Page 18 of Empowered By the Earl (Second Sons of London 3)

“And it is all about keeping my Addie happy,” proclaimed Ev, who took his wife’s hand and laced his fingers through hers.

“Then if you are extending your stay, Miss Goulding, it is imperative that you are comfortable in the saddle,” Owen stressed. “It is the easiest way to get about in the country.”

They finished their meal and he said, “I see that you already came to breakfast in your riding habit. Shall we go straight to the stables?”

“Of course, my lord.”

They bid Ev and Adalyn goodbye and struck out for the stables. He offered her his arm but she waved him off.

“I asked for a horse to be saddled for you when I arrived. The groom knows it has been some time since you have ridden. I specified a gentle mount.”

“That was thoughtful of you, my lord.”

He stopped in his tracks. “I’d like it if you would call me Owen. It seems silly of you to be so formal, especially since we will see each other frequently during your stay at Cliffside.”

“I would prefer to maintain that formality, my lord. I assume you will be attending the house party Adalyn is planning. It would not be appropriate for me to address you informally with all the guests present.”

“You could call me Owen until the house party,” he suggested.

She appraised him coolly. “I don’t think so, my lord.”

Miss Goulding continued on and Owen hurried to catch up to her.

“You don’t have to be so prickly,” he told her.

Her level gaze met his. “You haven’t the faintest idea what prickly is, my lord. Don’t tempt me to behave that way toward you else you would be stung.”

She started up again. He wondered exactly just how prickly this woman could be and decided it was one of the reasons she had yet to wed.

“Are you always so hardheaded, Miss Goulding?” he asked.

“No. My cousins would say I am even-tempered. Mature for my years. Kind to a fault. I don’t think of myself as stubborn at all, my lord,” she said airily.

He grasped her elbow and felt the racing of electricity at the contact. Swallowing, he said, “Why mature?”

Her lips twitched in amusement. “Besides the fact that I am already on the shelf?”

He fought the urge to kiss her as he forced his eyes from those lips to her eyes. “A woman on the shelf is usually there by her own making.”

Anger sparked in her sapphire eyes. “You are blaming the woman because she cannot find a husband? Why not the myriad of bachelors who are rakes—or worse—and pay not the slightest attention to a woman of substance?”

Jerking away, she stormed toward the stables.

She had been hurt. By a rake.

Or worse.

Sympathy filled Owen. Miss Goulding seemed to be a kind person. Except to him. He supposed because she sorted people into categories and he had fallen into the one she labelledrake.

It was true. He loved the company of women and worked his way through them at an alarming rate, even when at war. He also planned to move through the women of theton, enjoying himself for several years before settling into marriage. But it bothered him that she knew what he was. That she cared so little to get to know him, despite his friendship with Ev and Adalyn. That she was judging him—and finding him lacking.

He caught up to her as she reached the stables and signaled the groom to bring their horses.

“Miss Goulding, I am sorry you took offense at my remark. I did not mean to indicate that you... well, that you... did not have a husband because of your age.”

“Four and twenty is not so old in my book,” she replied. “But Polite Society finds it ancient for a woman who has yet to wed. Frankly, I have enjoyed a large degree of independence, my lord, by not being wed. I act as my father’s hostess. I attend several meetings he holds at our house with various members of the War Department and take notes for him and others. I have spent the last several years doing so and find those mature men to be far more interesting than the bachelors that attendtonevents.”

She sniffed. “Try holding a conversation with one of them. They think women can talk about nothing but the weather and bonnets. I tried this Season, I truly did. It was the first that I went to almost every event held. The men introduced to me were less interesting than that tree stump over there. They didn’t care a whit about talking of anything of consequence.”

---