Beatrice wondered how she could help, what she could do.
She was so lost in thought that she finally had to ask a footman for help in finding her room.
Chapter Twenty-six
CECILIA WAS WAITING for her. Perfect, Beatrice thought. She could tell her about Darwell, then hear what Ceci and Lord Destry had been talking about.
With effort Beatrice decided she was not going to tell her sister about the kiss to end all kisses. It was the wisest thing to do, considering how Cecilia had reacted last time. Firm in her resolve, she gave Cecilia her complete attention.
“Beatrice, Lord Destry and I are going to have a race.” Ceci grinned; that was the only way to describe her smile. She looked as though she had just been given the most wonderful present.
“A race? That’s what you’re so excited about?”
“What I mean is, Destry and I, we are going to have a cross-country race on horses.”
“Really? A horse race?” Beatrice could not control her dismay. “For the love of God, why in the world would you want to do that? He will run rings around you.”
“Why are you so sure of that? You’re the one who hates to ride. I can handle a horse and they don’t scare me.” Ceci took a half step away from her sister, her smile vanished.
“I’m sorry if it hurts your feelings but I’m only telling the truth.” Beatrice stood her ground.
Cecilia put her hands together and the smile came back, not a grin but a hint of one. “He did agree to give me an advantage.”
“I don’t care if he gives you a five-minute head start, he will win. And you will not be able to jump or go particularly fast.”
“That isn’t true.” Cecilia looked away from her sister.
“You will not jump. You cannot control a horse properly going over a fence riding sidesaddle the way ladies must. I will never speak to you again if you do.” She stood before Cecilia, her arms crossed, trying to look resolute rather than afraid.
“Oh, all right, we will avoid all jumps.”
That was too easy, Beatrice thought.
“We already agreed there would be no jumps.”
“Good,” Beatrice said, her fear easing. “But he can ride astride and you cannot, at least not in company such as this.”
“That is just the thing.” Ceci clapped her hands. “I cannot ride astride so he has agreed to ride sidesaddle.”
“How in the world did you convince him to do that?” Beatrice asked, amazed at what Destry was willing to do to win Cecilia’s approval.
Cecilia looked so smug that Beatrice almost did not care how she had convinced the marquis. Her sister so rarely acted as though she were the one in charge.
“We were having a discussion.” She paused. “Well, to be honest, it was more like the beginning of an argument, over the fact that I am beautiful and he is short. I told him that his height does not matter to me at all and he insisted that, while my beauty is a joy to behold—”
“Ceci,” Beatrice interrupted, “that is such a poetic way to put it. Romantic even.”
“Oh, believe me, there was nothing romantic about his tone of voice. The point was that he knows there is more to me than looks, just as I know he is more than his size.”
Darwell came in then. She gave a brief curtsy to the ladies, and went through the sitting room and into the bedchamber without speaking. Beatrice knew why Darwell was upset, but she had her hands full with Ceci right now. Poor Darwell would have to wait.
“So how did this ‘almost argument’ lead to a cross-country horse race?” Beatrice shook her head. “With Lord Destry riding sidesaddle?”
“We agreed that we are most equal on a horse. His height and my looks have nothing to do with our ability to ride.”
“So you are going to race to prove that you are in fact not equal even when it comes to riding?”
“Oh, Beatrice, you are such a spoilsport. We are going to race because it is a way for me to demonstrate something very important without saying it again and again.”
“And that is?” Beatrice prompted, completely at a loss.
“I am going to let Lord Destry win,” Cecilia announced. “And this is why.” She recounted the story of his grandfather’s plot exactly as she had heard it earlier in the day from Lord Jess.
When Cecilia finished, her sister’s reaction was all she could have wished. “That is one of the cruelest