Free The Belligerent Miss Boynton AND The Lurid Lady Lockport (Two Companion Full-Length Regency Novels) by Kasey Michaels

Comparing Amanda to a spirited horse. Ah, and how he, Jared Delaney, would ride!
    Amanda reined in ahead of him and waited until he drew along side her before she asked, "Do we stop for luncheon, my lord? Or is starving me a part of your nefarious plans?" She hated to have to address him at all, but her stomach had been grumbling for the last few miles and could no longer be denied.
    "If you can promise me no repeat of yesterday's folly I'll consider stopping at the Three Feathers, which is just a little further along the road. But I warn you, I have no burning desire to face down another irate innkeeper."
    Amanda had the decency to blush. "You have the word of a Boynton, my lord."
    "Do I now? Well, that's probably better than the word of a Delaney. Very well, brat. And, although I'd rather tie you to your chair, never taking my eyes off you, I suppose your word will have to do."
    They ate a filling, though silent, meal at the Three Feathers, Jared allowing Amanda out of his sight for only as long as it took her to freshen herself. His ever-present surveillance rankled after she had given him her word not to try anything rash, and once more anger simmered close to the surface.
    As they stood in the inn yard, preparing to set out once again, Amanda saw an opportunity to even the score when Jared asked if he could go up on Tempest for a mile or two.
    She stopped her refusal just in time and only sweetly stated her agreement to his request. "Oh, indeed, my lord. Tempest would be honored to have such a fine rider as yourself on his back."
    "He would, would he?" Jared tipped his head and looked at her carefully. "Now why does that sound so sinister?" He crossed to mount the red stallion but looked around just in time to catch Amanda smiling at him, her hands clasped demurely behind her back, while her golden eyes held sparks of mischief.
    What the devil did the chit have up her sleeve? He mentally shrugged off his suspicions, dismissing them as being beneath him. Hadn't she behaved circumspectly all through luncheon? He was being overly cautious, like an old woman seeing ogres under her bed, and not a man who was only a day away from marriage, a night away from his marriage bed. He slid one booted foot into the stirrup and swung himself up into the saddle, for Amanda had chosen to defy convention by riding astride and he had been sufficiently amused as to encourage her. What was one more solecism after they had broken so many rules these past days?
    Tempest felt the unaccustomed weight on his back and turned his head to Jared in an attempt to identify his unexpected passenger. But the horse stood quietly under him as he patted its proud head, and Jared smiled over at Amanda in satisfaction.
    She smiled back sweetly. Oh, so sweetly.
    Then something strange happened. Jared felt himself sliding forward. Tempest was kneeling down on his forelegs! Jared pulled on the reins to urge the horse up, but the stallion countered by collapsing his hindquarters. Jared just had time to jump clear before the damnable horse rolled over onto his back in the dirt and gave out with what Jared swore to be a horsey laugh.
    Jared sat on his haunches in the dirt, his elbows resting on his knees while Amanda and, it seemed to Jared, half the customers at the inn stood in whoops around him. The ostler clutched his sides in mirth and the innkeeper wiped at his streaming eyes with the edge of his apron.
    Jared looked at Amanda, now demurely quiet again and with Tempest innocently standing beside her, nuzzling her neck. Miserable brat, he thought. She'd taught the bloody beast to do that.
    He got up as unhurriedly as he could and brushed himself off. He then crossed to Devil and mounted him, calling behind him, "Your mule does party tricks tolerably well, madam, but can he move past a trot?"
    As he suspected, the last traces of Amanda's smile were wiped from her face and she called to a groom to help her mount. "Tempest could best your plow horse on three legs