A Duke For All Seasons by Mia Marlowe Read Free Book Online Page A

and across the grassy meadow. “Show me what you're made of.” 
         The horse laid back its ears and flew over the ground. Sebastian raised himself out of the saddle, knees flexed, leaning forward toward the flying mane. The world whipped past him in a greenish-gray blur. Blood pounded in his ears in tandem with the hooves pounding the turf.
         For a moment, Arabella and her treasonous associations faded into the back of his mind and all he felt was the lightness of near flight and the freedom of simply being. His breath fell into rhythm. His thighs flexed in time with the muscles of the powerful animal beneath him. He squeezed the horse with his knees, giving a bit more pressure to the right and zigged around a walnut tree without a tug on the reins.
         The horse responded as if it were an extension of his own body. He threaded through the copse of trees, ducking under low branches and splashing through a stream in full spate, droplets of water flying around him.
         When a stone fence row rose before him, he and the gelding sailed over it as one.  
         No thoughts plagued him. No aching burn in his chest over Arabella St. George's damnable complications. No need to do anything, but ride.
    *     *     *     *     *
     
         Bella's breath caught in her throat as she and the groom, Fletcher, waited on the crest of a rise. The mare Sebastian had lent her was quick and willing. She'd enjoyed a mad dash over the same meadow Sebastian now careening across like a man possessed. When he took the fence in a glorious bound and landed safely without the gelding breaking its stride, she sighed with relief.
         “Don't ye be fretting for His Grace, miss,” Mr. Fletcher said. “He's a proper terror on horseback and no mistake.”
         The way her chest constricted, Arabella suspected he was also a proper terror to her heart. She'd known countless men. She'd never known one like Sebastian. One who governed himself as rigidly as he controlled his mount, yet was capable of such reckless abandon in the exercise of his power. Her body was still achy with denied need after their blazing kisses in his library. Desire rose afresh as she watched him pound up the hill straight toward her.
         When he reached her, he reined the gelding to such a sudden stop, it nearly sat on its haunches. Sebastian's chest heaved with as much exertion as his mount's. A light drizzle began to fall and his hair clung damply around his ears. 
         “That'll be all, Fletcher,” Sebastian ordered his groom.
         With a respectful tug of his forelock, the man wheeled his mount away and loped back toward the stables.
         The rain droplets fell in fat splats now, but Sebastian just continued to look at her, his dark eyes gleaming with a feral light.
         “The rain seems determined,” he finally said. “Do you wish to return to the house?”
         “I'm in no danger of melting,” she said. “You know I'm not that sweet.”
         “Then follow me.” He turned the gelding's head and led her down the hill away from the manor at a slightly less than breakneck pace.
         Once they reached the valley floor, the sky opened and rain fell in slanting torrents. Sebastian didn't slow and didn't turn back toward the main house. Instead they galloped through the heath in the opposite direction. Arabella squinted against the onslaught, but managed to keep Sebastian's flying coattails in sight. When he turned down a trail cutting through the dense woods, she reined her mare to follow.
         Her riding habit was plastered to her form and her hat was a lost cause, but the joy of the chase was infectious. She urged her mare as close as she dared to his horse's hooves. She caught a glimpse of a thatched roofline embedded in the canopy of green ahead. When the cottage came into view it seemed a bit shabby, but when lightning flashed and her mare shied and tossed her head,