They stared at one another.Was she going to make him go back upstairs and read the blasted thing?He had found a penned single page with the week’s itinerary upon the writing desk when he first went into Hawthorne’s room the previous afternoon. He had hardly glanced at it, and he certainly hadn’t memorized it.
Another few moments passed. Finally, his hostess sighed.
“I was certain I had the perfect lady for Lord Hawthorne. What a shame he didn’t come. Pall-mall will begin at eleven, my lord,” she added before disappearing into the breakfast salon.
Dismissed, Rupert strode from the house directly toward the stable. Nothing to rival the Prince Regent’s spacious stable in Brighton, of which Rupert was an admirer. Yet it was nearly as good as his own in Lincolnshire, and that was saying something.
Assuming he had permission to ride Lady Osbourne’s horses, he walked the aisle between the stalls until he found one that called to him. Not the largest but by the stallion’s eyes, he was a spirited animal.
In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, a stableboy had saddled the horse and brought him out to the stable yard. Finally, Rupert felt at home again, sixteen hands off the ground upon Star Gazer, as he’d been told the animal’s name. Not knowing where he was going, he went anyway, intending to explore the estate and the surrounding countryside.
Eventually, with his stomach rumbling, he turned Star Gazer, who threw up his head enough to earn his name, toward Lady Osbourne’s manor. Not in a hurry, Rupert let the horse amblealong, occasionally breaking into a rambunctious canter while butterflies and grasshoppers sprang up from the tall grass.
With a shriek, Lady Delia also sprang up before them, directly in his path. Star Gazer reared, nearly unseating him since Rupert had been practically dozing in the sunshine.
With his heart beating a fast tattoo, he was no longer pleasantly relaxed. As soon as he got his horse under control, he dismounted.
“What the devil!” Rupert demanded, worried he’d hurt her until he could see she was plainly unharmed.
And then it hit him. “Ihaveseen you before!”
While still adjusting her bonnet, her cheeks flushed from being startled, Lady Delia gawked.
“We have been through this before, my lord. You have seen me a number of times. In fact, you have kissed me.”
He dismissed her words with a wave of the crop in his hand.
“Beforethis blasted house party.Youwere in Hyde Park a week ago. When that snake darted in my path, I remember a head of dark curls andyourbrown eyes peering from under a blue bonnet. It was you who startled the adder and lost me that race.”
To his amazement, instead of being instantly apologetic, Lady Delia shrugged delicately.
“I may have been in the park that day. I do own a blue bonnet.” Her eyes peered upward. She had on the very same at that moment.
Still, she didn’t beg his forgiveness. Instead, she picked up a sketch pad and brushed off some grass clinging to it.
Her disinterest infuriated him.
“Youare the reason I am here!” he fumed. “If not for you, I wouldn’t be trapped for a fortnight with these god-awful people in whom I have no interest whatsoever.”
She drew herself up as tall as she could, which was only to his shoulder, and lifted her chin.
“You are welcome,” she said tartly. Turning on her heel, she strode back toward the manor.
Watching her go, Rupert realized his egregious error — he did, in fact, have an interest in her, as evidenced by his actions the night before. Moreover, he had said the most insulting thing to a lady whom he had recently kissed.
A dunderhead, he owed the ramrod-stiff wench an apology for nearly riding over her and then taking her to task.
Leading the horse, he hurried after Lady Delia, catching up and beginning to walk alongside without her so much as acknowledging him.
“I am sorry,” he offered meekly.
She glanced over her shoulder, looking nervously at the close proximity of Star Gazer, before staring ahead again.
“You should be,” she said. “Your beastly horse trampled the kingcups.”
“We didn’t see you. What were you doing?”
Wordlessly, still walking, she held up her pad, displaying a precise rendition of a flower, probably the aforementioned kingcups.
