Ravished By the Rake (Improper Ladies #3)

Prologue

Lady Hereford, her dark ringlets dancing on her shoulder, galloped across the greensward, her groom keeping pace behind her. “I don’t like the look of those clouds, Briggs,” she called to him, after a glance at the bluish-gray canopy advancing across the sky, driven by a sudden, fierce wind.

“No, indeed, my lady.”

“We’ll take the track through the woods.” She put a hand on her high-crowned, black riding hat as the wind tugged at it, threatening to rip it from its pins.

The groom followed her onto the path, which took them a shorter way to the house. Urging his mount forward, the gelding suddenly stumbled and pulled up.

She returned to him as the young, athletic groom jumped down to examine the horse’s hoof.

“He’s picked up a stone.” He removed a penknife from his pocket. “Won’t take me but a moment to dislodge it.” The sharp wind heralded the onset of what could be an intense downpour. “Ride on, my lady. No sense in us both getting wet. I’ll join you in a trice, after I dislodge this stone.”

“Very well, Briggs.”

They were still several miles from home.

She turned her mare’s head and rode on through the trees until she came to a fork in the path.

Urging her horse onto the left one, she rode down a rarely used path.

The storm, if it held off long enough, was fortuitous, for she had something important to do that couldn’t wait.