To Win the Lady (11 page)

The fact that
his father was employing a not so subtle blackmail did little to make Richard
feel any better. He had been a poor sort of son and if his lordship was really
ill, perhaps dying, it behoved him to make amends...

There was no
time for further discussion, for Heacham came to say that Captain Melford had
arrived. ‘He says he won’t come in,’ the servant said. ‘He is mounted and is
leading two park hacks with ladies’ saddles.’

‘It seems I did
you an injustice, m’boy,’ his lordship said, grinning at his son. Who is she?’

‘Sir Henry
Paget’s daughter.’

‘That so? I liked
old Henry, you could do worse, though I hope it isn’t the elder. I’ve heard
she’s become a sad case. Tries to play the man. Can’t have you leg-shackled to
a horse-face.’

Richard smiled,
thinking of Miss Georgiana Paget. Whatever she was, it was certainly not
horse-faced. In her own way she was stunningly beautiful; she had character and
fire, but she was also maddeningly independent. Anyone foolish enough to marry
her, even if he could break down the barrier she had put up around herself,
would undoubtedly have a daily battle on his hands. On the other hand, his
father would definitely approve of Miss Felicity Paget, and what more could a
man ask for in a wife? Sweet and kind and biddable, wasn’t that what Georgiana
had said? After nine years of war he was tired of fighting; he would settle for
biddable. ‘No, sir, she is chaperon to her sister.’

‘Then be off
with you. You mustn’t keep the ladies waiting.’

Richard,
feeling himself sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire of his own making,
took his leave and, fetching Pegasus from the stable, joined his friend, taking
one of the park hacks in hand, to call on the Misses Paget.

Chapter Four

Both ladies were ready when the young men arrived; Felicity
wore a burgundy riding jacket, frogged in silver, and a riding hat whose
sweeping feather brushed her cheek, and Georgie was in ruby red, frogged and
braided. A high-crowned beaver hat with a stiff brim around which a gossamer
scarf had been tied was perched on her auburn curls.

Georgie half
expected some comment about the side saddle as Richard threw her up, but he had
evidently decided that antagonising the chaperon was not a way to win the lady
and remained silent. In fact, he seemed a little vague, as if he had something
else on his mind, which was hardly flattering, but as Felicity and Mr Melford
seemed to have no difficulty in maintaining the conversation it hardly mattered
and by the time they turned in at the gate of the park he had recovered
sufficiently to make an effort at small talk.

Georgie longed
to let her horse gallop, but, deciding that was hardly the behaviour to be
expected of a chaperon, rode sedately beside her sister, who had the gentlemen
vying for position on the other side of her. Surprisingly, John seemed to win
that particular manoeuvre and Georgie found herself with Richard on her other
side.

‘How do you
find Pegasus, Major?’ she asked, looking at the stallion a little wistfully.

Richard leaned
forward to pat the grey’s neck. ‘Oh, we are dealing together very well, aren’t
we, Peg, old fellow?’

‘Why did you
bring him to London?’

‘Why not? I
wished to test his stamina.’

‘I hope that
does not mean you rode him hard all the way. I should not have let you have him
if I thought you would do that.’

‘I am not
flattered that you think me such a mopstraw as to ruin a good horse, Miss
Paget. I am no Dick Turpin.’

‘Dick Turpin?’

‘He was a high
toby of a hundred years ago; have you not heard of him?’

`Of course I
have. He was supposed to have ridden from London to York in a day, or a night -
I forget which. It’s all a hum, of course; it can’t be done.’

‘You don’t
thinks so.’

‘Not on a
single horse; I believe it is all of two hundred miles.’

‘Yes, but
supposing you had any number of horses?’ He was smiling, as if he had
discovered some secret he was half inclined to share with her.

‘How many?’

‘I don’t know,
twenty, shall we say?’

‘That’s one
every ten miles. You can’t gallop a horse for ten miles, Major, not without
ruining it.’

‘More, then.
Shall we say thirty?’

‘You may say
what you please; it is purely conjecture.’

‘I think I
should like to put it to the test,’ he said slowly, as an idea began to form in
his mind which excited him. ‘Yes, I think that might serve.’

‘Major, I am
persuaded you are bamming me. Even if you had a hundred horses, you would still
need to be in the saddle twelve hours at least.’

‘Nine.’

She turned her
head to survey him from beneath the brim of her hat, but he was looking
straight ahead with a faint smile on his lips. ‘Why nine?’

‘Supper in
London, breakfast in York.’

‘It can’t be
done.’

He turned
towards her, smiling. ‘Now, would you care to put money on that, Miss Paget?’

‘Certainly
not!’ she said. ‘I never gamble. And I am surprised at you. I had thought you a
man of sense. I wish now I had not sold Pegasus to you, if that is the kind of
thing you do.’

He laughed and
turned back to John who was riding just behind him. ‘Would you back me, John?’

‘Oh, yes, old
fellow, every time,’ his friend said complacently.

‘You cannot
have heard our conversation, Captain, and do not even know what Major
Baverstock has proposed,’ Georgie said sharply.

‘What? Has he
proposed?’ Felicity asked, coming up a little behind John. ‘Am I to offer
felicitations, then?’

‘No!’ Georgie’s
retort was sharp and all three looked at her in surprise. ‘No, of course not;
you mistake my meaning, my dear. Major Baverstock was proposing a wager,
not...’ She stopped, embarrassed.

‘A wager? Oh,
forgive me. How silly of me. To think... Oh, dear.’ She was clearly mortified.

Georgie came to
the rescue, as much to save herself as her sister. ‘The Major was saying he can
ride from London to York without stopping,’ she said.

‘In nine
hours,’ Richard added.

‘We’ve had some
pretty long spells in the saddle in the last few years,’ John said. ‘And in the
heat of a Spanish summer, but never that far. No mount would stand up to it.’

‘I wasn’t
intending to do it with a single horse,’ Richard told him. ‘Thirty horses,
posted along the way. It would be an endurance test for the man more than the
animals.’

‘Then I suppose
it could be done, but I’ll tell you I wouldn’t attempt it.’

‘It’s all
gammon,’ Georgie said. ‘And all because I said I wondered at him bringing
Pegasus to London. It would have been quicker by coach.’

‘But nothing
like as enjoyable and I would not have had a mount while I was here.’

‘I doubt
Pegasus finds parading in the park to his liking, Major. I am sure he would
rather gallop.’

He grinned.
‘Would you?’

There was a
wide expanse of green sward ahead of them where a herd of cows usually grazed,
but they had congregated to one small area near the Bath Gate and were showing
not the least interest in the riders. She turned to look at Felicity and John
who had resumed their place a little behind them and were deep in conversation.
Dared she leave them, just for a few minutes? It wasn’t as if they would go out
of sight...

‘Race you to
that big oak,’ she cried and, without waiting for him to reply, dug her heel
into her hack’s flank and set off across the grass.

It was only a
couple of hundred yards and her mount was not Warrior or anything like him and
riding side saddle was uncomfortable at speed, but it was good to feel the
horse respond and for a little while she forgot she was supposed to be a staid
chaperon, forgot that it was not done for a lady to gallop, forgot that the man
who soon came up alongside her disapproved of such hoydenish behaviour. She was
in her element on a horse’s back.

They reached
the tree together and pulled up, laughing.

‘You cheated,’
he said. ‘Setting off ahead of me like that.’

‘It is strange
how some people cannot stand to be beaten,’ said a languid voice. ‘They must
forever accuse the victor of cheating.’

Georgie turned
in astonishment to find a horseman she had barely noticed before sitting on his
mount under the tree watching them. It was Lord Barbour, mounted on a beautiful
chestnut.

Richard, who
had become aware of the other man’s identity at precisely the moment Georgie
had issued her challenge, had been obliged to follow her, but that did not mean
he had to listen to insults. ‘I do not recall Miss Paget speaking to you, sir,’
he said.

‘Only because
she did not see me.’ His lordship turned to Georgie, smiling confidently. ‘Is
that not so, Miss Paget?’

‘Why, yes,’ she
said, bewildered by the hostility between the two men; it fairly crackled. ‘Do
you know each other? Oh, but of course you do; Major Baverstock told me so only
yesterday.’

‘Did he now?’
His lordship appeared amused. ‘Did he also tell you in what connection we came
to know each other?’

‘No, but I
recall him saying you had bought his hunter.’

His lordship
laughed. ‘Bought it, did I? Well, he would say that. But I should beware of
striking bargains with him, Miss Paget. He will renege, to be sure.’

Richard’s face
was a picture of fury and Georgie thought for one dreadful minute that he would
strike the man with his crop, but he seemed to make a monumental effort to hold
himself in check and the raised hand dropped to his side. ‘If there were not
ladies present...’

‘I see you have
bought a new mount,’ Lord Barbour went on, looking at Pegasus with a keen eye.
‘Not bad, but not up to Victor, is he?’ He leaned forward and ruffled the
chestnut’s ear. ‘Thought you wanted him back.’

‘And I will
have him, too.’

‘Then all you have
to do is name the time and place.’

Georgie looked
from one to the other, thoroughly perplexed, but they were interrupted as John
and Felicity rode up.

‘Oh, good
morning, my lord,’ Felicity greeted him. ‘So, you found us, then. I thought
that you might. Shall you ride back with us?’

There was a
malicious gleam in Lord Barbour’s eye, as if he was tempted to accept, but one
glance at Richard told him not to push his luck. He made his excuses, doffing
his tall riding hat to the ladies and reminding Georgie that she had promised
to ride with him the next day and that he would call for her, and then he
cantered away, leaving the four young people to ride back to Holles Street in
almost complete silence.

The incident
had put a damper on the outing and as soon as they had paid their respects to
Mrs Bertram the young men rode away, taking the hacks with them.

‘Did you tell
Lord Barbour where we were to be found?’ Georgie turned on her sister as soon
as they were alone.

‘No, indeed I
did not. But I don’t see why you are so up in the boughs over it.’

‘I am not, but
it was plain as a pikestaff there is no love lost between his lordship and the
Major.’

‘Captain
Melford said it had something to do with a wager. The Major lost his hunter...’

‘Victor?’ It
was extraordinary how disappointed in Richard Baverstock Georgie felt over
that. She knew young gentlemen gambled on almost anything and thought nothing
of it, but to put up a horse as special as Victor was nothing short of
criminal. For the second time she wished she had not sold Pegasus to him.

‘As to that, I
don’t know,’ Felicity said. ‘You’ll have to ask Lord Barbour tomorrow.’

His lordship
duly arrived the following morning, riding Victor and leading a beautiful Arab
mare for Georgie to ride. ‘She’s yours whenever you ride with me,’ he said,
smiling because she could not hide her pleasure. ‘And I would wish it to be
every day.’

‘Thank you, my
lord,’ she said as Tom Dawson, who was to ride discreetly behind them, held out
his hands for her to mount. ‘But I am sure you have other demands on your time
than riding in the park with me.’

‘None which
gives me greater pleasure.’

He was behaving
perfectly properly and there was nothing in his behaviour to give offence, but
she could not like him. She could not say exactly why. Perhaps it was his
smile, which she could only describe as oily, perhaps it was his eyes, small,
pale and watchful, or perhaps it was the way he jerked on the reins when the
spirited horse shied away from the traffic. Once they were in the park, the
stallion seemed a little easier, but Georgie didn’t think he liked his rider
any better than she did.

‘You have only
just acquired Victor, I believe,’ she said.

‘Yes, from that
young rake, Baverstock.’

‘As the result
of a wager, I am told.’