She couldn’t breathe, so she didn’t try to respond, but instead minded her steps, very sure that her sudden dizziness would trip her up.
~ Seventeen ~
Nanny was occupied with the problem of situating herself. She patted the leather squabs of the fashionable barouche and found just the spot she wanted, snuggled into it, and sighed heavily. She wasn’t used to long carriage rides, and traveling to London was bound to be long and tedious, Kitty thought, as she put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “There, there, Nanny. The earl told me we should be stopping as much as need be. There is no rush, after all.”
It didn’t take long for Nanny to doze off, and Kitty smiled and then jumped out of her seat when the woman snorted loudly in her sleep. She stuffed a pillow behind the woman’s neck and then contemplated the passing scenery. She had never been out of the New Forest. This was all new and exciting.
It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, and they had been on the road for nearly two hours. She hadn’t minded the early rising and found herself excited about the new prospect of traveling. Had only two days passed since their little dinner party?
Time seemed to have just whizzed by with all the things she had had to do. The thing that worried her was doing without her two dearest friends. She would miss Harry and her dearest Henrietta and wasn’t sure how she would go on without them.
When the carriage had come to fetch Henrietta home that evening, she had clung to her, taking a promise that Ree must at least visit her in London.
Another twenty minutes passed, and Kitty needed to stretch her legs and ride. Her horse was at the boot of the fine barouche, and if she could catch the attention of the driver, Max, she would have him stop so that she could throw a saddle on her mare and just jog along in the crisp fresh air.
She had donned her new riding habit in anticipation of this. She pinned her matching top hat at the top of her golden mass of curls and was getting ready to call to the driver when she felt the coach slow to a halt.
She scrambled unceremoniously out of the carriage while Nanny slept on and looked up at the young driver to ask, “Is everything all right, Max? Is your leg giving you trouble?”
He smiled shyly at her and said, “Ah … m’leg? No. Mrs. Diddles did it up right and tight last evening, aye, that she did.” He shook his head and added, “It be old Star, miss. Oi’m thinking he is about to lose a shoe. It has the sound of it. Thought Oi’d jest have a look see.”
“Right then, while you do that, I’ll saddle my mare.”
“Oh, but Oi can so that for ye, miss,” Max offered immediately.
“No, need … the saddle is handy enough and at my height … ah yes,” she said as she undid its tethers and lifted it off the boot.
He rushed at her and took it from her, saying in an aside, “Not sure his lordship will be happy with me letting ye ride off on yer own. This is a pike, aye, that it is, miss.”
“Oh, I’ll just veer off onto the first bridle path for a bit, stretch my legs, and bring her right back. After all, my poor mare has been jogging along now for more than two hours. I am very certain she will soon need a respite and some water.”
“Aye, they all will. His lordship said he was going up ahead to secure a dining room for ye and Mrs. Diddles, and we’ll see to the horses then.”
“Wonderful. You can just bring the coach along then, for I am sure I shall catch up to him,” Kitty said brightly.
r /> “Er … aye, but we don’t know how far ahead he is,” Max said, frowning and obviously concerned.
“I’ll find him,” Kit said merrily.
He scratched his stubbled chin. “Oi suppose …?”
Kitty trotted her horse sedately, though she dearly wanted to run. She wouldn’t, couldn’t do that to her mare, though, who had a long day ahead of her. She patted her horse’s supple neck and wondered at Max, who she had noticed held the earl in great affection. She was learning more and more about the earl, it seemed, every minute of every single day.
And there was something else, something troubling her beyond her understanding. She knew she was more than a little attracted to him. She had to fight the fact that her daydreams were all of him taking her with wild abandon into his arms. Oh, she had to get that under control, or she would find her heart undone.
* * *
The earl had been riding at an easy pace. He had quite made up his mind before they set off that he would spend as little time in the barouche as he could. Sitting across from Kitty, with her infectious laughter and her warm, absolutely brilliant smile, was not something he needed to do.
He was drawn to her not just as a man was drawn to a woman; he was drawn to the person he was learning to know. She was a refreshing breath of air. She was full of new and delightful opinions about nearly everything, and a great deal of what she said made such good common sense.
Yes, he liked who she was, which complicated everything … because his manhood was at attention in her company. His fingers itched to touch her … fondle those full, luscious breasts … take her butt into his grip and pull her in close for a kiss so he could taste her tongue.
At that moment he found himself salivating at the thought … and his body tensed with need. What the hell was he going to do? She wasn’t an experienced widow or an unhappy wife. She was but a maid. He was in hell.
This was all impossible. His job was to keep her safe from rogues like himself, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Thus, though he should be in the coach with Nanny and Kitty, perfectly safe with Nanny there to oversee them, he found the notion of being so near to her and not being able to take her into his arms pure torture.
He would gain control over this. He simply had no choice.