Free The Gallant Guardian by Evelyn Richardson Page A

find where horses are concerned. If he takes a liking to you, as he seems to have, he can teach you more than anyone I have ever known about blood stocks and breeding, the ins and outs of knee action, how to raise horses that don’t shy. You cannot go wrong with Griggs as your teacher. He was an orphan and grew up on a stud farm in Yorkshire. I was lucky to persuade him to come to me when his master was forced to sell out. I offered to pay him handsomely, but truth to tell, he finds life a good deal more dull with me. Training horses is his true interest and he only bears with the tame life I give him because I pay him so well and I have promised to set up a stud farm of my own some day.”
    “A farm of your own? For race horses?” William was quite pale with excitement.
    “Yes. I have one or two particular ideas of my own about breeding and training that I should like to try, though at the moment I am too involved in other things to give the project my full attention.”
    If Lord Lydon had been a hero in William’s eyes before, he had now reached the status of a demigod. “Do you go to Newmarket? Jem and Tim have told me that that is the place to see the fastest horses. How I should love to see it. I have asked Charlie if we may go some time, but she says that it is not the sort of place for young ladies to be seen.”
    “And she is entirely correct in that.” The marquess directed a rueful smile in Charlotte’s direction. “But we shall have to see what we can do about that. In the meantime, remember you did agree to go out driving with me,” again he directed a meaningful glance at William’s sister, “after you have finished your lessons.”
    Charlotte smiled fondly at her brother. “It was very good of you to remember your lessons when Lord Lydon offered you such a splendid invitation.”
    “I was good, wasn’t I, Charlie?” He responded proudly. “But Lord Lydon said I could go with him another day.”
    “And so you shall, but now you had better run along. You do not want to keep Dr. Moreland waiting.”
    William looked as though he would not mind in the least making the vicar wait when such stimulating company was to be had, but he gave in with good grace and, bestowing a quick hug on his sister, went off toward the schoolroom.
    “You are very good to take him driving, my lord, but you must not let him tease you. In general William is very well behaved, but horses are his passion and he tends to forget his manners in his excitement over them.”
    “I do not mind in the least,” the marquess hastened to assure her. “I enjoy driving, and from the little I have seen, I can tell that William seems to understand highbred cattle thoroughly enough that he is likely to be a good passenger.” Maximilian was gratified to see the anxious look fade from her eyes.
    Charlotte’s devotion to her brother was unlike anything he had encountered before. He was touched and humbled by her selfless dedication to the welfare of someone whom most ordinary people would simply ignore. For a moment the marquess wondered, almost wistfully, what it would be like to be loved so completely and disinterestedly.
     

Chapter Nine
     
    Maximilian had not been wrong in his assessment of William’s capacities as a passenger. The boy’s face was alight with happiness as they bowled down Harcourt’s tree-lined drive the next day. He sat quietly, his eyes fixed for the most part on the marquess’s hands. “You must have to be very strong to keep them in check when you spring them,” he observed.
    “Yes it does take a good deal of strength, but they have very sensitive mouths and respond very quickly. The thing is to plan ahead so that you pace them correctly and do not have to make any sudden moves. One should never have to haul on the reins so much as to lean back or to stand up. A good deal of that can also be prevented by being sure you have chosen the height of the seat correctly so that it gives full support to the back