He reminded Leo of a cornered hare, while Leo, in this instance, was the fox.
“Wilcox,” Leo said, breaking into the conversation a minute later, “Lady Thalia could do with another refreshment. Why don’t you go get her one.”
Wilcox met his eyes, an entire row of the freckles disappearing into the sudden creases on his forehead. “I beg your pardon?”
“No need to beg my pardon, it is Lady Thalia who is parched.” Leo stared, using his height and muscled physique to add power to his intimidating expression.
“There is no need—,” Thalia began.
Leo didn’t look away from Wilcox. “She’s waiting. You don’t want to disappoint her, do you?”
Wilcox swallowed, a mixture of outrage and alarm on his face. For despite being older than Leo by several years, he was no match when it came to a battle of dominance.
Wilcox rarely took on a fight and, as everyone knew, still did the bidding of his domineering mother. Perhaps that’s why he had yet to marry, because she had yet to approve of a bride. She certainly wouldn’t like it if she knew he was flirting with the notorious Thalia Lennox.
Wilcox’s weak chin trembled as he decided whether to tell Leo to go straight to hell. Suddenly, Wilcox looked away—the staring duel apparently done. Huffing out a breath, Wilcox stood, executed a stiff bow and stalked away.
Casually, Leo turned his sights on Lady Thalia’s other companion, Lord Stanley. He’d seen him a few times over the years at White’s Club, but they were no more than passing acquaintances. Stanley was stocky with a head of thick black hair and had far more confidence than Wilcox could ever hope to muster. At the moment he looked amused, leaning back against the sofa while he waited to see what Leo’s next move would be.
Leo considered trying to intimidate the other man, but decided a more direct approach might be in order.
“Take yourself off too, Stanley. I’d like a word with Lady Thalia and you’re rather a gooseberry at present.”
Stanley raised a brow, his lips twitching as if he was deciding whether to be annoyed or further entertained. He angled his head toward Thalia.
“Lady Thalia, what do you think? Shall I go or would you prefer that I remain and send this wayward ruffian off instead? I’d advise you not to be alone with him. He has a dreadful reputation, you know.”
As did Stanley. Everyone knew the man was an unapologetic womanizer. Then again, maybe that’s why Thalia was sitting here with him on the sofa.
Leo scowled at the idea.
“She’ll hardly be alone, seeing that we’re in the middle of a crowded drawing room,” Leo said. “Now, trot on after Wilcox and find some other lady to importune.”
Stanley laughed. “Shall I do as he demands, Lady Thalia? It’s completely up to you, although I readily admit that Byron and I have put you in a bit of a fix. Which one of us shall it be? I await your pleasure.”
Lady Thalia’s lips thinned, her eyes moving between them as if she wished she could send both of them packing.
“Thank you for your concern, Lord Stanley,” she said after a moment, “but I fear there will be no peace if I do not give in to Lord Leopold’s demands. We shall have plenty of time to talk again before the party ends.”
“I look forward to the occasion.” Stanley stood and made her a bow. “Byron.”
Leo nodded but said nothing else. As soon as the other man was gone, Leo dropped down into the vacated spot next to her.
Rather than scoot away, Lady Thalia held her place. “I knew you had an overabundance of gall, but I had no notion you could behave like such a barbarian.”
He smiled. “Of course. How else do you think my ancestors have managed to hold on to a dukedom for the past three hundred years? Knowing how to vanquish one’s enemies is a trait that runs strong in the Byron bloodline.”
“I don’t believe Mr. Wilcox and Lord Stanley count as enemies.”
“They do if they stand in my way where you are concerned. I won’t brook another man coming between us.”
She turned her cordial glass slowly in her hand. “And what makes you imagine there is going to be an us?”
He leaned closer, his voice low. “The way you enjoyed your dessert this evening perhaps? It has put all sorts of imaginings into my head and left me thinking just how I would like to enjoy you.”
Her lashes swept low for a moment before she looked up again and met his gaze. Her eyes were dark and mysterious, full of secrets. Quite suddenly he found himself wanting to learn them all.
“I think you read rather more into my actions than was actually there,” she said lightly. “I have a passion for chocolate, that is all.”
“What about the grapes?”
“Those as well.”
He stared for another moment, then laughed. “Well, if you put that much enthusiasm into a dish of sweets, sweetheart, then I cannot wait to see where else your passions lie.”
“I am not your sweetheart, Lord Leopold, and you are not to say such things. Someone might overhear.”
“You’re right. Are you sure you wouldn’t care to take that stroll in the gardens, after all?”
“Yes, quite sure. As always you presume far more than you ought. Now, I see a spare seat at the whist table. If you will excuse me, I am going to play cards.”
She stood, taking a moment to set her cordial aside.
“But wait, don’t go. We haven’t settled anything between us yet.”
She turned and met his eyes. “No, we haven’t.”
On a swish of blue velvet skirts, she strolled away.
He could have followed and acted the barbarian again by turfing another one of the players out of his chair to join her at the card table. Instead, he leaned back against the sofa cushions and contemplated his next move.
* * *
Good Lord, what have I started? Thalia wondered as she slid into the open chair at the card table and offered quiet greetings to the other players.
She’d known Lord Leopold had a forceful personality, but she’d had no idea that he could be so intimidating. He’d chased Wilcox off like a naughty pup. As for Lord Stanley, she wondered if it might have come to far more than words if he’d been unwilling to cede the field. She had the distinct feeling that in a fight Lord Leopold could best any opponent he faced.
But he wasn’t going to intimidate or defeat her. This was her game and she would control it.
Control him.
With his natural arrogance, he didn’t even seem to realize that she was the one leading him where she wished and not the other way around. But it served her purposes to let him think he was the one doing the seducing.
Tonight continued to be a promising beginning to her instructive lesson for Lord Leopold, and it wouldn’t do to be seen as giving in to him too abruptly, not after all her previous rebuffs. She would let him think she was gradually succumbing to his wiles; then when he least expected, she would turn the tables. Exactly what that entailed she wasn’t quite certain of yet. But she would think of something when the time was right.
Accepting her hand of cards, she focused her attention on the whist game.
Chapter 7
Leo mounted his roan stallion the following morning, taking a moment to draw in a deep breath of the leaf-scented air. The sun shone down from a nearly cloudless sky, forecasting an excellent, unseasonably warm autumn day for an outing.
A hunt had been arranged for the guests and a few local neighbors, including a viscount who was the current master of foxhounds. All around Holland House’s main drive, horses and riders were being readied. The pack of hounds was brimming with tail-wagging excitement, the dogs giving an occasional bark of anticipation for the chase to come. Servants moved among the assembled guests, offering tall cups of spiced punch and squares of fruitcake.
Leo was pleased to see that Lady Thalia was to be one of the party. Due to hunting’s physically demanding nature, many ladies preferred not to participate, especially hampered as they were by the necessity
of riding sidesaddle. But Lady Thalia looked eager for the challenge, a smile on her face as she allowed one of the servants to help her mount the horse she would be riding.
She looked as bright and beautiful as the clear day, attired in a surprisingly sensible habit of navy blue serge with polished brass buttons sewn down the front. The style looked slightly out of fashion, but the well-made cut suited her to perfection. Her shining mahogany hair was pulled into a neat twist at the back of her head, topped by a tall black riding hat.
Now settled on her horse¸ she took a few moments to arrange the drape of her long skirts before straightening, the reins held confidently inside her small gloved hands.
He walked his stallion forward, maneuvering around several other riders so that he could slip into an empty spot at her side. Her mare shifted and chuffed out a breath at his stallion’s arrival. An answering shiver rippled through his own horse’s sleekly muscled flanks.
Leo understood the feeling, his chest and groin tightening in instant reaction to Lady Thalia’s nearness. The sensation grew more intense as he caught the faintest hint of lilac drifting elusively in the air—there one instant, gone the next.
Had she bathed in lilac-scented soap this morning, he wondered, or else smoothed a couple of drops of perfume onto her skin as she dressed? Either answer put all sorts of wicked ideas into his head.
His hands tightened briefly on the reins before he forced away the thoughts. “Fine morning for a hunt,” he remarked.
She turned her head, her dark eyes unfathomable. “Indeed, the weather is excellent for such sport, even if a tad warm.”
“Holland’s gathered a good group.”
They both paused to survey the large number of horses, riders and dogs that were assembled.
“Lord and Lady Holland are known for their entertainments. One could expect no less from a hunt held on their estate.” Her mouth tightened briefly before easing again.
“I was pleased to see you aren’t the timid sort and will ride out for the start.”
“Oh, I’ll be there for more than the start. I love to ride and shall stay on the field as long as I can manage. As for the jumps, the higher the better, I say.”
He frowned. “Boldness is an admirable trait, but it’s also best to remember that an unfamiliar course can be dangerous.”
“Do you doubt my ability to ride, Lord Leopold? It may have been some while since I rode to hounds, but you will find I am no novice when it comes to sitting a horse.”
“I only meant that I do not wish you to come to harm, Lady Thalia.”
“Don’t worry. I learned how to take care of myself a long time ago.”
With that, she set her horse in motion and cantered away.
He followed, determined not to lose her.
He had just drawn abreast of her again when the horn sounded the call to release the fox and the hounds.
Tallyho. The hunt was on.
With a kick of his heels, Leo sprang into action, Lady Thalia at his side, as everyone set off.
* * *
Thalia surged forward into a fast run, giving her mare her head as dozens of riders took to the field. Clots of green turf kicked up under churning hooves as the yards fell away behind them. It wasn’t long before the pack separated into the leaders and those who tried to keep pace.
She settled into a position at the rear of the lead group, letting herself savor a sense of freedom she had not felt in a very long while. She didn’t ride in London nearly as often as she might have liked, since maintaining a riding mount was a luxury she could ill afford. Occasionally, she took one of the carriage horses out to the park, but city riding was disappointingly tame compared with the sensation of flying over a grassy field at a rough gallop. She’d missed this, being able to ride a fine steed through the countryside. The divorce had denied her such opportunities, so this one came as a rare treat.
Lord Leopold rode next to her, his powerful stallion easily keeping pace with her own spirited mare. She tossed him a look and increased her speed, wondering if she could shake him off.
But he stuck with her like a burr, catching up as though nothing had changed. The pair of them pelted onward, correcting course with the other riders as the horn blew to signal a fresh sighting of the fleeing fox.
One by one, members of the lead pack separated, some making a jump over a large tree trunk laid out across a wet ditch, while others took a safer, longer route around.
She headed straight for the fallen tree.
Lord Leopold followed.
As the obstacle grew closer, she gathered herself to make the jump, using her reins and her left knee to set her horse into the correct gait. She tightened her other knee around the pommel to anchor herself more firmly in the saddle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lord Leopold make his own adjustments as he readied his mount.
And then they were airborne, sailing high and wide of the tree and ditch. He landed first with a slight splash of mud; she came next.
As the two of them rode onward, she couldn’t contain the laugh of pure exuberance. She glanced over and met Lord Leo’s jewel-bright gaze. He grinned back, displaying his set of even white teeth, his features alive with a kind of unrestrained pleasure.
Her heart pounded, and not just from the exertion.
After another quarter mile or so, the pace slowed to a canter, then again to a walk. The fox, it seemed, had temporarily eluded the hounds, the dogs having lost the scent. The whippers sent them out to locate it again.
“You’re a smashing rider, Lady Thalia,” Lord Leo said, leaning forward in his saddle.
She patted her horse’s neck. “The lads in the stable gave me a good hunter. She’s got a fearless heart.”
“As do you. I was a little concerned when you headed straight for that jump, but I see that I needn’t have worried.”
“My father had me on a horse before I could walk. Riding is easy. I wish I could indulge myself this way more often.”
“I would be happy to make arrangements for you to do so. I know several landholders not far from London who would have no problem letting you ride on their property. The Hollands are not the only ones who hunt, you know.”
For the second time he was offering her something she truly longed to accept. But just as before, his offer came with conditions. Conditions she had no intentions of fulfilling—not that she planned to let him know that at present.
“What an interesting notion,” she said. “You do know how to cast out tempting lures.”
His eyes darkened. “And have you decided to reel this one in? You have but to say yes and I shall see it done.”
Howls from the dogs suddenly filled the air and the horn sounded again, relieving her of the need to answer. “Look,” she said, “we’re off again.”
And indeed they were, the pack having apparently relocated the scent. Thalia urged her mare into action, while Lord Leo did the same with his mount.
As before, he kept pace at her side, their horses flying fast over the rolling, tree-laden hills and down slick shallow valleys. A series of hedgerows rose up, forcing the riders to spread out as they made the jumps either solo or in small groups. By the time she and Lord Leo cleared them all, the leaders and the pack had disappeared from view.
“This way,” Lord Leopold said, gesturing to his right, “it ought to give us a chance to catch up.”
She nodded in agreement and followed.
The pair of them pelted into a nearby wood, winding their way through the trees and shrubbery. When they finally emerged, Thalia saw that they were in a small clearing, bordered on the opposite side by a tall green thicket that stretched as far as the eye could see.
“We could try going over,” she suggested, tapping her riding whip impatiently against her knee.
He shook his head. “It’s too high. Even if we could clear it, there’s no way to tell what’s on the other side. We might land on a steep slope for all we know.”
“Or find nothing more dangerou
s than a flat field.” Still, he had a good point. Without knowing the territory, it was a foolish risk to take. “Shall we ride the hedge line and see if there’s a break ahead?”
He nodded and off they set. But after another five minutes without finding a good place to cross, they drew to a halt again.
He tapped his riding crop against his thigh. “It’s useless—the hounds must be long gone by now. I don’t hear them anymore, do you?”
She listened, the only sound the soft susurration of the wind.
“No. It’s back to Holland House, I suppose,” she said, disappointed.
He paused. “Not necessarily. I noticed a meadow with a pretty stream not too far back. We could stop there for a time.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“Because it’s a beautiful day, far too nice to stay cooped up inside.” He gave her one of his most engaging smiles. “If we return now, the ladies might compel you to join them in some activity. Fan painting, for instance? Somehow I don’t see you as being in the mood to indulge your artistic side.”
“Not if it involves desecrating fans. What a ghastly thought.”
His smile widened. “It is rather, isn’t it?”
She knew she should refuse him. She could always retire to her room until the hunt breakfast commenced. No one would trouble her despite the threat of fan painting. Yet this seemed a good opportunity to engage with Lord Leo. She’d decided to teach him a lesson and he’d never learn anything if she didn’t take the necessary steps.
“Very well, Lord Leopold,” she said softly, “lead me to your meadow.”
Chapter 8
“Oh, how beautiful,” Thalia declared several minutes later as she surveyed the expanse of verdant green meadow. A narrow stream wound at the base of a gentle slope, while hawthorn, blackthorn and rowan trees, laden with colorful autumn berries, stretched their limbs toward the blue sky above. “It must be even more breathtaking here in the spring and summer when the wildflowers are in bloom.”
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