The words were a pail of ice.
Eli dropped her hand.
She wanted to help him do the one thing that terrified him most. A gentleman would say yes. Her happiness was worth his discomfort.
“All right.” His voice was thick, his heart hammering now for a different reason. “We can try.”
Every part of him rebelled against the idea.
The trunk contained a week’s worth of riding wear, as well as myriad daywear options in full dress and half dress, and a three-caped greatcoat that would keep the wearer deliciously warm on an outdoor stroll.
Eli chose a smart wool suit with quilted waistcoat to go with his buckskins, and forced himself to join Miss Harper at the stables.
Despite the misgivings in his stomach—and the scars marring his skin—he had complete faith in her ability to command her beasts. Her fame as a trainer of horses had reached every corner of England. She would not allow harm to befall one of her prized bloods, nor would an animalshe’dtrained harm a rider.
He hoped.
“We’ll start with Rudolph,” she told him. “He pulled a sleigh, but is now retired. He’s used to the terrain and the weather, as well as maintaining a slow, plodding pace.”
“I adore slow and plodding.”
Thus began the most embarrassing hour and a half of recent memory. It took longer than he’d like to admit to work up the courage to mount the beast, only for Eli to freeze once seated in the saddle.
Rudolph, for his part, did not seem to mind the presence of a rider, if indeed one could use that term to refer to Eli.
The sleek brown horse ambled when Miss Harper indicated, halted when she lifted a hand, and moved at a pace that could best be described as glacial. All without tossing his rider from the saddle.
Eli felt like a warrior who had conquered new worlds.
By the time Miss Harper declared the lesson over, Eli was almost willing to voluntarily undertake the experiment again.
“You are incredibly patient.” He gave a lopsided grin. “I’m aware I make a poor student.”
The corners of her lips twitched. “Have you forgot that I break horses? It’s literally my job to be patient with ill-trained beasts.”
“I choose not to be offended by your sly insult,” he informed her. “I am instead grateful to Rudolph for being even more timid than I am.”
“Timid?” She widened her eyes. “Rudolph?”
At the sound of his name on her lips, the horse trotted to her side and held still as a tree trunk.
She adjusted the stirrups and launched herself into the saddle.
Rudolph took off like a bullet, streaking over the snow with such speed he seemed capable of taking flight.
Eli was horrified.
That could’ve happened tohim.
With his luck, he’d have slid from the saddle and been dragged along by one foot stuck in the stirrup, his head bouncing over the snow-covered hills.
Miss Harper made it look easy. This time, she did not disappear from view, but rather tore around the stables in a wide circle, with Rudolph leaping over logs and finishing the lap with his front two legs held rampant in the air.
She wasn’t reckless after all, Eli realized. She was really, really good.
His chest fluttered.
It was difficult not to fall in love with her all over again, when he’d never actually fallen out of love to start with.
