Page 47 of An Offer By the Beastly Duke

She pressed two fingers to the spot on her cheek where his thumb had been. The skin there was burning, and she didn’t try to tell herself it was the heat of the afternoon.

Chapter Fifteen

“That one is huge!”

Nicholas was balanced on the bottom rail of the stable yard gate, both hands gripping the top bar, his chin hooked nearly level with the latch.

He was staring at Calder, who held his head over the stall door, watching the boy.

“That one is not for you,” Penelope said, her voice a soft warning.

“I know that, I have already met him. I just wanted to bring your attention to him. But he truly is enormous, like a horse from a legend.” Nicholas dropped off the rail, his boots hitting the gravel with a crunch, and looked up at her. “Do you think His Grace will let me ride a smaller one again? Or perhaps I can start growing into a bigger one.”

“I expect he has made a suitable choice, Nicholas.”

Nicholas fell into step beside her as they passed through the gate. His hands kept opening and closing at his sides, as if he were already practicing the grip of the reins.

Penelope held her gloves in a tight knot and said nothing. Her heart was doing its own frantic staccato against her ribs.

Malcolm was already in the yard.

He stood at the center of the cobbled space with Hector sitting like a statue at his heel. One large hand rested on the neck of a bay horse Penelope hadn’t seen stabled before. A sturdy animal, broad through the chest and shorter than Calder by a clear hand and a half, with a quiet, considering eye.

Malcolm had his back half-turned to the gate, checking the throatlatch of the bridle.

He turned as the gravel shifted under their feet.

Hector was gone in the same instant. Nicholas dropped to one knee and wrapped his arm around the dog. They both went sideways into the dirt in a tangle of limbs and fur. Nicholas was laughing before they had even stopped sliding.

Penelope positioned herself to the right of the gate. She stood with her spine braced against the wood, close enough to see every movement, far enough to be unambiguously a witness and not a participant in whatever was happening here.

“This is Bramble,” Malcolm said.

He stepped aside so Nicholas could see the full length of the horse. “He is eight years old, and has carried riders who didn’t know their left hand from their right, and he has no bad habits. He will let you know when you are not riding him correctly, but he will not do it by throwing you.”

Nicholas stepped forward the way Malcolm had shown him. Hand out, palm up, a slow and respectful approach. Bramble dropped his heavy nose and breathed a warm, huffing cloud across the boy’s palm.

“He is warm.” Nicholas’ eyes went wide with wonder.

“And he is very ready.” Malcolm looked at Nicholas, his gaze level and unyielding. “Do you want to try?”

Nicholas looked at the leather saddle, then at Malcolm, then back to the saddle. “Yes,” he said, his voice cracking only slightly.

Penelope’s hands tightened further around her gloves until her knuckles turned white.

Malcolm talked him through the mounting like he clearly had done another time, for Nicholas listened raptly. The Duke covered everything slowly and carefully: the stirrup, the grip on the pommel, the distribution of weight, the angle of approach.

The first attempt came apart midway. Nicholas’ right leg swung too wide, his weight shifted, and he began to slide ignominiously back down the horse’s side.

Malcolm’s hand shot out. Two fingers caught Nicholas’ elbow, steadying him without a word or a change in expression.

“It is all right,” Malcolm said. “Try again, and do not be afraid to make a mistake or not get it right so quickly.”

The second attempt landed. Nicholas swung his leg over and sat up in the saddle. He looked down at the yard, at the horse, and finally at Penelope.

She exhaled so quietly it was almost a sob.

He began to move around the horse, his hands adjusting Nicholas’s posture without asking for permission. He moved a shoulder, corrected a hand, nudged the angle of a heel in the stirrup.