‘I can’t.’ Miss Fortini stared at the placid and sleepy-looking mount before her as if it were some kind of fire-breathing dragon.
‘She’s the most mild-mannered horse in the stables,’ Samuel attempted to reassure her.
‘I still can’t.’ She gestured at her skirts. ‘I’m not properly dressed.’
He ran a hand over his chin and cleared his throat non-committally. There was really no disputing the statement, though he took the opportunity to steal a glance at her lower body anyway. Her dress was practical enough, but nothing like a riding habit, though it looked as if someone had attached some extra material to the skirts in a half-hearted attempt to conceal the fact. Of course if she didn’t ride then presumably she didn’t own a proper habit; something that he, or his grandmother anyway, ought to have considered.
‘Horses don’t care what you’re wearing.’ He looked up again before his staring became obvious. ‘And we won’t go outside the mews this morning. Today is just about getting you comfortable on horseback.’
‘Today is a mistake.’ She glared at the horse and then him. ‘Surely your grandmother wasn’t serious about what she said?’
‘Does she strike you as a person who makes idle threats? She definitely won’t receive you again if you don’t even try.’
‘Well, if this is some kind of punishment then it’s not fair.’
He shrugged, though personally he was inclined to agree. It wasn’t fair on either of them. Impressed though he’d been by her apology, which must have taken some considerable degree of courage, he hadn’t been thrilled by the prospect of teaching her to ride, particularly after the way she’d reacted to the news of his possible inheritance. She’d seemed downright horrified at the time and apparently still was. She’d seemed determined to avoid looking him in the eye when they’d met on the Circus that morning, barely speaking a word until they’d reached the stables. Well, since she obviously found the company of an earl, even a potential one, so odious, the last thing he wanted to do was waste his time with teaching her. As usual, however, there was no gainsaying his grandmother, especially when she challenged him about what else he had to do. And when a small, contrary part of him still wanted to spend time with her... He shook his head at his own foolishness. If he searched the whole of England, he could hardly have found a woman more likely to reject him.
‘Here, just stroke her. She won’t bite.’
‘How do you know?’ Miss Fortini shot him a glance that suggested she might, though she did as he suggested anyway, placing her hand nervously on the mare’s nose.
‘That’s it.’ He nodded approvingly. ‘Her name’s Bramble and she’s a sweet old thing.’
‘How old?’
‘Around thirty, I should think. I used to ride her when I was a boy before my grandmother insisted I have my own horse.’
For the first time that morning she looked him straight in the eye, her own curious. ‘You seem very close to your grandparents.’
‘I am. They practically raised me.’
‘What happened to your parents?’
‘Lots of things.’ He gave her a pointed look. ‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. Stop trying to delay the inevitable.’ He slotted his fingers together to make a step, putting an end to the subject of his parents. ‘Now lean your shoulder against the saddle, put your foot in my hands and take it slowly.’
‘Do you promise she’s docile?’
‘I doubt you could find a more docile creature in the whole of Bath. She’s practically asleep on her feet right now.’
‘All right...’ Miss Fortini gave him a dubious look and then placed her right foot in his hands, exposing a length of shapely, be-stockinged calf all the way up from her ankle to her knee. Samuel looked before he could stop himself, so impressed that for an unguarded moment he was actually tempted to reach out and stroke it, too, though he had a feeling that would cause both her and the horse to bolt...
‘There.’ She placed one shoulder against the side saddle like he’d told her, sounding particularly pleased with herself despite the fact that one of her feet was still planted firmly on the ground. ‘Now what?’
‘Now grab hold of the pommel, keep your legs as straight as possible and pull yourself up.’
‘Into the saddle?’
‘That would be the general idea. I’ll give your foot a push, too.’ He lifted an eyebrow when she didn’t move. ‘Or I could just lift you if you prefer?’
‘No.’ Her answer came even quicker than he’d expected. ‘I can do it.’
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before hoisting herself inelegantly into the saddle, exposing both of her calves and one thigh this time as she struggled to rearrange herself.
‘Good.’ Samuel made a show of adjusting the bridle, pretending not to have noticed. ‘Now give her a nudge and we’ll walk to the gate.’
‘I thought you said we weren’t going anywhere!’
‘Miss Fortini.’ He gritted his teeth, starting to lose patience. ‘Must we dispute every single detail? I said to the gate, not beyond it.’
‘Oh... All right. How do I tell it which way to go?’
‘It is a her and don’t worry, I’ll hold on to the bridle for now.’ He handed over the reins, wrapping his fingers around hers for a brief, somewhat unnecessary moment, before leading them casually towards the gate. A quick sideways glance revealed Miss Fortini’s expression to be one of sheer terror.
‘Try to relax.’ He rubbed a hand over Bramble’s neck in case she sensed her rider’s fear. ‘And don’t hold on to the reins too tightly.’
‘I don’t like being so high up.’
‘You’re really not.’
‘I don’t like wobbling from side to side, either.’
‘You’ll get used to it after a while. Try rolling with the movement. Imagine you’re on a boat.’
‘I’ve never been on a boat either and I still think this is unfair.’ She sounded belligerent again. ‘I apologised to your grandmother, I shouldn’t have to risk my life, too.’
‘You’re not going to die, I promise.’
‘What if I fall and break my legs? I suppose your grandmother still wouldn’t receive me out of principle?’
‘No one’s ever accused her of being fair and reasonable.’
She made a harumphing sound. ‘What about you? Are you fair and reasonable on board your ship, Captain?’
He looked around, surprised by the question. ‘I hope so. I try to be.’
‘Will you tell me more about life at sea?’
‘What would you like to know?’
‘Anything to distract me. Sebastian’s a terrible correspondent.’
‘Well, a lot of what we do can be quite monotonous and repetitive. Take the last two years, for example. We’ve spent most of the time blockading the French ports, stopping enemy ships from getting in or out, which meant a lot of time doing drills and preparing for battle, but not much real action.’ They reached the gate and he started to lead them around in a half-circle. ‘Although it paid off in the end. When it came to the battle, we were ten times better at reloading and aiming the cannons.’
‘Wait!’ Miss Fortini reached a hand out to stay him. ‘We can keep going. Out of the mews, I mean.’
‘Are you sure? I thought you were afraid of breaking your legs?’
‘I still am, but if you can bear to live on a floating collection of planks for months on end then I can manage a short, very short, ride.’ She looked down and then adjusted her skirts again. ‘Just as long as you promise I’m not making a public spectacle of myself.’
‘Not at all.’
‘All right, then, let’s go around to the Circus. If I can make it to the front door, then maybe your grandmother will say I’ve done enough.’
Samuel repressed a smile. If she thought that, then she really didn’t know his grandmother very well. On the other hand, he had to admire her courage, again, although he really wished that he didn’t. He glanced up as they turned out on to the street, just in time to see her twist her face away, a faint crease between her brows as if she’d just been studying him. The two of them must make a curious sight, he thought in amusement, her sitting stiff as a poker on horseback, him walking alongside like her groom, with one of his grandmother’s maids following as a chaperon several feet behind. Not that he cared what anyone might think. He was just pleased that they weren’t arguing any more. It felt like parley again, as if they might eventually come to terms after all...
‘You’re perfectly safe, Miss Fortini,’ he reassured her. ‘As for those floating planks, they’re very well constructed.’
‘That’s what Sebastian tells me.’
‘What made your brother join the navy?’
‘The spirit of adventure, I suppose. He said he wanted to travel like our father had.’ She smiled. ‘Not that our father travelled so far, but Seb and I always loved listening to his stories when we were children. It was a sad day when we realised the ones about giants and dragons probably weren’t true.’
‘Didn’t you crave adventure, as well?’
There was a significant pause. ‘I’m a realist.’
‘That wasn’t the question.’
‘It’s my answer.’ She jutted her chin into the air. ‘What about you? Why did you join the navy? Was it a family career?’
‘No, I’d never been to sea before I enlisted.’
‘Neither had Sebastian. It didn’t seem to worry him, but how could you possibly know whether or not you’d like it?’
‘I didn’t. I regretted the decision the moment we got out into open water.’
‘Why?’
‘Seasickness.’
She gave him an incredulous look. ‘You get seasick?’
‘Not any more, but to begin with...’ he shook his head at the memory ‘...I was tempted to throw myself overboard a few times.’
‘But how did you perform your duties? What did your Captain say?’
‘Thankfully he was sympathetic. He said that he went through the same thing when he joined. A lot of sailors do. Even Nelson got seasick. It takes about three days, but eventually it settles down.’
‘So if I stay on this horse for three days I’ll start to feel better, too?’
‘Perhaps, but I wouldn’t put ideas into my grandmother’s head if I were you.’
‘Good point. She seems to think you won’t go back to sea.’
‘Only because she doesn’t want me to. She was horrified when I joined the navy. I believe that my grandfather actually had to restrain her from visiting the Admiralty and demanding they release me.’
‘So why did you join? If you didn’t know whether you’d like it and your grandmother objected, why do it? It can’t just be because water makes you feel calm.’
‘No.’ He looked around, surprised that she’d remembered that particular detail, though his other motives weren’t something he particularly wanted to talk about. On the other hand, he had a feeling she wasn’t about to drop the subject and he felt surprisingly comfortable talking to her. ‘But I wanted a purpose in life and I was determined to make my own fortune. Which I did.’
‘And now you might be an earl.’ She was silent for a few moments. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about your situation before?’
‘Why didn’t you tell me your grandfather was a duke?’ he rejoined. ‘We all have secrets, Miss Fortini. Often they’re things we don’t care to discuss.’
Anna looked down at the reins twisted tight between her fingers. Captain Delaney was right, everyone had secrets and subjects they didn’t like to talk about. She had no right to pry into his. She’d barely known him a week, after all, and yet somehow she couldn’t seem to stop herself and it wasn’t just to distract from the fact that she was sitting several feet above the ground...
‘Don’t you want the inheritance?’ She couldn’t seem to take her gaze off his face, either. ‘You didn’t sound very happy about it the other day.’
If she wasn’t mistaken, his jaw clenched at the question. ‘No, I don’t want it.’
‘Because you’d still prefer to make your own fortune?’
‘Because of a lot of reasons.’
‘What do the rest of your family think about it?’
He threw her an exasperated look. ‘You ask a lot of questions, Miss Fortini.’
‘I’m trying not to think about the horse.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, very well. My grandparents are my family, all I’ve really known of it anyway. I have an uncle, too, my mother’s older brother, but he spends most of his time in London. As for my parents, my father died when I was eleven and my mother married again a year later.’
‘So you were never close to your father’s family? That must be the side you’ve inherited from.’
‘Yes, ironically, since they never wanted anything to do with me.’
‘Why not?’
He sighed heavily. ‘Because my father was the black sheep of his family. For very good reasons, I might add.’
‘What were they?’
‘Gambling and drinking mostly. Other vices, too, but I shan’t offend your ears by listing them all. Suffice to say, he and Ralph have certain interests in common. His family disinherited him before he even met my mother.’
‘Oh.’ She tried not to sound too shocked. ‘But she married him anyway?’
‘He was very charming by all accounts. It was a whirlwind romance, though things soured quickly after the wedding. They had a very loud marriage.’
‘Loud?’
‘Turbulent. All of my earliest memories seem to involve shouting. It was a long time before I realised that wasn’t how most people communicated. Eventually their marriage broke down and I barely saw him.’
‘Did you miss him?’
‘A great deal. He was my hero.’ He glanced back over his shoulder. ‘You have to understand, to a growing boy he was the best father you could possibly imagine, always ready to play games and make jokes. Completely irresponsible games, of course, and often dangerous, too, but I was happy. It was only much later that I realised his amusement came at the expense of everyone else around him. At the time, however, it was fun. There were no rules or constraints, so I ran wild.’
‘What happened to him?’
‘He ran away with another woman. Somebody else’s woman, unfortunately. When the husband found them he challenged him to a duel. It was my father’s fifth, but the first time he lost. He bled to death on Hampstead Heath all on his own.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘So was I. In retrospect it was amazing he survived as long as he did, but at the time I was inconsolable. I decided the best way to pay tribute to my father was to emulate his bad behaviour so my mother packed me off to boarding school, which I hated.’
‘How sad.’ She gave him a sidelong look, sympathy now mingling with suspicion. His answers had become longer as he’d talked, as if once he’d started, he’d wanted to keep going. Overall she was starting to feel as though she understood him a bit better. As if she liked him more, too. The differences between him and Henrietta’s would-be seducer were becoming more and more obvious, but he was still a gentleman. A possible earl, even if he didn’t act in the way she expected.
‘School is where I met Ralph,’ he said, as if he’d somehow guessed the direction of her thoughts. ‘We were close companions growing up.’
‘I see.’ She paused. ‘In that case, I’m sorry for what I asked of you the other day.’
‘It was the right thing to do for your friend.’ He shrugged. ‘In any case, I’ve barely seen him over the past ten years. One day I walked out of school and never went back.’
‘You ran away?’
‘I was sixteen and a barely average student. I doubt they cared very much. I went to London, but unfortunately I found that a life of dissipation didn’t suit me. I didn’t even enjoy it very much. Which is a long and roundabout way of explaining why I joined the navy.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve been a model of good behaviour ever since. Most of the time anyway.’
‘What happened to your mother?’
He shook his head. ‘You really do ask a lot of questions, don’t you?’
‘I’m interested. Families interest me.’
‘She married again and moved to Cumberland to start a new family.’
‘Brothers and sisters?’
‘One half-sister, Susan.’
They rounded the corner of the Circus, and Anna looked up in surprise. Somehow their conversation had managed to distract her after all. So much so that she almost regretted it was coming to an end.
‘Here we are.’ Captain Delaney put a hand on Bramble’s nose, bringing them to a halt. ‘Without a single broken bone.’
‘Only a few ragged nerves.’ She smiled down at him. ‘You do an excellent job of distracting a person, Captain.’
‘With my tale of woe?’ He raised an eyebrow ironically.
‘It is a tale of woe,’ she scolded him back. ‘You may make light of it, but I know how terrible it is to be estranged from your family. I’ve seen how the experience affected my mother. I’m truly sorry for the situation with yours.’
‘Thank you. Maybe we have something in common after all?’ He held on to her gaze for so long that she felt heat start to spread up her throat and over her cheeks.
‘Perhaps.’ She tried to sound brisk. ‘Now, how do I get down?’
‘Here...’ he reached a hand up, his voice husky ‘...jump down.’
‘Just jump?’ She slid her feet out of the stirrups, grabbing hold of his fingers and trying not to crush them.
‘I’ll catch you.’
‘All right.’ She launched herself into the air, flinging herself against him with such force that her bonnet smacked into his forehead.
‘Oomph. I meant down, not outwards.’
‘I’m sorry...but you said jump!’ She clamped her arms around his neck as he staggered backwards.
‘Maybe slide would have been a better word.’ He laughed as he lowered her to her feet. ‘Never mind, no harm done.’
She looked into his face, shocked by the sensation of his hard body against hers. She could feel the muscles of his neck and shoulders beneath her fingertips, large and thick and corded, definitely not parts of him she ought to be touching!
‘Thank you, Captain.’ She sprang backwards, remembering how many windows were facing towards them.
‘You’re welcome.’ He bowed, though there was a look of something like regret on his face.
‘I expect that your grandmother is waiting for me.’ She shuffled one foot on the ground awkwardly.
‘She doesn’t wait for anybody. She’s probably halfway through her bacon and eggs by now.’
‘Will you be joining us?’
‘I’ll take Bramble back to the mews, but then I’ll come and submit to coffee and a rigorous questioning. I ate breakfast an hour ago.’
‘You must have been up early.’
‘You’re not the only one with an early rising profession, Miss Fortini.’
‘Oh, yes, of course.’ She felt her cheeks flush a vivid shade of crimson. ‘Well, thank you for the lesson.’ She started towards the front door, eager to get away before she looked like a beetroot. ‘It was most instructive.’
‘Miss Fortini?’
‘Yes?’ She turned back as he called after her, surprised to see a deep furrow between his brows.
‘There’s something I think you ought to know.’ He paused as if he were giving her time to brace herself. ‘My grandmother intends to reintroduce your mother into society.’
‘What?’ Her lips parted in surprise. ‘How?’
‘She intends to ask her to visit the Pump Rooms with her later this week.’
‘But the scandal with my father...?’
‘That was a quarter of a century ago. I believe that my grandmother intends to make a public show of accepting her and woe betide anyone who gets in the way.’
‘Meaning me?’
‘I hope not.’ He gave her a searching look. ‘No doubt she’ll tell you herself at breakfast, but I wanted to forewarn you. If your mother accepts, then it’s likely that word will get back to her—your—family, including the Dowager Duchess. From what I understand, she was never happy about the estrangement.’
‘I see.’ She swallowed, feeling as though all of her muscles were stiffening with tension. ‘You mean you think that it might lead to a reconciliation?’
‘It’s a possibility. Although, considering that your mother accepted my grandmother’s invitation to tea yesterday, it might be what she wants.’
‘If it is, then I’ll be happy for her.’ Even to her own ears, the words sounded insincere.
‘I’m sure your relatives would like to meet you, too.’ His voice softened. ‘You just said that estrangement was a terrible thing. Maybe it’s a chance for you all to be reconciled.’
‘Never!’ she shot back before she could stop herself. ‘They’re aristocrats. I told you I don’t want anything to do with any of them!’
‘You already are one of them. You’re more aristocratic than I am.’ His eyes took on a hard gleam. ‘As far as I’m aware, there are no dukes in my lineage.’
‘How dare you?’
‘You know, if you’d been paying attention, Miss Fortini, then you’d understand that I have about as much interest in being a part of the aristocracy as you do.’ He spoke over her as she started to splutter. ‘Unlike you, however, I don’t choose to dismiss a whole group of people out of stubbornness and prejudice.’ He strode back to the mare, throwing the words over his shoulder as he walked away. ‘Tell my grandmother I won’t be joining you for coffee after all. As it turns out, I have better things to do.’