“I wasn’t being funny,” I said through it.
And I wasn’t!
He then took my life in his hands by nabbing me at the back of my neck, pulling me to him and laying a wet one on me.
I was a little dazed when he was done, but miracle of miracles, I kept my seat.
“I like riding,” he said softly, his hand still warm on the back of my neck.
“Okay,” I replied.
“And I like you,” he went on.
The kiss daze was receding, but at that, it came back.
“Okay,” I repeated.
“And it would mean a lot to me if you learned how to ride so we can do it together.”
Argh!
“However, if you really hate it—” he began.
“No, no, no. I’ll get the hang of it.”
Maybe in ten years.
“We’ll go slow. Find your seat. Trust Noelle. She doesn’t want you to fall off either. And you’ll start to get comfortable.”
I nodded, even if my nod was a total lie.
“Ready?”
I nodded again (and again lie-nodding).
He let go of me and the reins, clicked his teeth and dug in his heels, and I did the same.
We started walking slowly.
How embarrassing.
Well, out of this at least I got a mini-tour of the south side of The Downs, which included mostly parkland, but obviously, the stables along with Chassie’s greenhouse (of course, it was bigger than I expected it would be) and the garage, which was a surprising clip away from the house (Battle had told me to hang on the steps while he went to get the car last night, he was gone a long time, now I knew why).
And on our journey, he pointed out the gamekeeper’s cottage tucked in the edge of the trees in the south forest (no Christian, though), as well as the steward’s cottage, which was opposite the gamekeeper’s, close to the tall stone fence at the front of the property.
Now we were riding in the field that I always saw sheep in.
And today was the same in regard to the sheep keeping us company.
“Things go well, cooking with Chassie?” he asked.
I was oh-so not going to point out she was different and how. If he didn’t notice, and it wasn’t what I thought it was, I didn’t want to give him hope.
So I said, “I taught her how to flip a pancake.”
“Those were delicious, darling.”
Honestly?
