“Oh no, I happen to agree,” Evan remarked, frowning. “I did not realize you were so well-versed in the art of the hunt. Truth be told, you continue to surprise me—I wake up each morning not knowing what young lady I might find in my residence. She always looks like you, sounds like you, bears your name, but she is never the same as the one I met the day before.”
Olivia chuckled. “One might say the same about you, as I cannot corroborate you with the infamous rake that I have heard so much about. As we walked together last night, I was certain you would attempt to kiss me, and when you lost the path, I was convinced it was on purpose.”
“Did you want me to kiss you?” he asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
Her heart jolted. “Heavens, no!”
But… maybe just a little bit. An embrace, at least,a shy voice in her mind whispered, setting a couple of butterflies loose in her stomach.
“As I told you last night, I will not do anything you do not want me to,” he said with a shrug. “And I did not lose the path on purpose. How are your nettle stings?”
“Better. Had I been wearing trousers then, I might not have been stung at all.”
Evan laughed. “They become you well. I cannot say I have ever seen ladies wearing trousers, but now I am wondering why. Every time Caro rides side-saddle, I cannot be at ease, for you all look like you could fall at any moment.” He patted his thigh. “This is far sturdier, is it not?”
“Your thigh?” Olivia teased, somewhat emboldened now that they were alone in the woods. “I could not possibly comment.”
A flush of red blotched Evan’s cheeks, his throat straining as he swallowed. “I meant the riding position.”
“I am aware.” She grinned at him. “It appears we have lost everyone, or they are desperate to put distance between themselves and the trouser-wearing, joke-making, inappropriate young lady who has ruined their hunting excursion. Still, at least they will have something to tell their manservants when they return to their chambers tonight. I have often wondered what gentlemen and their valets talk about.”
Evan cooled his cheeks with the back of his hand. “Mostly, we say nothing to each other. We might remark upon the weather or the choice of attire. Why, what do you ladies and your maids talk about?”
“Everything,” Olivia whispered. “It is my belief that a lady’s maid knows more about society than anyone else. They are the secret-keepers… or the scandal sheets’ greatest informants. It is why you must always befriend a lady’s maid, for if you treat them unkindly, there is nothing they cannot do to ruin you.”
Evan looked disturbed by the warning. “I shall bear that in mind, though my aunt’s lady’s maid is six-and-sixty and deaf as a post.”
“Ah, that is what shewantsyou to think.” Olivia winked at him. “Have you never wondered where all those stories about you have come from? You cannot hide anything from servants, Evan.”
Straightening his posture, Evan cleared his throat. “Let us make a wager.”
“On where those tawdry tales came from?”
He shook his head, laughing tightly. “No, let us make a wager on who can find the rest of our party first. I shall go left, you can go right, and… whoever wins shall be granted the prize of asking anything of the other person.”
“What if I do not want anything from you?” Olivia replied, tightening her grip on the reins so he would not see her hands trembling. It was too great, too overwhelming a prize. Whatwouldshe ask of him if given the chance? Would she dare to ask him to sever the engagement?
I must win. I must win and be done with this,she realized, for asking him to be the one to end the betrothal would mean no more charades, no more bawdy characters, no more embarrassment for herself, other than the pity of society when they heard the news. But pity was something she could bear, trying to endure the next week or so was not, even with the encouragement of her friends.
He smiled as if he was reading her mind. “I am sure you will think of something… not that you will have to, for there is no possible way that you will beat me.”
“Is that so?” She narrowed her eyes at him, charmed by his candor. Indeed, the more time she spent in his company, the more she wanted to be in his company, to explore the sides of him she had not yet witnessed. And that was the trouble.
Matilda was right; he has softened me, she knew, and if she had been able to cling to a fantasy of a happy marriage and blossoming love, like Anna, perhaps things would be different. But her memories of her mother falling to pieces after her father’s betrayal were far stronger than any weak possibility of happiness.
Squeezing her thighs, she spurred her horse into a lope, crashing through the undergrowth in her race to victory. She did not bother to look back to see if he had veered to the left, for all that mattered now was winning.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Before long, Olivia was lost. She could not understand it. She was certain she had heard the dogs and the thunder of hooves and the jeer of loud gentlemen, yet she found herself alone and—though it pained her to admit it—somewhat afraid. She would have done anything to have Evan at her side again so they might laugh about their mutual confusion and converse through the fear of never finding anything close to a path in the densely packed trees and increasingly tangled underbrush.
“Hush, sweetpea,” she whispered to her gelding, who tossed his head anxiously, his nostrils sniffing hard at the surrounding foliage as if he could scent a danger that Olivia could not see. “We will find our way, do not worry.” She did not know if she was attempting to soothe the beast or herself.
The gelding stomped his feet, the muscles of his lean back rippling, his tail swishing violently as he fought for control of his head.
“Please, you must be calm,” Olivia urged, wishing she was sitting on the back of her mare in the familiar forests surrounding her family residence. Then, she would not have gotten lost.
It is not just the path I have lost, either,she considered grimly. Evan would have located the other gentlemen by now. She supposed she should have known better than to accept such a wager in unfamiliar woodland, but she had been desperate.
