The Wedding Affair by Leigh Michaels

Author:Leigh Michaels
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: SourceBooks, Inc.
Published: 2011-09-01T05:00:00+00:00

Ten

The riders who dismounted that afternoon in the stable yard at Halstead were much quieter then they’d been on the outbound trip in the morning, and Simon was relieved when most of them simply turned their horses over to the grooms and straggled off toward the house for refreshments and a rest.

He led his own gelding into the stables and reached for a currycomb, glad to have an excuse to stay away from the company for a while.

In a nearby stall, Andrew Carlisle put a final polish on the gleaming coat of his own horse and grinned at Simon. “I never knew you to be so fond of currying your own mount before, my friend.”

“The grooms have their hands full. You got back safely with the carriage?”

“Surely you didn’t doubt it, with the very efficient Kate Blakely managing the trip. We must have been half an hour ahead of you. Miss Emily will be safely deposited in her bed by now with the doctor in attendance.” Andrew patted his horse’s neck and moved over to help Simon. “Did Lady Daphne complain all the way back about the pall the accident threw over her party?”

“Most of it,” Simon admitted.

Except, of course, when he’d tried to glare his sister into silence—for instead of taking the hint to watch her tongue, she had accused him of being every bit as irritated with Miss Emily as she was. Since Kate Blakely and Andrew Carlisle had been sent off with the carriage, Daphne had pointed out, Simon himself was required to accompany the riders all the way back to Halstead. Which meant, Daphne finished triumphantly, he could not make some excuse to stay in the village with Olivia Reyne.

Since he’d been hoping to do exactly that, Simon was particularly annoyed that Daphne had hit the nail precisely on its proverbial head. He hadn’t bothered to deny his plans because a protest would only have given her more reason for suspicion. Instead, he’d contented himself with staying on the opposite side of the group from his sister and hurrying the riders along as best he could, while he daydreamed about what he’d wanted to be doing instead.

Taking Olivia out to her garden for tea—along with more creative forms of refreshment.

But a cottage garden in Steadham village in the middle of the afternoon was hardly a private enough spot for the sort of tryst Simon had in mind. To be honest, it had barely been secluded enough at midnight, considering the enthusiastic response of his lady.

Definitely his attention would be better spent in concocting a smoother scheme for their next rendezvous. Doing his planning in private might be wise, too, since even thinking about making love to Olivia again was enough to stir his blood.

“Chadwick arrived this afternoon,” Andrew said. “Warren and Ponsonby should be in the village by evening, and the rest of the group are on their way. You did say you’d hired the entire inn to house your friends until the wedding? You’ll need

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.