Page 26 of An Engagement with the Enemy

Had telling a single falsehood bothered her that much?

He doubted it. But what had discomfited her? The remarks about Town, perhaps, and her avoidance of it. He’d always found it strange that she looked quite wistful when she spoke of London, yet hardly ever said a word about her lack of travel. He’d assumed at some point that her father didn’t wish her to leave their home. Hadn’t that been something a father had decreed in one of those books Catherine made him read last summer? What had that book been called? A woman’s first name. Ellen or Emma or some such thing.

Jessica had never acted upset. Yet here, studying her, he saw a hint of something akin to sadness.

Puzzling.

Once the picnic ended, they prepared to ride back to the way they had come, packing everything away well enough that the servants wouldn’t be troubled with broken dishes or squished fruits.

As they mounted their horses, Frederick approached Jessica and said in an annoyingly patronizing tone, “Mounting without a block can be tricky for ladies. You must allow me to assist you.”

Jessica had been prepared to use the same stump as the other two women, but she forced a smile and used Lord Frederick’s offered knee and hand. The man smugly smiled up at her, and James knew at once that Frederick had mis-stepped.

The stiff hold of Jessica’s chin said everything politeness wouldn’t allow to be spoken out loud. And poor Lord Frederick hadn’t the skills needed to read Jessica’s expression the way James could.

Jessica had experienced enough of his condescension.

As soon as the five of them were on the road once more, she raised her hand and pointed to a wide hedge near the road.

“What a marvelous opportunity that shrubbery presents. Mr. Aldwick, do you think your horse equal to taking it in a jump?”

Without thought, James knew how she wished him to respond. “My horse is equal to the task, I would wager, but his rider is not.”

“I cannot imagine there are many who would take such a risk,” Lord Frederick said, studying the hedge as well. “Even with intimate knowledge of my steed, I would not try it.”

“You wouldn’t, my lord?” She blinked at him, quite innocently. “And I suppose you would never try it if you rode side-saddle, as I do?”

He chuckled. “Of course not. What folly. It would be a certain route to disaster to attempt such a thing.”

She joined him in his laughter, and James tightened his grip on the reins in his hands.

“Oh, no,” Catherine muttered from behind them.

James knew what was coming as well as his sister did.

And Jessica did not disappoint them.

Without hesitation, she spurred her horse into a gallop. Off the road, into the meadow, and made straight for the hedge. A hedge she had jumped successfully every year since her thirteenth birthday.

“Merciful heavens,” Lady Isabelle gasped. “Someone should stop her! Freddie!”

Freddie had frozen in place. All of them had. Watching as Jessica guided her horse across the bright green grass, then took a perfectly executed jump over the large hedge, landing smoothly on the other side. Her laughter floated back to them on the breeze.

Lord Frederick fell silent, and James had to bite his lip to keep from joining Jessica’s whole-hearted mirth. She returned to the road ahead of them, and when their party met up with her, it was Lady Isabelle and Catherine who praised her. Catherine with reluctance, Lady Isabelle with true admiration.

James kept silent, riding alongside Lord Frederick.

They went first to Jessica’s home, Fairbrook Lodge. Lady Isabelle and Catherine waited at the bottom of the drive while Lord Frederick and James escorted Jessica all the way to the lodge’s door.

When she dismounted at the steps of her house, a groom appearing to take the reins from her, she turned around with a wide smile.

“That was a lovely afternoon. Thank you for inviting me along.”

“Are you joining us for dinner tonight?” Lord Frederick asked, glancing at James. The man appeared quite beaten already. “At Castle Amoret?”

It took all of James’s willpower not to laugh, or fall off his horse, as Jessica politely placed her hand to her forehead and said, “I fear I have the beginnings of a headache coming on. I couldn’t possibly participate this evening.”

Lord Frederick seemed to shrink as he murmured a reply that was likely as polite as it was inaudible, then turned his horse about to rejoin his sister and Catherine.