Page 48 of The Viscount and the Vixen
She leaned back as though she’d discovered something important about him. “You care for children.”
“I care that work is done properly, and children are sometimes careless.” He didn’t know why he didn’t tell her that he’d once seen a lifeless child carried from the mines, and didn’t want to be responsible for the death of another body that small. “They are better suited to play than work.”
“You can sound as gruff as you like. I think you care about them.”
“Think what you want. It was a business decision.”
“I always think what I want. Therefore, I am more convinced than ever that sending to London for servants is not the way to go. We can educate staff here, provide other opportunities for employment.”
“We’re not opening a school for servants. Two maids-of-all-work and two footmen.”
“And a lady’s maid,” she reminded him.
He nodded.
“And a valet,” she said.
“I don’t need a valet.”
“You’re a lord.”
“I don’t need a valet.”
She twisted her lips into a show of disapproval—no doubt at his stubbornness rather than his lack of a man to dress him. “Perhaps your father should have one.”
“He seldom leaves his room. What would the chap do?”
“I suppose you have a point.”
Of course he did. He wasn’t one to argue simply for the sake of arguing, although he had to admit that he’d never enjoyed pitting himself against anyone as much as he did against her. He liked that she challenged him, wasn’t afraid to let her position be known. He returned his attention to his eggs. “Do you have a riding habit?”
“I don’t like horses. They’re so large with such enormous teeth. I’d rather go in a carriage.”
Her words surprised him as he’d pictured her as someone who would relish galloping over the moors, with her hair coming loose and blowing wildly behind her. “I thought you fearless.”
“Not when it comes to horses. An incident as a child forever scarred me.”
“I didn’t notice any scars on you, and I gave you quite a thorough examination.”
She gave him a pointed glare and patted her chest. “In here.”
It had to have been quite horrific to leave her with a fear of riding. He almost asked her for the details, but he didn’t want to know of anything unhappy that might have happened during her childhood, didn’t want to feel any sympathy for her. “A carriage it is then. For today. Although we may have to work on your aversion to horses. I enjoy riding. I suspect you would as well.”
“At night? Over the moors? That’s the only time left to us as I promise you that I would never ride a horse during an hour that belongs to me.”
“I often ride over the moors at night. It can be quite invigorating.”
“I thought you were warned not to go out at night—unless you absolutely had to.”
“Do I strike you as one who heeds warnings?”
“No.” She gave him a wicked little smile. “When did you first break that rule?”
“When I was fifteen. There was the largest moon in the sky, a blood moon. I wanted to be beneath its light so I snuck out, saddled up a horse, and rode until dawn.”
“During all that time, you never saw your mother’s ghost?”
“Not once.”
