Page 18 of A Lady’s Rules for Seaside Romance (The Harp & Thistle #3)

I t felt as if Anne floated with the wind. Everything seemed to happen slowly as she was flung off Onyx’s saddle, and the stallion’s gallops echoed in her mind as he got farther away.

A boom of thunder shook the air.

And then, she was on the ground. It felt as she had been hit by a runaway carriage.

“Anne!” Victor’s terrified voice shouted from somewhere.

Anne squeezed her eyes shut as she turned to her side and brought her knees up to her chest, desperately trying to catch her breath. The wind had been knocked out of her, and each breath she tried to take sounded like a wheeze.

A raindrop splashed on her cheek and she managed to open her eyes.

Victor dropped down beside her on all fours, his green eyes wild and frantic as he listened to her trying to catch her breath, the labor of it exacerbated by her panicking. The rush of fear Onyx had caused still bounced around in her like thousands of rubber balls.

“You’re all right, calm down,” Victor said in a strained voice.

She stared up at his face as he quickly looked her over, presumably to make sure there truly was no sign of injury.

His gaze went back to hers as more raindrops began to fall.

That was one of the most terrifying moments she had ever experienced, but she felt better knowing Victor was here.

She knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“Shh,” he said gently as she wheezed again.

“Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing.”

Anne did as he’d said. And after a few tries, her mind finally regained control of her lungs. She took three deep, slow breaths, and then opened her eyes again, feeling far more like herself.

Victor hovered right over her, his hands pressed into the ground on either side of her shoulders.

For a long moment, they stared at each other, and a strange sensation began swirling through her like smoke.

A distant memory sparked of a thunderstorm like this one, of her being on the ground just like now, and Victor being there with her.

Something flashed in his eyes and he swallowed, then sat back to give her space.

“Does anything hurt?” he asked. The rain was now falling steadily, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Anne mentally searched herself. “I don’t know.”

“Do you think you broke anything?”

“No. Help me up.” As she tried to sit forward, he helped push her back up to sitting.

Rain was starting to trickle down her hair. “Where is my hat?” She looked around, frantic. As soon as she’d spotted it some distance away, she jumped up to her feet, but the blood rushed too quickly and she faltered.

A large, strong hand pressed into her middle back, the touch causing her heart to skip a beat.

“I’ll get it.” Victor was quite close and frowning down at her. He must have been rather irritated with her. When he let her go, she was overwhelmed by the strange sensation of cold emptiness.

The hat was a good twenty feet away. Victor grabbed it and returned to give it back to her. With a swallow, she secured it back on her wet hair.

“Which way did Onyx go?” Anne looked around but all she could see was rain and fog. Visibility had decreased significantly.

Horror struck her anew—she had lost Vivian’s horse! Oh, blast, how could she have done something so stupid? “We have to go find him!”

The rain became a downpour, deepening Victor’s frown. He looked her over and then began shrugging out of his coat. “ We are going back home.”

“But—”

“No but s, Anne. There’s thunder. And we are in the middle of a field.

” He moved behind her and draped his jacket over her shoulders.

It felt warm and dry, and she mumbled a thank you , though she felt bad.

He rested his hands on her shoulders for a second, then pulled away.

“We need to get back. We’re going to be soaked to the bone in just minutes, and it’s going to take a good amount of time to return. ”

Anne looked over at Pancake, who shook from head to tail, flinging water every direction. Victor did have a point.

“You’re positive you’re all right?” Victor, his hair now soaked, water dripping down his face, ambled over to Pancake.

Anne followed, clenching the coat around her tightly. The riding skirt was too wet and muddy now and had to be dragged. She must have looked ridiculous. “Yes, I’m fine, just a bit shaken up and a little sore.”

Victor nodded and placed one foot in Pancake’s stirrup, then threw his other leg over the saddle to take his seat. He looked down at Anne and held out his hand.

Anne stared at it and blinked. “We only have one horse now,” she said stupidly.

“Yes, you’re going to have to sit with me.”

“It’s not a sidesaddle.”

“No, it’s not. There isn’t enough room for you to sit sidesaddle.” He shoved his hand forward with impatience.

“I can’t sit astride!”

“ Anne .” Victor wasn’t bothering to hide his ire now. “This is not exactly how I expected to spend my morning, and I would like to get back into warm, dry clothes. I am hazarding a guess you would, too.”

She let out a huff of a breath and then, trying to hide her embarrassment, gathered up her green skirt—thankfully, this habit had trousers underneath—and climbed up to sit directly in front of Victor.

There was absolutely no room between them. Anne tried to move forward a tiny bit, to no avail. Her bottom was right up against his front. Her back pressed up against his chest.

This was the most inappropriate situation in which she had found herself in quite a long time, made worse by the building soreness from falling off Onyx.

And she couldn’t help it. She started laughing. This was absurd!

Victor sighed, and Anne guessed he probably did not find this situation nearly as amusing as she did. “Do you want to hold the reins?”

“Yes,” she choked out as she grabbed the leather reins, gently tapped her heels into Pancake’s side, and Pancake began running through the rain. It wasn’t a full gallop but would get them back much quicker than a trot.

Water pelted Anne’s face and within minutes, any dry spots left on either of them were gone, and her body ached.

She could feel the cold wetness of Victor’s shirt through the jacket he had given her, but behind that, his chest was hard and warm.

It struck her that he’d given his jacket to her without a thought.

He hadn’t even asked; he’d just draped it over her.

She tried telling herself it was merely something a good friend or a gentleman would do. And maybe it was. But something deep within made her seem more unsure about it than she would have expected.

Naturally, she waved that silly thought away. This was Victor, the most gentlemanly person she knew. Of course he would give his jacket up to her.

Pancake began running over rough terrain, causing Anne to bounce around in the saddle a bit. Victor made a pained noise, then his arm wrapped around her middle, pulling her closer and holding her tightly like a vise.

His arm was hot and solid against her softness.

She thanked her lucky stars for the loud wind and rain because she let out a gasp at the unexpected, extremely intimate movement. Victor was holding her. Tightly. Against his front.

Oh, dear, and she could feel everything .

Even his breath as it swept hotly over her neck.

Anne swallowed and tried to keep her concentration on Pancake, but her mind kept trailing off because Victor was not a touchy person.

Sometimes, he would walk arm in arm with her, but he usually didn’t. He didn’t hug, and he only shook hands if he had to. He’d probably pecked her on the cheek three times in their entire friendship.

But right now, he was holding her like a lover would. And he wasn’t letting go, or loosening his grip. In fact, with each bolt of lightning and resounding boom of thunder, Anne would flinch and his hold on her would tighten, as if he were attempting to reassure her.

Her face heated as she jostled in the seat again against him. Victor’s hand, which cupped around her side, twitched.

“Bit of a rough ride,” she said, trying to sound bright, hoping it would lessen the awkwardness.

But Victor didn’t respond.

Now she was curious. She forced herself to look up at him and found his jaw set tight, and redness on his cheekbones just behind and above his beard. He noticed her looking up at him, glanced at her, then quickly brought his eyes back up to face forward.

He cleared his throat. “It’s a rough ride, and there’s no chance I’m letting you fall off again.” His voice was dark and husky as he said this.

For the briefest of moments, her body became confused by that voice, by the way he held her close. Desire began glow warm inside her.

Until she realized what was happening—then it came to a screeching halt.

Victor was only holding her like this so she wouldn’t fall. Again. And his voice sounded like that because he was cold and wet and annoyed.

This was a giant sign that her openness to a seaside romance this summer was a good idea. Clearly, she had been without a gentleman’s attention for far too long. For a minute there, she’d thought Victor had been attracted to her. What a ridiculous thought!

Soon the stables were in sight and she felt Victor’s body relaxing. Which made her feel a bit wretched.

Pancake went into the stables and Victor held Anne until Pancake came to a complete stop. As she slid off the animal, she realized how rubbery her legs felt.

Victor followed down and placed a hand on her back again.

A pleasant feeling began to buzz throughout her body. Maybe she had hit her head and didn’t realize it.

One of the stablehands appeared and Anne frantically told him what had happened with Onyx.

The man was quite concerned for Anne’s wellbeing and when he expressed his worry over her, she swore she could feel darkness clouding the air around Victor.

But when she looked in that direction, Victor held a level face, watching the gap-toothed stablehand, unblinking. As if he hardly noticed the man at all.