Serena (3 page)

Serena’s face lit up. “Oh yes, I would love that above all things.”

“A puppy giving a tour of puppies …” Warren said mean-spiritedly.

Serena turned a wicked eye on him, and he threw his hands up. “I beg your pardon, Serena, but … he should be at school, not dawdling about here hanging on your every word.”

“You are a bleater and a cad!” Freddy said, somewhat red-faced, and Serena nearly choked again as she tried to hold back her giggles.

She composed herself and said as severely as she could muster, “Faith, that is quite enough. I shan’t have this in my sitting room.” She pulled a face at both of them and got to her feet. “As far as I am concerned, you can take it outdoors, gentlemen. I am going up to have a visit with my uncle. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your day.” She turned and left them to one another, but she listened as she walked away.

“Tomorrow then … promptly at eight?” Freddy called after her and was rewarded with a smile, to which he said. “She is magnificent.”

“Aye, so she is, and she will never be yours, gapeseed!”

~ Four ~

DANIEL PENDLETON RAPPED at the ceiling of his coach and called his driver to a halt. He had been traveling in the carriage for nearly three hours during a light rain and was heartily sick of the confinement.

As the rain had at last withered into nothing more than a bit of damp, he meant to saddle Dragon, the dark roan gelding tethered at the back of his equipage, and ride for a bit.

The coach slowed to a halt, and he jumped out and stretched his limbs. He undid the saddle from the boot and with its blanket laid it on his horse’s back before slipping the bit into Dragon’s mouth and soothing him. “It won’t be much longer now, Dragon … soon you’ll have a nice straw bed, hay and grain, and a quiet night, but for now … shall we?”

Dragon nodded his head vigorously as his lordship donned his dark beaver hat jauntily over his black silken locks and pulled his two-tiered riding cloak around his shoulders. A moment later he put his foot in the stirrup, swung himself into the saddle, and gathered his reins into his gloved hands.

“There, that is better. I fancy you would like to stretch out your limbs as well, eh, Dragon?”

His horse pranced, and his lordship smiled to himself. He knew that following the coach at a sedate pace was, for his spirited animal, a tedious exercise. Lord Pendleton had noted Dragon’s skittishness when he’d had his driver stop to rest and water the horses earlier.

Damn
, he was heartily sick of traveling. This was his second day on the road, and although he knew they were drawing very close to the New Forest, he was anxious to reach the inn and get his hands on Freddy.

He had passed some lovely country, and he knew from his friend Jasper that the New Forest was famous for some exciting fox hunting. He had heard it was a challenge because of the many bogs one had to avoid.

However, that was neither here nor there, he reminded himself. His job was to get Freddy back to school. He couldn’t imagine what had come over the boy. Freddy loved Oxford, the friendships he had made at school … even the education he had been receiving.

In fact, his lordship was a bit worried. The lad must truly be infatuated if he meant to give it all up for a woman.

He sighed, for before this, Freddy had never been in the petticoat line. In fact, his nephew’s escapades had consisted of pranks and kick-ups. It had only been last Christmas that Freddy had managed to attach himself to the wrong set. They had taken the boy to the worst gaming hells, but that had been easily squashed.

Freddy was not much of a gamester and had very willingly been extricated from this set by his uncle Danny. His lordship smiled to himself. His sister had hailed him a hero, but in truth he had been lucky Freddy had so readily acquiesced and returned to school. He wasn’t so sure he would enjoy the same luck this time around.

He had to hope that Freddy was merely infatuated. His lordship frowned over this concern. He had a bad feeling that Freddy had been struck hard because in the past Cupid had always missed his mark when he aimed for Freddy. Yet here he was writing to his mother that he had met the woman of his dreams and meant to marry her. He was only nineteen, and it would not do!

This Moorely woman must have it in mind to be the next Lady Radburn. Why else would she allow Freddy to continue to dangle after her? Could she have her heart in it? He hoped not, for he did not wish to see any woman hurt because of Freddy’s foolishness.

His nephew was too young to know his own mind and certainly too young for marriage, but if Freddy had engaged the heart of the lady in question, it would be a damnable fix.

* * *

True to his word, Freddy had called on Serena promptly at eight o’clock. “Egad, Serena … you take a man’s breath away,” he exclaimed with a hand to his heart. “That shade of dark green so suits you and your gold hair.”

“Thank you, Freddy,” she said with a light laugh, “but it is just an old riding ensemble.” She pulled at the ivory lace around her neck, adjusted her black top hat firmly on her curls, and pulled on her gloves.

A few moments later saw them heading down the road at an easy pace, both laughing as Freddy told her an anecdote involving a performing bear, his friends, and himself. He eyed her as she laughed and sighed happily. “A man could want for no more than to be in your company … so beautiful, with your skirts laid out all around your chestnut mare … you make quite a picture.”

She gave him a rueful smile. “I would much rather be in britches and riding astride. A lady’s saddle is so hampering. You should try sitting in one, Freddy, so that you would know what I mean.”

He scoffed, “I think not!” He laughed but then frowned. “You know, I never really thought about it. M’mother is always complaining about the ladies’ saddle and prefers to drive because of it. She says she never feels safe in the saddle. Why don’t ladies just ride astride if so many of you dislike the side saddle?”

“Because
men
, like yourself, think we present a ‘charming’ picture with our skirts spread out around our horse, sedately walking said horses along …” She laughed. “Also, to be fair, I suppose tradition puts us in sidesaddles, which is fine for riding in a park or some other quiet sort of thing. When I ride to hounds, I don’t bother with a ladies’ saddle, for I ride ‘neck or nothing’, and that requires a firm grip with both legs around one’s horse.”

“I should say so. Well, I would never expect you to use a sidesaddle if you preferred not. I can tell you that,” he said with conviction. “I should always want you to be exactly who you are.”

“Oh, Freddy, you are sweet, but you know … you should be at school.”

“How about a bit of a race to the Old Well?” he said, completely ignoring her remark. “I shall give you a head start since you are hampered by your sidesaddle.”

“I don’t need a head start, young man, no matter what saddle I am sitting!” she countered.

He came up alongside her and said, “Shall we make it interesting then?”

“Ah, a wager?” she answered, giving him an arched look.

“Your dark eyes bewitch me,” he answered.

“The wager, Freddy?” she returned warningly. “Right, what shall it be, my handsome puppy?”

“Yes. I,” he said, sitting tall in his saddle, “am not a puppy, but a man, as you shall soon learn.”

She couldn’t help the hearty laugh that burst out of her. He looked so put out. “Yes, my Lord Radburn. How remiss of me to not take notice. Now, what is the wager?”

“If you lose,
you marry me
,” he teased.

“No, puppy lord,” she responded, giving him an eye and a tease. “If you lose,
you return to school
.”

“No and never. That would leave Warren free to bother you, and I don’t mean to do that.”

“Freddy …” Serena sighed. “I am well able to fend off any and all … including your attentions, my dear, dear boy.” She hoped she sounded sisterly.

His color heightened. He reached over and touched her forearm. “I swear … three years between us is nothing. I have all the education I need. I won’t leave you to the wolves, and those are not the words of a puppy, but of a man.”

She couldn’t hurt him outright, but she had to do something. She sighed and said, “Never mind all this now. The well is just ahead, and since we cannot agree on a wager, there shall be no racing, but I daresay we should hurry along as Sir Newton waits for no one when it is time to take the hounds for their run.”

They found this to be quite the case, as they arrived to find Sir Newton already leading his hounds away from the kennel.

They waved and hurried their horses along to join the elderly man. They watched with great interest as he trained his hounds to the sound of his horn.

He called his pack in to him, but one, Warrior, stood at the edge of the woods, quite torn because he had obviously picked up on the scent of a fox. He raised his head and sang out his song, encouraging his master and fellow hounds to follow in his wake as he took off.

Two hounds immediately joined him, making music of their own, and then all havoc broke loose.

This was training only—a time for exercise, not hunting. The hounds had been relaxing all summer, though, and were eager to give chase. The morning was crisp and the hunt something they enjoyed, so when Warrior gave the call, they heard nothing else.

“And he’s supposed to be the lead hound, ha.” Sir Newton muttered. “Warrior! Damn it, you know better.”

Frantically he called to the two gentlemen serving as ‘whips’, and they attempted to recall their hounds with voice commands and the use of their horns.

The hounds, however, were on a hot scent. At that moment it was all they knew, and they were off doing what they had been bred and trained to do—track fresh scent.

Freddy exchanged a look with Serena, and they both burst out laughing. “Well then, ’tis tally ho and we’re off!”

“Dreadful Freddy, no one was prepared for this, and everyone looks quite silly, running about trying to call in the hounds,” she said, shaking her head.

Freddy smiled and said, “Come on, I know you want to follow, so let’s see if you can keep up!” He grinned widely as she followed him into the thick of the woods.

Serena knew it would be slow going, as this particular part of the forest was thick with low branches and undergrowth, but she knew it well. She laughed. “Keep up? Ha, watch me pass you,” she answered. “Keep up indeed! I have been riding to hounds before you could twaddle!”

It was some ten minutes later, after the pack ran full cry and they had spanned field after field, jumped creeks, avoided bogs, and jumped line fences, that Sir Newton and the whips were finally able to bring their hounds in.

Freddy slowed his horse to a trot. He had lost his top hat, and his windswept dark blond waves framed his pleasant face, making him look more youthful than ever, Serena thought. She too had lost her hat and looked about with a grimace. “Oh drat, where can it have gone to?”

Her long blonde hair had been pulled into cascading curls, but it was no longer tied with its ribbon, which with her hat was gone. Her hair hung loosely and was also quite windswept as it fell around her face and shoulders. Freddy looked at her and opened his mouth to speak.

When nothing came out of his mouth Serena looked at him worriedly. “Freddy … what is it?”

“You are … a …
goddess!”

This set her off, and she roared with laughter. “Would that I were! I could flip my finger, and my lost hat would magically appear.”

Sir Newton called to them to tell them a hound was missing. “Spread out … must find the dear fellow.”

Serena moved away from Freddy as they went off calling for the hound. Soon the good boy came panting happily up to her horse, who touched noses with the speckled hound.

A few moments later, Sir Newton invited them to return to the kennels with them. Once there, and after she’d walked her horse, Serena took to fussing over the new puppy. Patting its belly as it rolled over, she giggled and then proceeded to give a great deal of affection to all the hounds.

Sir Newton laughed and said, “Your uncle is a lucky man, Serena. I tell him that all the time. You are a treasure. Come up to the house … and we’ll take tea.”

She, however, declined, exclaiming over her lost hat and chores she still had to attend to. After a few more minutes, she and Freddy were once again riding out.

Serena had fished in her saddle bag for another ribbon and was managing to tie her hair back once more when Freddy said, “Serena, may I escort you to town … if that is where you are going?”

“Freddy, don’t you have anything you would rather do than dance attendance on me?”

“There is nothing ever I would rather do than be with you,” he answered softly.

“Well then, let’s get it over with as I must get home. Hmm … I know a shortcut from here,” she said, thinking perhaps his infatuation would wear off if she allowed him to interact with her while she conducted mundane daily activities.

Surely his ardor would begin to pall after he had had a surfeit of her company, for she was certain his was but a fancy, a passing fancy without substance.

They hadn’t gone far and had nearly reached the main pike when Serena’s horse surprised her by spooking to the left.

She stopped and patted her mare’s lovely neck, saying, “There, there, Brandy, what is it, girl?”

She watched her horse’s ears flick nervously, but she could not see what it was that had disturbed Brandy. She turned to Freddy and put up a finger, for suddenly she felt a shiver of concern.

She could hear nothing untoward and finally shrugged, though she continued to eye the neighboring woods. Her mare paced nervously in place, her ears twitching and her body seriously jittery between Serena’s legs, even after she moved her along. Serena told Freddy, “Odd. Brandy rarely spooks … but she is still quite upset about something.”

“This path takes us near Buckler’s Hard, doesn’t it, Serena?” Freddy asked thoughtfully.

“Indeed. My, but you are getting to know your surroundings very well,” she said with a smile and then again stopped her horse. A sound assailed her ears, and something about it made her uneasy. “What was that? Did you hear it Freddy?”