Page 20 of From Rakes to Riches

Guy sped his horse a few steps to pull beside hers. Again, Gemma noted how effortlessly Guy rode. His right knee came very close to her habit’s skirt, but she never feared the horses would collide.

As he continued beside her, Gemma cast about for something witty to say, then realized after a few moments that the silence between them was comfortable. Companionable.

She glanced at Guy and found him studying her, a smile hovering about his mouth.

“Lord Guy?”

He gave a small start as though unaware he’d been staring at her. “Forgive me, my dear. I was admiring your fetching hat. Very different from your aunt’s interesting millinery.”

Gemma laughed. “Aunt Margot loves her turbans. It was a joke between her and her husband, Mr. Spencer, to see how absurd she could concoct them before she dared not wear them out of the house. She keeps them now to honor his memory.”

“That is charmingly romantic,” Guy said in surprise. “I will be more respectful of them in future.”

They’d fallen behind the other riders, who were trotting swiftly away, rising and falling in their saddles, bobbing like ducklings on a pond.

Guy seemed in no hurry to catch up to them, content to walk along with Gemma, grasses swishing past their horses’ hooves.

“Aunt Margot is a blessing,” Gemma said, her heart warming. “A very kind woman.”

“Who does not let kindness stand in the way of her opinions.” Guy flashed a grin. “I like her.”

“She has been good to me.”

“The entire Broadbent family has embraced you, it seems.”

“That is true.” Gemma patted Rose’s neck. “I was happy when married to Mr. Broadbent, as short a time as it turned out to be.”

Guy’s smile vanished. “Forgive me. I did not mean to be flippant about a tragedy. I meant that the family absorbed you and did not send you away once you were again alone.”

“Yes, I was quite lucky.” Aunt Margot and Sonia had embraced her again after her disastrous marriage to Rupert. “My stepson is kind too, in his own way. Tristan enjoys complaining, but he has a good heart.”

“I am pleased to hear it. I know Tristan from my club. Not as dour as he makes out. He gets along well with my great-uncle, who is another false curmudgeon.”

“Sonia is well looked after.”There.Gemma had introduced Sonia into the conversation without it sounding awkward.

“Indeed, she is. She is fortunate to have a great-aunt and a stepmother guarding her, but not so closely as to break her spirit.” Guy’s approving gaze was flattering.

“She is a charming girl.” Gemma could say this without feigning praise. “Very accomplished. When I was a debutante, I rather let myself be pushed this way and that. Not because I thought it my duty, but because I was so green I feared to misstep. And also because I found the world fascinating. So many interesting people to meet, interesting things to see. I thought as a matron I’d have still more opportunity for life, so I accepted my parents’ wish for me to marry Mr. Pitts. I was quite pleased to be a wife.”

She’d been more stifled than she’d realized she would be, but that had mostly been because of Hugh’s ill health. Widowhood had bewildered her at first, but she’d then realized what freedom it gave her. She no longer had the constraints of a debutante, nor was derided as a spinster, nor was restricted by a husband.

And why did she babble about her first marriage to Guy? She wanted him to understand her, she supposed, but it had nothing to do with Sonia.

“Alas, I have a different view of marriage from you.” Guy’s mouth turned down in mock sorrow. “Though perhaps that is not a diplomatic thing to say to a lady.”

“Why not? You should live your life as you choose.” Gemma stated this firmly. “Your unmarried state has done you no harm. Though a gentleman enjoys being single more than a lady, it is true.”

Guy studied the remote distance. “Being an unmarried gent is not the happy condition all take it to be, unfortunately. For instance, mamas corner me in ballrooms with hopes I will suddenly succumb to their daughters’ charms, such as Lady Wilding did at the ball the other night. My married friends leave off inviting me to their homes, believing I will find their everyday lives monotonous. I fear I will end up sitting in the same chair in a darkened room at a tedious club, day after day, reading the racing news and drinking port the rest of my life.” A shadow flickered in his eyes, or perhaps it was a cloud passing overhead.

Gemma flashed a brief smile “That does sound dire. I suppose you had better marry to avoid such a fate and garner invitations to dine with your friends. I will point out immediately that Sonia is very accomplished and poised to wed.”

“Sonia?” Guy stared at Gemma in bafflement, any glimpse into his true self gone. “I mean, Miss Broadbent. Why on earth would you try to push your poor stepdaughter into marriage withme?”

“Well, she …” Gemma groped for words. She ought to have ignored Aunt Margot’s needling about Guy, but it was too late now. “Sonia speaks highly of you,” she tried. “She might be forming a tendresse for you.”

Guy’s bafflement grew to astonishment. “A tendresse? I hardly think so. When I visited last week, she never looked at me, no matter how flowingly and earnestly I played the pianoforte.”

“No?” Gemma faltered, heat rising as she remembered the quick, intimate brushes of their arms and thighs as they’d performed the duets. “I thought Sonia quite taken with you.”

---