Velvet Embrace

When Caroline merely pouted, Brie regarded her with exasperation. "For Heaven's sake, will you quit feeling sorry for yourself? You only have to stay here for a few weeks. Soon you'll be back in London and everyone will have forgotten all about the scandal. I'll take you home myself. We'll go to the theater, if you like, and I hear there is a new opera—"

"But what do I do in the meantime? It is so boring here."

"Perhaps we could do some shopping in the village. The milliner in Oakham is quite talented. And Julian has invited us to join him for tea at the inn this afternoon."

Caroline brightened perceptively, but then her face fell again. "I don't think Julian likes me. He was beastly to me the whole time we were stuck in that ghastly inn. You would have thought I caused all that snow. It wasn't my fault his coach lost a wheel or that my maid contracted a cough and had to be treated as an invalid."

"Of course not," Brie soothed. "I'm sure Julian doesn't blame you for that unfortunate storm. Indeed, it rather surprises me that he took his ill humor out on you. Julian is always the perfect gentleman."

"Well, he was forever reading me a scold." Caroline paused in her denunciation in order to glance speculatively at Brie. "He is handsome, isn't he?"

"Julian?" she asked, wary of the question. "Yes, I suppose he is."

"Mama thinks you should have married him."

"Your mother and I disagree quite often, Caroline. Julian and I are good friends, but we argue like siblings. I think even he is beginning to realize how lucky he is not to be saddled with me for a wife. I would drive him to distraction in the space of a month."

"Surely not. You aren't that bad, Brie."

"Why, thank you," she said wryly. "Well, would you like to comer

"Yes. But must we ride? I'm not very fond of horses, you know. Couldn't we take the gig?"

Brie repressed her smile. "Of course, if you wish. But that may interfere with Katherine's plans. She usually uses the gig in the afternoons to visit our tenants. And you will disappoint John Simms. He has been saving Fanny especially for you."

Caroline sighed in resignation. "All right, I'll try. But I don't promise to like it. Every horse I try to ride either bites me or tries to throw me."

"I don't think you'll have any trouble with Fanny. Besides, even good riders fall now and then. I did myself when I was schooling one of Julian's horses the other day."

"Oh, were you hurt?" Caroline said in dismay.

Brie's eyes kindled as she remembered that incident in the meadow. "Only bruised and shaken a bit," she replied. Then she banished the unpleasant memory and smiled at her cousin. "Perhaps you will even want to hunt next week. Squire Umstead is allowing novices to join us on Monday and John has volunteered to ride with you so you wouldn't have to keep up with the others."

"I suppose I could," Caroline said doubtfully. "Will Julian be there?"

Brie laughed. "Julian miss a chance to hunt? He would far rather break a leg."

They discussed the upcoming hunt for the remainder of the meal, then Brie rose from the table. "I promised Katherine I would try on the new dresses she has been making for my stay in London," she said. "If you like, you may watch her stick me with pins."

Caroline nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, please. I always love to see your gowns, they are so beautiful. Does Katherine make them all?"

"Nearly all. She doesn't trust me to stay in fashion. She says that were I left to my own devices, I would wear breeches all the time. Actually, though, Katherine enjoys sewing now that she doesn't have to earn her living at it. She was a seamstress before she became a companion."

"How romantic!"

"Good heavens, whatever makes you think that straining one's eyes in poor light for fourteen hours a day with raw, bleeding fingers could possibly be romantic?"

"I never thought of that."

"No, I don't suppose you did," Brie murmured as a smile touched her lips. Her cousin was proving to be more diverting than she had expected.

After the fitting, Brie and Caroline changed into riding habits and warm cloaks, then made their way to the stables. John spent some time instructing Caroline on how to handle the small gray mare he had chosen for her, but shortly the two cousins were cantering along the lane to the village, a groom trailing unobtrusively behind.

Brie critically observed her cousin at first, but she soon relaxed. Caroline was in no danger of falling off, and while she didn't seem particularly delighted to be riding, at least she was no longer complaining.

Brie's own mount, another gray, was more spirited and required more attention, particularly once they reached the village of Oakham. They made their way slowly along the cobbled streets, avoiding the square where crowds of people, attracted by market day, shopped and mingled and exchanged gossip.

They stopped first to buy some lace of a particular shade for Katherine, before going on to the milliner's. Caroline exclaimed joyfully over the profusion of bonnets on display in the shop and spent her money freely, and by the time they left the shop, she was all smiles. She was chattering to Brie about her new bonnets, not minding where she was going, when she literally ran into the gangling young dandy who happened to be passing.