“It is straight and mostly untraveled,” Greys added.
For the first time since they’d left the bridge, she was looking at him.
“I don’t understand…?”
“It’s also mostly free of rocks and ruts.” The road was barely wide enough for two vehicles, but it was one of the runs where he and her brother had raced, with Greys emerging the victor on almost every occasion, of course.
“You are going to spring the horses?” She asked.
Her mood turned easier than the most nimble of vehicles. Not for the first time, Greys sensed that she was barely keeping herself from bouncing beside him.
How did she manage to express seemingly ancient words of wisdom one moment and then turn enchantingly naïve the next?
“Have you changed your mind?” he asked. But, of course, she hadn’t. He pinched his mouth together to keep from grinning like an idiot.
“No.” She sat quietly again, but not because she was angry or hurt.
“Are you nervous?’ Greys asked.
“No.”
“Excited?”
She answered him with a nod.
He turned the last corner, a familiar one as it was the starting point, and drew them to a halt.
“What do I do?” She was gripping the edge of the bench.
“Your hands will slide off the wood,” he told her. “Put an arm around me.” It was the safest way for her to ride on this particular vehicle. Again, not that he’d ever allowed his team free reign with a woman beside him, but this way, he’d know immediately if she felt endangered.
She slid her arm behind him, and Greys found that the odd combination of her courage and fragility impressed him. She ought to seem younger than her age, but in her eagerness to embrace life’s simple joys, she exhibited an insight beyond her years. The thought poked at his cynicism and damn near brought him to tears. Grimacing, he silently mocked himself for such sentimental ideas.
“Like this?” she asked.
Greys took hold of her hand. “No, like this.” He pulled it around him tightly.
He inhaled, and her tantalizing fragrance vanquished the subtle but familiar odors one encountered in the country. “Holler if you want me to slow down or stop—for any reason.”
Sitting at the place where he’d raced on numerous occasions elicited a familiar thrill he hadn’t felt in far too long. When was the last time he’d done something so lacking in purpose as a race? What with damn near every gentleman of his acquaintance marrying so early this season, his usual crew of cohorts had been too caught up in their personal affairs to have time for their usual exploits.
“I’m ready,” she announced, sounding breathy.
“Hiya!” greys lifted the reins with a jerk. Although he would give the horses their head, he wouldn’t let them fly nearly as fast as if he had been driving alone. Just fast enough, he determined, so that the wind would tug at her bonnet and whip strands of gold and brown hair around her face.
“Faster,” she urged, tightening her arms around him. Her laughter floated over the meadow like bells swaying in a breeze.
Miss Diana Jones might very well miss out on many of her imagined adventures, but she would not miss out on this one.
Greys flicked the leather straps while loosening them, signaling his permission for the horses to go all out.
Conscious of his precious cargo, Greys carefully watched the road ahead while enjoying her uninhibited pleasure. And when they reached the end of the road, he was decidedly disappointed when Diana relaxed her hold on him.
“That was fun!” she announced.
Any other woman would have feigned ennui. Any other woman would not have wanted to race. A true lady of theTonwould have insisted upon a slow drive through the park, halting every ten or so feet to make conversation with those she deemed worthy.
“Was it all that you imagined?” Such a simple adventure, really.
Diana nodded. “Can we go again?”
“Of course,” he answered. But this would be the last outing he would have alone with her. Because, he mused as he felt himself grinning like an idiot, it was becoming increasingly evident that she was driving him insane.
