CHAPTER FIFTEEN #2
He smiled, and she laughed softly, her eyes lit by the emotion. The mildly depressing thought that she felt able to do so because she saw him, at least temporarily, as non-threatening, he put aside.
They rode in companionable silence, the groom at a discreet distance behind them, and when they cantered, the mare, in competitive spirit, lengthened her stride to match the bay’s.
‘Oh, for the chance to gallop,’ bemoaned Elizabeth, though she looked happy enough, and her cheeks were tinged with colour.
Sir Lucius glanced at her and thought how very beautiful she looked, but even in that brief look the life went from her face and the mask fell into place.
The voice that hailed them gave the reason, and they slowed to a walk.
‘Miss Ashling! How glad I am to see you are no longer indisposed. Radstock, your servant.’ Lord Easby raised his hat, and the look he gave Sir Lucius was not amicable, though the smile remained fixed to his lips.
‘Fair lady, you will now be able to resume our driving lessons. I have to say my mornings have not been the same without you.’
Sir Lucius was conscious of a deep-felt urge to wipe the smile from Easby’s face, and it clearly showed, for that smile lengthened.
For his part, Lord Easby had been most put out to see Miss Ashling in company with Sir Lucius, but the gentleman’s scowl gave him relief.
Had Radstock been accepted he would have the triumphant pride of the victor, not beetling brows.
Hope remained, and he 206had every intention of exploiting it to the full.
Taunting Radstock was merely an additional pleasure.
He therefore set about being most agreeable, largely inconsequential and with just a hint of the seducer that the innocent Miss Ashling would fail to see, but of which the increasingly irate Sir Lucius would be fully aware.
If the lady did not seem as responsive to his tone as previously, he would not worry.
It was fair to say that Radstock had stolen a march on him, but the next move was his.
‘You know, Miss Ashling, I do not think Sir Lucius appreciates my presence. In fact, I think he would dearly like to put an end to my existence at this precise moment. Would it not make you feel important to have gentlemen meet at dawn over you?’ The tone was teasing.
‘No indeed, sir. I can think of nothing more foolish, nor embarrassing for any woman,’ Elizabeth replied, with acerbity.
‘There, Radstock, if you want to meet me, we will have to keep it hushed or the divine Miss Ashling will frown upon the victor.’ He laughed, but Sir Lucius was not laughing.
‘Your funning is in poor taste, Easby.’
‘Is it?’ Lord Easby raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘I wonder if I am funning.’
The animosity crackled between the two men, and Elizabeth, aware of it, sought only to send Lord Easby upon his way as soon as possible. ‘Your driving lessons, my lord, are they still available?’
‘For you, ma’am, of course.’
‘Then would tomorrow morning be convenient, at eleven o’clock?’
207‘I am, entirely, at your service, Miss Ashling. I will present myself in Mount Street at that time, and look forward to imparting … what skill I possess to you.’ With which, and raising his curly-brimmed beaver once more, he trotted off.
‘What skill he possesses, indeed!’ Sir Lucius nearly ground his teeth. ‘That would take no more than half an hour all told.’
‘Is your dislike of Lord Easby of long standing, sir?’
He could not admit it coincided with that gentleman’s interest in her. ‘I dislike his manner with ladies, he has a far too elevated idea of his own worth and he drives badly.’
‘The last being of greatest importance?’
‘Only when he is driving you, ma’am.’
‘Yet you do not exhibit such antipathy to Lord Collingbourne, who seemed far more likely to throw me into a ditch.’ Her tone was light, for she wished him to come down from the boughs.
‘Ah, but I did ensure he did not take you driving again, ma’am, and on the first two points he is unimpeachable.’
‘In all seriousness, Sir Lucius, am I at risk with Lord Easby?’
He looked her straight in the eye. ‘I fear you will take umbrage if I tell you the truth.’
‘No, Sir Lucius, not if it is simple truth. I ought to say that I already have reason to know that you have taken it upon yourself to “dissuade” another gentleman from pursuing me. Mr Escott has decided that I have toppled from my pedestal as his muse, not least because if I so remained it would be injurious to his health, which latter 208part stems from you. He also said that you would not meet him over me, for which you find me grateful rather than affronted.’ She smiled lopsidedly.
‘Are you thinking to do the same with his lordship?’
‘Escott is an appalling cub, of whom you are well rid, ma’am, but no threat to you.’ His tone remained serious.
‘Unlike Lord Easby?’
‘I doubt he will overturn a vehicle with you in it, so in that sense you are safe. However, beyond the veriest basics he is likely to teach you bad driving habits. He does not feel his horses’ mouths well, for a start. You would be wise to consider what he tells you very carefully.’
‘And we are still talking about driving, Sir Lucius?’ She recalled the last time she had asked the same question.
‘No, Miss Ashling’ – his gaze held firm – ‘we are not. You may still think that an impertinence, but …’
‘No, Sir Lucius, I accept it for what it is, this time: your honest opinion.’
When first Lord Easby had become known to her, his disinterested manner had seemed so genuine that tittle-tattle was ignored.
However, over the weeks it had become clear that it was not all tittle-tattle, and there was a dark past to his lordship.
Helen Godmanchester disliked him intensely.
Having agreed to let him teach her to drive, Elizabeth was reluctant to admit her mistake, and continued out of bravado, and with the knowledge that she would not be taken in.
Had she not thought dropping him now would give rise to more gossip as to the reason, she would have quietly given up driving with him. She was frowning.
‘Miss Ashling, I did not seek to distress or frighten you. 209Being aware of the danger, if you will accept the term, you are far less at risk.’
‘And bad driving habits, Sir Lucius?’ She fought to control the rising blush. ‘If I learn any, perhaps you would permit me to drive you one day, and you could show me my failings.’
For a moment he could not answer. It was more than just an olive branch.
‘You would accept correction, from a friend?’
‘Yes, Sir Lucius, from a friend I would.’ Instinctively, she held out her kid-gloved hand and he took it in his larger grasp, quite solemnly, as if a pact were being made.
They rode back to Brook Street with little said, each contemplating the crossing of an invisible barrier that had lain between them.
He escorted her to her uncle’s door, bent over her hand, and walked away with a spring in his step that several friends who encountered him put down to good news from his head groom at Paley.
Elizabeth hurried upstairs, not wanting to speak with anyone.
She had committed herself so much more than she had ever thought possible.
It would be wrong to say she regretted it, but it made her feel quite odd inside, like contemplating riding a new horse, excited but also just a little nervous.
She rang for Ditcham, and removed the grey hat with its jaunty cockade.
Ditcham found her mistress quiet, but there was a smile playing about the corners of her mouth, and the fretfulness of the previous night was gone. Whatever the cause, the maid gave silent thanks for it.
210Sir Lucius gave the footman who opened his door a cheery thanks, and also went to change his raiment.
She had offered him her friendship, offered it, not had it wrung from her, and the look she had given him, the shy trust, made him hope as never before.
From friendship and trust he could show her affection, have her accept the love he felt for her.
The impossible now seemed the attainable, as long as he did not rush headlong.
He was conscious of a feeling of exultation, one that even the knowledge that she was to go driving with Easby on the morrow could not diminish.
The thought that he might ride a little later himself, and thereby, perhaps, encounter teacher and pupil, made him smile.
That smile would have died had he access to Lord Easby’s intentions. 211