She knew it was true. After all, they had already had this conversation many times. And sure enough, he smiled at her.
“All right,” he relented. “So, you bought them for the pair of us. Did you want to go riding together?”
“I wouldn’t oppose the idea.”
He nodded. “I’ll have the stable hands get them ready to go out,” he said. “It won’t take too long, now that we have a pair of them.”
Sure enough, the horses were saddled and ready to go within minutes.
“Where do we ride?” Lydia asked, once she had been helped up onto the back of one of them.
“Around the grounds, for now,” Edward said. “Are you adept on horseback?”
“Not as much as I’d like to be. My parents didn’t like me to ride,” she explained. “They thought it wasn’t a suitable pastime for a young lady.”
“Well, that’s overstating things a bit, isn’t it? There are plenty of ladies who ride, after all, and plenty of gentlemen who enjoy ridingwiththeir ladies.”
“I suppose that’s true, but I think they assumed I would be able to get by without having that particular skill,” Lydia said. “Any gentleman who wanted me to ride with him could easily teach me himself.”
“I suppose that’s what I’ll have to do,” Edward replied.
She looked over at him. “Are you saying you want me to go out riding with you?”
“I’m saying I can see thatyouwant to spend your time riding, and I won’t have you doing that without knowing how to do it safely and properly. You’ll have to have the skills if you’re going to be riding stallions.” He looked her up and down. “You’re all right, but I can tell you’re not quite comfortable on horseback, and you’re going to have to improve your abilities if you’re going to be riding.”
“Meaning you’re going to teach me?”
“I don’t trust anyone else to do it,” he said. “First of all, you’re not holding the reins correctly. You need a much looser grip. You’re going to worry the horse by holding him that tightly.”
“I don’t want him to run off.”
The idea of riding excited her, but all the same, Lydia couldn’t pretend she wasn’t nervous.
“He won’t run. Loosen your grip. That’s right.” Edward rode over to her and took hold of the reins with her. “I’ll start him walking, and you can pull the reins left or right to steer him in the direction you want him to go, but he ought to follow behind my horse.”
“Do you think he’s smart enough to do that?”
“Yes. I’ve been watching him since we brought him out, and he seems to understand what he’s supposed to be doing. Let’s get moving.”
He started the horses walking. Sure enough, Lydia’s horse fell into step alongside Edward’s. Edward set a slow pace for them so they could ride side by side and still carry on a conversation with one another.
“Did you enjoy the ball the other night?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she said. “More than I thought I would, as a matter of fact.”
“That surprises me. A lot of things seemed to go wrong, didn’t they?”
“Well, if you mean to refer to the interference of your family, I don’t know. Personally, I was glad Colin told me the truth about your feelings about dancing, even though I know that was something you didn’t intend to tell me yet. Maybe you never meant to tell me at all.”
“If things had gone the way I meant them to,” he confessed, “it would never have come up at all.”
She nodded. “But I’m glad it did. I’m glad you and I had the chance to get to know a little bit more about one another. I do feel as if I know you better now, and I’m glad. For that reason, if for no other, going to the ball was a good thing for the both of us.”
“I see what you mean,” Edward said. “And I agree. I think I would have found it difficult to open up to you, but because we spent the time together that we did, it does feel as if you and I have grown closer.”
“As if we’re friends?” Lydia asked.
He laughed. “You’ve been waiting to say that.”
