get you changed into your habit for your riding lesson.”
Poppy eagerly changed into the exquisite riding habit and allowed the maid to arrange her thick raven tresses high upon her head. Finally, the maid fixed an artful piece of millinery magic with sweeping red feathers draped coquettishly atop her luxuriant curls. Poppy was bubbling with excitement as she tripped down the stairs to race to the stables.
“Fernley,” she cried, calling out to the head groom of his lordship’s stud farm, “I have come for my lesson.”
Fernley appeared leading out an exquisite black mare supplied with a side-saddle of the best Spanish leather.
“Oh, she is so pretty,” Poppy exclaimed as she stroked the mare’s mane.
“His lordship chose her specially for you, Miss Ashford. She is a gentle lady, for all her high bred airs,” Fernley said, obviously proud of his charge.
Poppy stiffened. “His Lordship?”
“Yes.”
Her heart started to drum a fierce beat, and flutters went off low in her stomach. “His Lordship is here?”
Before Fernley answered, another groom appeared, with a white-faced bay stallion on a leading rein. Poppy moved over to admire the fine stallion. Fernley sneaked her a carrot for the horse.
“He is stunning,” she breathed. “And powerful.”
“His name is Gallant,” Fernley said as the horse whuffled the carrot from her extended palm. “He is His Lordship’s horse.”
Another spark went off in her heart, and she glanced around.
“Don’t spoil him too much, Miss Ashford. He is a greedy brute,” James drawled, walking over to scratch between the stallion’s ears fondly, negating his stern words as he affectionately caressed his horse.
Poppy hardly knew how to keep her countenance. She slowed the rapid shallows of her breathing before she looked up at him. James was dressed in a deep, midnight blue jacket, with tan riding trousers and well-polished Hessians. How handsome you are. And for the first time, she was glad for the prettiness of her red habit, which shamelessly flattered her curvaceous figure.
To reveal the pleasure she felt at seeing him was just not done. Yet there was a gleam in his indigo eyes which bespoke a similar delight in seeing her. The smile bloomed on her mouth, and she dipped in a quick curtsy. “My Lord, it is…good to see you.”
“It is wonderful to see you as well, Miss Ashford.”
How polite he sounded, yet his eyes as they skipped over her were hungry. The awareness of his sent a surge of shock through her entire body. His lashes lowered, and when his gaze lifted to hers, only polite civility stared back at Poppy.
Still, warmth fissure inside and spread throughout her body. Her lessons started, and he was most instructional, his knowledge even greater than Fernley’s. Soon Poppy was helped to the mounting block, seated sidesaddle on the horse and was gently trotting. At first, it felt like she was a great many miles from the ground, and she would surely fall on her face and break her neck. However, after several minutes, Poppy relaxed, and the horse seemed to sense the lessening of her tension. They seemed to move as one, and she lifted her face to the rays of the sun and inhaled the crisp morning air into her lungs.
“Give him a little more freedom,” James said from where he trotted beside her with graceful ease.
Poppy grinned and urged her horse a little faster. “Oh!” she gasped, gripping the reins as she bounced in the saddle. A surge of worry went through her, but James's quick glance showed only confidence and an at ease expression. Poppy slowly released her held breath, relaxed her shoulders, and moved with the horse's rhythm.
“Riding is glorious,” she said after several minutes, laughing. Poppy never imagined it would have felt so free. This was even better than running across the lawns or dipping in the lake when no one watched.
James’s mouth curved into a grin. “You are a natural, just as I suspected it would be.”
They trotted about the lanes of the estate until Poppy felt an ache in her rump. Without having to say so, James declared her lesson for the day over. He dismounted from his horse, came around to her, gripped her hips and helped her down. Poppy had the oddest sense of an electric shock going through her body. But staring at his face all she saw was cool civility. With a swallow, she stepped back from James as soon as her feet touch the ground.
It was painfully uncomfortable being this close to him.
Brushing at the skirts of her habit,