Page 22 of Scandalous Nights With the Earl

Her fingers tightened on the reins and she felt overcome. At the unfairness of everything, at the futility, at the sheer impossible sadness of being lost somehow to the sort of life she had wanted.

Her steed was restless beneath her, whickering under restraint, hooves busy on the hard ground.

She saw the Earl noticing too and his next words were exactly what she needed.

‘Ride with me to that line of trees over there.’

He pointed to a belt of green oaks a good half-mile on and, digging her heels into the mare’s flanks, Willa was away as fast as a side-saddle would allow her. Even though her steed was not the finest, she enjoyed the ride, the rush of breath making her forget any gloominess, so that there seemed to be only them riding for the oaks, only green trees, blue sky and life.

She reached the trees a moment after he did and saw that he’d barely caught a sweat. Still, her mood had lightened and she was grateful for it.

‘Who taught you to ride?’ His words were soft.

‘Mr Henry Matthers. He was a groom at Belton and he’d been a scout in the Peninsular War, riding around armies and across the terrain.’

‘He sounds a very useful sort of fellow.’

‘And a great talker. He told me the tales of his endeavours for years and even to this day I can recite many of the generals’ names and the battles that they fought.’

‘What happened to him?’

‘Oh, Lionel dismissed him. He was sick of my admiration for Mr Matthers, I think.’

Reining in his stallion, Phillip Moreland picked his way carefully across to her, the elegant lines of his horse on full display as he dismounted, helping her to do the same. She moved back from him as soon as her feet were on the ground, a rush of warmth making her cheeks glow.

‘Your horse is clearly a fine ride, my lord.’

‘Indeed, though he is not mine. I have a healthy stable at Elmsworth but I have not brought any of the animals from it down with me to London.’

‘Because you do not plan to stay long?’

‘I don’t. I have always enjoyed the country more than the city but there is some business here that I need to attend to.’

Phillip took a breath and tried to relax but today he felt edgy. It was partly because Wilhelmina St Claire looked so very lovely, but it was also a result of not quite knowing what he wanted from this meeting.

‘Which stable do you use for your horses in London, Mrs St Claire?’

‘Oh, none, my lord, for I no longer have any of the horses I kept at Belton. I only hire horses here.’

‘What happened to them?’

‘Lionel’s cousin took them. I think he felt he should have received more from the estate but Lionel had never stipulated it and…’

‘He felt maligned?’

‘He was a man who thought women were less than worthy of any inheritance. Lionel and he had been close once, so…’ She shrugged.

‘If an estate is not entailed it means it may be distributed in any way the owner requests. There can be no fighting over the letter of the law.’

‘Well, that was the trouble really. Mr Simon St Claire thought there was a will other than the one the lawyer produced, an updated will, and a document that allowed him a greater share of everything.’

‘So he was disappointed.’

‘And angry. When he came to Belton Park and took the horses and quite a number of the family heirlooms in the house I felt powerless to stop him.’

‘Damn.’

‘He has never contacted me since, though, which is a relief.’