Free Anne Ashley by His Makeshift Wife Page A

before. And the day looks set to remain fine.’
    Luke, none the less, betraying touching concern for her
comfort, insisted she tuck a rug over her knees, before he instructed the groom
to jump up on the back, then gave his horses their office to start.
    Not for an instant did Briony feel in the least nervous, even
though they travelled along at a cracking pace, overtaking other vehicles with
inches to spare. Clearly Luke was no novice at tooling his own carriage. He
handled the ribbons with effortless ease, hardly seeming to pull on the leather
straps as he manoeuvred his horses safely along the road.
    ‘Have you always tooled your own carriage?’ she asked,
appreciating anew how ignorant she was about the man beside her.
    ‘I tooled my first carriage at the age of ten. It was Aunt
Lavinia’s groom, Sam, who taught me.’
    ‘I know he taught you to ride. He taught me, too, as it
happens,’ she enlightened him. ‘I never rode at all until I came to live with
your aunt. Mama couldn’t afford the expense of keeping a horse, you see. Now I
ride as often as I can.’
    She turned her head in time to glimpse a strange expression
flickering over his strong features. She wouldn’t have described the look as
pity, exactly—it was more like gentle sympathy.
    ‘You must think me incredibly gauche behaving like an excited
schoolgirl being taken out for a treat,’ she suggested, when he didn’t offer to
make conversation, ‘only it’s a novel experience for me. I expect racing
curricles are commonly seen in the capital.’
    ‘Indeed they are,’ he enlightened her, frowning dourly. ‘And
too many of ’em in the hands of crass young fools who aren’t capable of tooling
a donkey, let alone prime horseflesh.’
    He had sounded genuinely annoyed. Which was most strange, now
she came to consider the matter, Briony mused. After all, since he had left the
army, gossipmongers had vilified him as the very worst kind of pampered fribble,
one with too much money at his command and little understanding.
    That certainly wasn’t an accurate assessment, she finally
decided a moment later. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his mental
faculties. In fact, she would go further and say he was as sharp as a tack. And
as for being a care-for-nobody…well that was grossly inaccurate, too. He cared a
great deal about his horses. Any fool could see that. And he considered the
well-being of his servants seriously too, all of whom, as far as she could tell,
thought highly of him. The only flaw she had detected in his character thus far
was a tendency to levity. He most certainly derived much enjoyment out of
teasing her, at any rate! She favoured him with a sidelong glance from beneath
her lashes. Or had she, perhaps, credited him with more high-mindedness than he
deserved?
    ‘I am correct, am I not, in thinking you wish to visit the town
for the sole purpose of engaging workmen to make good the lodge so that your
servant may be comfortable there?’
    ‘Yes, but I don’t expect you to accompany me. I’m sure you can
find a more pleasurable way of spending half an hour or so.’
    ‘Indeed, I can,’ she responded, feeling smugly satisfied that
her judgement of his character, as far as it went, had not been grossly flawed.
‘I should be very much obliged to you, Luke, if you could deposit me outside the
haberdashery in the main street. I ordered two dresses to be made some weeks
ago, and have never returned for so much as a fitting. Mary must be wondering
what has become of me!’
    He slanted a mocking glance. ‘In a community this size, and
with so many associations with the Manor, I would be astonished if she didn’t
know precisely what has happened to you and was far too considerate as to plague
you at a time when she knew you would be busy making arrangements for your
wedding.’
    * * *
    Again Briony discovered that Luke’s judgement was sound
when she entered the haberdashery some thirty minutes later to discover a