“Are you prepared for your first ride?” she asked, unable to keep the grin of excitement from her lips.
“As prepared as ever I shall be.”
He was grim.
And adorable.
She wanted to kiss him, and she would have done except for his unfortunate positioning behind her, just out of reach. “Oh, pray do not be so Friday-faced. The literature for this tricycle said it is unusually sturdy and incapable of tilting.”
“Do you mean to tell me you have never ridden on this particular model before?” he asked, sounding even grimmer than before.
“Of course I have not, silly. Who else would I have ridden a tandem cycle with?” She thought better of the question, not wishing to dredge up any mentioning of the duke, who loomed like a death knell at the edge of every day, growing closer and more daunting by the minute. “It may also interest you to know that the company who produces it was recently awarded the gold medal for excellence of their bicycles and tricycles at the Crystal Palace International Exhibition.”
“It may interest you to know that the storm appears to be getting closer,” he told her with a raised brow. “If we are to partake in this nonsensical plan of yours, we had better start pedaling.”
The approaching storm seemed an ironic personification of Longleigh’s impending return and what it would mean for them. She was every bit as committed to avoiding the storm as she was to keeping the man she had married from dashing this fragile love she and Robin had built together to bits.
“Are you ready for me to throw up the stand and begin pedaling?” She cast a glance over him, taking note of the manner in which he clasped his own handles and the way he held his jaw.
He was nervous, bless his heart. If she had not already fallen hopelessly, helplessly in love with him, she would do so again now. He was doing this, she realized, for her. To make her happy.
“I am ready.”
“Just remember, I am steering. Together, we shall balance and go. If you need to stop, you need only shout.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I shall remember.”
“Very well.” Hoping the tandem cycle would be as easy to accustom herself to as the Kangaroo safety cycle she had ridden on her own in the past, she leveraged the stand, then settled herself and began to pedal.
Down the magnificent front drive they sailed. The first kiss of the breeze on her cheeks had her smiling. How easy it was with two riders and the relative stability of the additional wheel. What splendid fun to ride in tandem, and to do so with this man in particular.
It was…exhilarating.
Freeing.
She cast a quick glance over her shoulder as they moved faster down the gravel to find him grinning, some of the strain eased from his handsome face.
“We have done it, Robin!” she exclaimed.
“Yes we have, but do keep your eyes on the drive ahead of us,” he called back.
He was still fretting, then. “I shall. You needn’t worry. Look at how easily we are traveling, and with such speed. What a splendid way to tour the country. To see so much beauty flying past us whilst the wind is in our faces. It is like riding a horse, only better.”
“I believe I have the best view,” he commented.
And she knew he was speaking of her rump, the devilish man.
She smiled and pedaled some more.
* * *
Thunder cracked and rumbled.Lightning flashed in the next second. And the heavens unleashed a torrent of rain in the very moment after.
“Devil take it,” Adrian growled as water pelted his face and he blinked furiously.
“Keep pedaling,” called the madwoman seated on the tricycle saddle before him. “We are almost to the temple, and we will take shelter there.”
This was his fault, he knew, for getting caught up in the sheer joy of whirring through the countryside with Tilly at the helm. He had known the storm would be upon them soon, and yet he had allowed himself to become far too distracted by the trill of her delighted laughter flitting back to him and the curve of her waist and delectable arse beneath her cycling costume.
