73. A Tangled Web by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M-Y Books
Published: 2013-09-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

As Carola came downstairs for breakfast, she felt shy.

She was wondering how the Marquis would express the affection he had talked to her about last night.

And if he remembered that he had kissed her.

She told herself firmly it was just an expression of gratitude because she was being helpful.

At the same time it seemed a very intimate thing to do and just to think about it made her blush.

She was wearing her riding habit ready to challenge Mary-Lou as they had arranged.

All she had to put on after breakfast was the top hat that her mother had worn when hunting. She knew that her habit, although it was old, was well cut.

She had been careful in tying the starched stock round her neck so that it looked neat and tidy and however much exertion she expended on horseback it would not come undone.

Her father had always said that if there was one thing he really disliked, it was women who had untidy hair when riding.

When she rode with him she had always been particularly careful and her red hair was neatly pinned so that not a single curl escaped.

She opened the dining room door and to her relief the Marquis was not there, nor was the Duke.

The Earl and Lord Durrel were each reading a newspaper as they ate their breakfast and Alton Westwood was also missing.

The two men rose as she entered and smiled at her.

“Good morning!” they both said, and the Earl added,

“I see you are ready for the fray.”

“I am afraid,” Carola replied, “considering how much Miss Westwood has ridden on her father’s ranch in Texas, I shall be ignominiously beaten!”

The two men sat down again and Carola walked to the sideboard to help herself from a long array of dishes.

She thought that even an American would be impressed with the varied assortment of food provided for breakfast, as she chose scrambled eggs and then sat down at the table.

Her mother had told her what was correct in big houses and, although there were many servants to wait at other meals, breakfast was always left for the guests to help themselves.

Her father had added that the very last thing anybody wanted was for people to chatter early in the morning.

Carola therefore did not speak.

She ate her eggs, and spread a piece of toast with Jersey butter, which came from one of the Marquis’s farms and then took a spoonful of comb honey, which she suspected came from the village.

A great number of the villagers in this part of the country kept beehives and her mother had always claimed that it was the reason why they were all so healthy.

Carola was just finishing her second piece of toast when the Marquis came into the room with Alton Westwood.

“Good morning, everybody!” he called out. “We are late, because we have had the most exciting ride and my American guest, believe it or not, approves of my horses!”

Alton Westwood laughed.

“How could I do anything else?” he asked, spreading out his hands.

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