It felt wonderful.
But all too soon, everyone had finished eating, the girls had begun to shiver despite the blankets, and it was time to go home.
The grooms came forward and helped bundle everything back up into baskets and returned to the carriage,
Ella didn’t want to leave. But then Beatrice turned to them with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and Ella dared to hope that Beatrice had something up her sleeve.
“Oh, Dietrich,” Beatrice asked sweetly. “I would love to go home with Celeste as she’s invited me to meet her father. Would you mind taking Ella and our horses home?”
Dietrich looked between Beatrice and Ella, as if waiting for Ella to tell him no, before he nodded. Bowing slightly to Ella, he said, “It would be an honor.”
Celeste and Colette hurried to the carriage, where John helped them in, and the duchess turned to Ella with a sweet smile.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Ella,” she said. “I look forward to spending more time together.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Ella said, dropping into a curtsy. “I look forward to that as well.”
For the first time since she’d found out about her parentage, she truly did look forward to it. She just had to tell her father who she was and hope that he believed her—hope that it was real.
Chapter thirteen
Dietrich
Dietrich waited until the carriage had rolled out of sight before turning to Ella and the horses. Now to get Ella home.
“Have you had much experience riding before?” he asked. She had looked very stiff on the horse earlier, and hadn’t she asked him for riding lessons?
Ella turned pink. “No,” she admitted, “but I didn’t want to admit that to Beatrice.”
Dietrich laughed. “That does not surprise me whatsoever, knowing you,” he said. “I can’t believe she just threw you up there.”
“She thought I could ride,” Ella pointed out.
“Well, you made it here in one piece,” Dietrich said.
“Thanks to the efforts of Brownie,” Ella said, patting the mare on the nose, “but I don’t know how to get back on the horse without a mounting block, and I certainly don’t know how to make her move. She just followed Beatrice.”
Dietrich grinned. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you home.”
“But how do I get up there?” Ella asked, looking at the horse in consternation.
“Here,” he said, moving behind her slowly. He didn’t want to scare her off. Ella was surprisingly like one of his horses—if you moved too fast, she might bolt, and he didn’t want to do that.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Should I?” Ella asked, looking over her shoulder.
He grinned. “Maybe not, but we’re going to do this anyway. I’m going to cup my hands for you. You’re going to step into them and swing your other leg over the horse’s back. Fortunately, you’re wearing a split skirt. I’m assuming it’s Beatrice’s?”
“It is,” Ella said. “She asked if I knew how to ride sidesaddle, and I told her definitely not. So she got me this split skirt so I could ride astride.”
The outfit may not have been hers, but it looked absolutely stunning on her. It was a rich, dark blue with a silver filigree running up and down the bodice. The split skirt was flowy enough to hide the fact that it was split if one didn’t look closely enough, and the color set off her blonde hair and made her glow.
“We’ll have to get you used to riding sidesaddle at some point,” he said. “But for now, since we have no mounting block and this is only your second time on a horse, we’ll continue to ride astride. But I will teach you how to ride sidesaddle. Don’t worry.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Ella said dryly.
He laughed. “My apologies for assuming,” he said. He cupped his hands, then paused.
