“Congratulations, Wolfebourne,” Thorne said, “Trust me, you will never regret it.”
Wolfe smiled at Grace. “I know I won’t.”
“And if you ever need reinforcements,” Matthew said with a wicked wink, “do not send for us. Neither of us are foolhardy enough to test the sisters’ alliance.”
“It sounds as though there will be a need for a great many frogs and eels for the men,” Grace said as she started toward the house. “And now, if you will excuse me, I feel the need for anouting with Pegasus before Seri confines me to my room with innumerable preparations.”
“Gracie!” Serendipity stared at her walking away, huffing when she didn’t slow. She looked back at Wolfe as if he would be silly enough to try to stop Grace. “Today is Wednesday. She needs to start preparingnow.Speak with her.”
“I shall,” he said, seizing on the opportunity and starting toward the stable. “Tenebrae and I will ride with her and do our very best to convince her she should be doing other things.”
“Your Grace!” Serendipity fisted her hands on her hips while the other sisters giggled.
“Leave off, Seri,” Chance said. “They are marrying on Saturday.”
“It is most inappropriate,” Serendipity said with a tight-jawed look at her brother.
“When has Gracie ever been appropriate?” Joy asked, then went uncharacteristically serious. “She is not a lightskirt, Seri, and you know it. Leave her be.”
Wolfe smiled to himself and kept walking, the sisters’ lively conversation and the men’s chuckling fading away as he neared the stable. A private ride with Grace was a treasure he was not about to miss.
By the time he and Jasper had his lively black stallion and Grace’s equally exuberant Pegasus ready for the ride, she joined them wearing her adventuring clothes—as he had known she would.
She halted and looked all around. “Well?”
“Well, what?” Wolfe launched himself up into the saddle, knowing it would be unwise to offer Grace any help with mounting her horse. In her mind, that would be akin to his saying she possessed the poorest imaginable skills of horsemanship.
“Where is everyone else?” She settled into the saddle and patted her steed as he pranced back and forth, excited to start the outing.
“I believe Lady Joy and your brother convinced the others that since we are marrying this Saturday, our enjoying a ride without benefit of a chaperone was irrelevant.”
Grace feigned a shocked demeanor. “How scandalous,” she said with a laugh, then took the lead, her lovely behind bouncing up and down in a most suggestive way as she became one with her horse’s gait.
“Indeed.” Wolfe would be more than happy to make the outing as scandalous as she wished. The lady had but to give him the command. He adjusted his seating, attempting to lessen the discomfort of the hardened ridge she had awakened.
They galloped across the meadows and cleared several fences, giving their horses their heads. They didn’t slow until they reached the fateful ravine that had caused them to meet after Grace rescued poor Hector from the deadly grip of the woodbine.
Pegasus and Tenebrae seemed contented enough to meander side by side for a while, so they encouraged their horses to amble alongside the tangled overgrowth bordering the deep gully.
“This is nice.” Grace closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun, as Pegasus required no guidance. “You do not mind a wife with freckles, do you?”
“Not so long as you allow me to kiss them.”
She smiled before opening her eyes and nodding at a point up ahead. “Just beyond that gentle rise is the main road to the village. We daren’t ride past it or someone might see my attire.”
“What say you to dismounting and walking for a while?” Yes, he had an ulterior motive. Nothing so unchivalrous as making her his wife ahead of their wedding on Saturday, but a heatedembrace would not be amiss. At least, he hoped she felt that way. The choice was entirely hers.
Rather than answer, she alighted with the grace of a butterfly flitting down to perch on a blade of grass. “Will Tenebrae stay with Pegasus? They seem friendly enough now that they have been around each other for a while, and there are no mares here to stir their competitiveness.”
Wolfe dismounted and patted his horse. “Yes, Tenebrae has always been an even-tempered old man, and I feel certain they can sense our relationship.”
“I think so too.” The smile she gave him made him ache to pull her into his arms. “You are the first person I’ve ever known—other than Mr. Carson—who believes animals take as much notice of human behavior as we do of theirs.”
“When I think of all the people I have met in this world, I do not necessarily agree with the assessment that we humans are the more brilliant of the species the Almighty ever created.”
“You are most definitely the right man for me.” She went to him, slid her hands up his chest, and tiptoed for a kiss.
He gathered her close, crushing into the warmth of her soft curves. She molded against him, making him groan and toy with the idea of stripping them both naked and consummating Saturday’s vows here and now in the grassy field. Cupping her face between his hands, he kissed her deep and with every ounce of urgency pounding through him. She tasted of the berries they’d eaten earlier, but even more importantly, she tasted of need.
