trying not to draw attention to herself, but it was almost impossible. She was just on the other side of the large oak tree, about to step onto the path, when someone grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back. Lord Pensum galloped by on his grey horse, narrowly missing her as she hit the solid chest of the man behind her.
‘Are you all right?’ Major Preston’s chin brushed her temples as he spoke, his voice as tight as her insides.
His firm arm against Joanna’s stomach made her heart beat faster than the near collision with the horse. She leaned deeper into him and his fingers twitched against her hip. She reached behind her, ready to grasp his thighs and steady herself like she would against a wall after a shock. Before her fingertips could touch the buckskin of his breeches, she clutched the side of her dress, her breath catching as he shifted against her. She peered up into his dark eyes made more severe by the alternating shadows and sunlight piercing the branches overhead. If she tilted her head, closed her eyes, she might experience his firm lips against hers.
‘Miss Radcliff?’ Major Preston nudged, easing his hold on her.
‘Yes, I’m fine.’ She stumbled out of his grasp, mortified at almost losing her head over him. ‘Much better, in fact, for not being ground into the forest floor.’
‘I’m glad I could keep you from becoming one with the fallen leaves.’ He smiled as he bent over to pluck his hat off a bush. His breeches pulled tight over his buttocks when he dipped down then rose, towering over her like the oak above them. ‘May I escort you back to Huntford Place?’
Joanna jerked her attention from his thighs to his face. To walk with him would mean the opportunity to listen to his commanding voice and enjoy more of the conversation they’d indulged in last night. It also risked them being seen together. It might be innocent, but people wouldn’t regard it as such and her position with the Huntfords was already at risk.
‘I can’t.’ She slipped through the last few brambles to return to the path. ‘I must be getting back.’
‘I promise to only go as far as the edge of the woods, and then I’ll leave you to continue on. I wouldn’t want to place your reputation or employment in jeopardy.’
She hesitated. Being alone with him was dangerous, but she wanted companionship and something pleasant before she returned to the annoyance of her work. ‘Yes, company would be lovely, especially if any more galloping horses should happen by.’
‘Then allow me to fetch mine so we’ll be equally matched should we encounter any.’ He laughed as he pushed through the brush. The stiff branches raked his long legs before he slipped behind the tree. He soon rounded the turn, leading a large white horse with a patch of brown above his nose.
‘A magnificent animal,’ she remarked. ‘Not at all the mill-horse you painted him to be at the ball.’
‘Careful what you say around Duke, I don’t want it going to his head. He’s already difficult enough to control.’ He patted the animal’s side and it gave an indignant snort.
‘I don’t believe a word he says about you.’ She reached up to stroke Duke’s long nose, making the skin beneath his hair twitch.
‘Now you’ve done it, he won’t listen to me for the rest of the day.’ He clicked the horse into a walk and the three of them set off towards Huntford Place.
They walked side by side in silence, the twittering birds and the rustle of leaves settling in between them. It wasn’t an awkward or uncomfortable quiet, but familiar, as though this wasn’t the first time they’d enjoyed the forest alone together. With each of his sure steps, Joanna was keenly aware of the shift of his muscles, the crinkle of his leather gloves as he tightened or loosened his grip on the reins. It wasn’t the easy movements of a man at peace, but the constant fidgeting of one with something on his mind. Whatever troubled him, it was none of her business. However, she hadn’t been this conscious of another person since the nights at school when she could tell which one of her friends was upset by their constant turning beneath the coverlet, or a sob stifled by a pillow. She couldn’t pretend to ignore his difficulties any more than she could have her friends’.
‘I didn’t mean to intrude on you and your brother,’ she offered. ‘Is everything well?’
‘It is.’ Major Preston banged his hat against his thigh to free it of dust and leaves. ‘Except we differ on how to resolve a long-standing conflict with Lord Helmsworth.’
‘Is it massive enough to divide brothers?’
‘It is when it threatens the income of Pensum Manor.’ He turned his hat over in his hands, pausing before he settled it down on his hair. ‘Miss Radcliff, what I’m about to tell you isn’t commonly known and would, like the revealing of Miss Huntford’s secret, do a great deal of damage to my family.’
‘I won’t tell anyone.’ She wouldn’t do anything to harm him. He’d been too kind to her, and the thrill of being taken into his confidence was as powerful at the grip of his hand on the reins.
He explained to her the dispute about the land as his feet covered the imprints of his brother’s horse’s hooves in the packed dirt. ‘My family isn’t as wealthy as we’ve allowed society to believe. My brother is worried that if we reveal our desperate need for access to the river on the disputed land, Lord Helmsworth might use the information to place pressure on our creditors to strangle us.’
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