You May Kiss the Bride(40)
He said:
“I’d like to hear what you have to say.”
She looked over at him, then slowly let her hands drop into her lap. “I—I am afraid of horses. It’s stupid of me, I know, but when I was a girl, my uncle—he—well, I was walking past the stables and he nearly ran me down on one of his hunters. To avoid him, I fell back against a post and—and injured my back rather badly. It took a long time for me to walk normally again.”
“Are you saying that Stuart did it on purpose?”
Livia shrugged. “He was drunk.”
“You are well shut of him, then. The bloody bastard. I’d like to run him against a post.” Gabriel realized there was a growl in his voice, and softened it as he added: “May I suggest that you reexamine your opinion of horses? Generally speaking, they are as well-behaved as their riders.”
She drew a long, shuddering breath. “I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise you.”
“Fair enough.”
“And now I want to go home.”
Bewildered, he said, “To your uncle’s?”
“No!” she said quickly. “Back to your grandmother’s.”
Gabriel brushed aside an unnerving feeling of relief, then dismissed the grooms so they could stable the horses again; he hailed a hack, and escorted Livia back to Upper Camden Place. Not a word was exchanged between them, and yet somehow, it wasn’t as awkward as he thought it would be. He helped her down from the hack, and there was Grandmama just emerging from her townhouse, solicitously ushered onto the stoop by her butler Crenshaw, with Miss Cott as always in tow.
“What are you doing here?” she said crisply by way of greeting, as he and Livia went up the steps. “I wasn’t expecting you back for quite some time. How did the lesson go?”
Livia shot him a swift, anxious look and so he hedged, “We are proceeding slowly.”
Grandmama frowned. “Slowly? What does that mean? Did she ride at all?”
He was silent.
“The truth, if you please!”
Well, he’d just have to lie. He was mean, stuffy, and a liar, evidently. But Livia said quietly:
“No, ma’am.”
“Unacceptable!” Grandmama said sternly. “Go back at once!”
“Tomorrow, perhaps,” he said, and she looked hard at them both.
“What ails the child? She’s positively drooping! Gabriel, what have you done to her?” said his irascible grandparent, instantly reducing him to the status of a six-year-old miscreant caught pulling the braids of a hapless little girl. “Doubtless you’re wasting away from lack of food,” Grandmama added sardonically to Livia. “You must be revived with some at once. I’m sure that Cook—your devoted adherent—would be happy to prepare something repellently hearty.”
“I am a little hungry,” Livia admitted.
“Of course you are. You seem to have the appetite of a farm laborer. That you manage to avoid a commensurate avoirdupois is a source of continual amazement. Miss Cott and I were just on our way to attend a lecture on the Music of the Spheres, offered by a very learned astronomer from Italy, but we shall, naturally, remain behind as chaperones.”
She led the way to the sunny, elegantly furnished dining-parlor. For someone whose wishes in the matter of horseback-riding had been flouted, she was remarkably sanguine. Halfway through the hastily assembled meal she said:
“I am, Miss Stuart, somewhat satisfied with your progress, and so—you’re taking more roast beef? You’ll be dead before you’re thirty, I assure you!—where was I? Oh yes, I’m somewhat satisfied with your progress, though you have a long way to go.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Livia said, accepting the mustard pot from a footman and also hoping the report of her disgraceful tumble into Gabriel’s arms wouldn’t reach the old lady’s ears.
“I’ve therefore accepted an invitation for us—Gabriel, you, and myself—to dine with Lord and Lady Gibbs-Smythe and to go afterwards with them to the Upper Rooms, in their party. The following evening there’s a cotillion-ball in the New Rooms. The day after, a driving expedition to Wells, where you’ll certainly benefit from the elevating experience of viewing the cathedral. And after that—”
Horses were not even mentioned, except for one penultimate comment which had everyone at the table looking at her in surprise.
“It’s my hope, Miss Stuart, that you will soon continue your lessons with Gabriel. Riding is a highly desirable activity for any lady of Quality as well as a suitable form of exercise for a young person. It is also a great pleasure. I wish I could still ride.” She glanced at Livia and Gabriel, smiling a very slight smile. “Yes, believe it or not, I haven’t always been superannuated. There was a time—” And then she paused abruptly, her smile fading. “Well, that is ancient history indeed, and of no interest to anyone. And now I’m going to take my nap. No, Evangeline, don’t follow me up. I wish to be alone.”