since he was aware that I would require transportation.’
‘How considerate of him.’
‘I thought so. I’m sure Bertram and I will get along splendidly.’
Emperor continued to dance and prance sideways, showing off as he had every right to do. He was truly magnificent, and Donna felt a moment’s pang of regret, accepting that she would never ride such a creature ever again.
‘You like horses?’
The earl’s perception surprised her. ‘I do. How could you tell?’
