Free A Heart in Flight by Nina Coombs Pykare

eyes? Or was she just being polite? It was most infernally annoying, being on tenterhooks like this. With any other female he would have known exactly where he stood. But with her ...
    He put on his warmest, most beguiling, smile, the one that had earned him the favors of many London ladies. “Tell me, Miss Amesley.  Is there anything I can do to make your stay more pleasant?”
    “Yes,” she replied, looking him directly in the eyes. “I have a great desire to go horseback riding. How soon can you arrange it?”
     

Chapter Seven
     
    It was Tuesday afternoon before the Earl got around to arranging their ride. From her position in his arms, Aurelia looked over the animal that was supposed to advance The Plan.
    “Are you sure you want to do this now?” the Earl inquired. “Your ankle ...”
    “Milord,” she reminded him. “One rides sitting down.”
    “True.”
    “And I have such an inclination for a ride, a good rousing gallop.”
    The Earl sighed. She could feel it along the whole lean length of him.
    “It’s very kind of you to accommodate me like this,” she continued. If he backed out now, The Plan would be ruined.
    “Think nothing of it.” He stood her carefully on her good foot. “Because of your injury, I shall help you mount in a different fashion.”
    He put a hand on either side of her waist and lifted her quite easily onto the sidesaddle. For a moment she was busy getting her leg properly hooked, gathering up the reins, and trying to recall all that Phoebe had told her about riding.
    Finally, she was settled and looked down, only to discover that a horse brought one much higher off the ground than might have been expected. But that didn’t bother her. After all, she had sailed through the heavens in a wicker basket.
    She took a deep breath and adjusted the pert little shako hat that Phoebe had perched on her head. The green riding habit fit well enough. Now, if she only knew something about the actual act of riding.
    The Earl swung up on his horse—a beautiful black creature, with glistening coat and tossing mane. “All set?”
    She nodded. “Yes, let’s go.” She touched the horse with her heel and it went off obediently. Unfortunately, its jiggling gait threatened to bounce her right out of the saddle.
    “Miss Amesley,” the Earl called after her. “Please, do not trot just yet.”
    “Yes, yes,” she called back over her shoulder. She pulled on the reins and miraculously the animal slowed. Maybe riding was not so difficult after all.
    The Earl’s horse moved up beside hers. “I’m most pleased with our work of the last two days,” he said as they rode down the lane toward the meadow.
    “Yes, Uncle Arthur is very happy at how the repairs are going.”
    The Earl smiled. He had such a pleasant smile. She wished she could be sitting some comfortable place with him, talking aeronautics. “But I still can’t see why you want to build a montgolfière. Hot air is so old-fashioned. “
    He laughed. “Cousin Prudence doesn’t think so. She’s convinced we’re going straight to perdition. The whole lot of us. For daring to invade the Good Lord’s heavens.”
    Aurelia laughed, too. “Yes, I know. She is continually reciting Scriptures to me. But she means well.”
    For a moment they rode in silence. Then the Earl asked, “Do you think Harold means well?”
    “Harold? I don’t understand.”
    “Harold seems to be dangling after Phoebe. I am concerned about his intentions. After all, Phoebe is under my protection.”
    So he had noticed, too. She stalled for time. “What makes you think this?”                        
    The Earl frowned. “For one thing, they are always together.”
    “Phoebe is much interested in aeronautics.”
    “She is now,” he said dryly.
    “Oh, no, milord. She had conceived this interest long before my family arrived. Before I arrived. She told me herself that she longs to go aloft. But her mama will never permit it.”
    The