‘What does anyone do, in a beautiful city, at four-thirty in the morning?’ he returned with a brief return of his dancing eyes.
‘Oh!’ Phoebe breathed. ‘Then please, pass on my best regards and bid him … take care of my sisters.’
‘You can depend on it.’ The captain bowed.
Then she lowered the reins, and let the greys spring forward.
The drive to Pulteney Bridge was shorter than Phoebe anticipated, and surprisingly pleasant, too. There was something calming about having the streets of Bath to herself at this hour, and the viscount’s horses seemed to share her brief sense of escape; tossing back their manes, picking up their hooves, and pulling her effortlessly towards the bridge, while echoes of her argument with Aurelia reached out of every house she passed.
Phoebe scowled. She hadn’t exactly spared her words, but then Aurelia had been determined to ruin her from the moment they met. Briefly, she racked her brain, thinking over every meeting and conversation from the Assembly Room, to the picnic, to the theatre, to Aurelia’s frequent interruptions whenever she happened to be conversing with the viscount…
She caught her breath, the Bath-stone buildings suddenly merging.
‘I have never betrayed your confidence except in frank admiration of a young woman who appeared unafraid of anything. If I spoke too freely, it’s because I’ve never met anyone quite like you.’
They were the viscount’s words, spoken beneath the magnolia tree, the night of the masked ball. She hadn’t made much of them then, but could he havesomehowgiven Aurelia a different impression?
Her chest thumped as the start of the bridge rose into view, revealing a pretty white phaeton and pair of chestnuts, tossing their heads impatiently. Their driver glanced back, a dark scowl twisting her china-doll face and Phoebe’s suspicions doubled.
‘Oh, how droll you are… I can almost see why the viscount finds you so entertaining!’
Phoebe inhaled raggedly. Surely she was just the hare-brained simpleton he found fighting a highwayman on a country road,nothing more?
And yet, what did any of it matter now, anyway?
The race was on.
ChapterTwenty-Six
One week, six days, and a race of honour until the wedding
‘Are those not Alexander’s horses? And phaeton, too?’ Aurelia demanded, her eyes narrowing.
Phoebe felt a brief moment of satisfaction. Let Aurelia think what she wanted, she could hardly expect Phoebe to borrow a farm gig, when everyone knew she owned one of the fastest lightweight phaetons in Bath.
‘The Damerels are generous!’ she nodded coldly.
‘A race, in the name of freedom, reliant on a borrowed phaeton?’ Aurelia muttered scornfully.
‘A race, in the name of freedom, won on a borrowed phaeton!’ Phoebe retorted.
Aurelia stared, before turning her horses about.
‘It’s no matter to me, anyway. Let’s get this done. I have a wedding-dress fitting this morning…’
‘Wait,’ Phoebe demanded, as she drew alongside Aurelia’s lightly sprung equipage. ‘Tell me, why did youreallywant to meet me?’
Aurelia stared for a second before tipping her head back and laughing.
‘La, what a simpleton you are!’ She exhaled when she could, a curious smile spreading across her face. ‘You know, I’veendured stories about you all my life. Your papa’s exploits, his charms, his loss of fortune, his fall from grace, and of course, my personal favourite, his swift marriage to the rich heiress, which broke my mother’s heart. So, when Alexander mentioned his chance encounter with one of their offspring on the Bristol Road – fighting a highwayman, no less! – and how he’d never met a pluckier or more courageous girl…’ She paused, her eyes glinting as Phoebe felt the last piece of the jigsaw fall into place. ‘Well, you can imagine his tale, whileexcessively diverting, didn’t exactly fill me with the same excitement.’
‘You see, I know your kind, Phoebe. You’re as able as any gentleman, but are denied the same education. So instead, you read a few pamphlets, listen to a few speeches, and think yourself the first feminist in Regency England! Well, trust me, you aren’t! Weallwant more! But when the rules are set, we have to win by wit and stealth instead.’
‘Rules are only set if you allow them to be!’ Phoebe threw in, conscious the horses were straining. ‘And change doesn’t come from hiding the fact we’re just as curious and capable as our brothers. I’ve said it before, we want the same things! And you can’t hold me responsible for something that happened to your mother thirty years ago.’
Aurelia rolled her eyes.
‘Don’t worry, I’m notthatchurlish!’ she scoffed. ‘But I did promise myself I wouldneverlet any man affect me in the same way.’
