Compromised by Christmas by Katy Madison Read Free Book Online

it."
    "Will he?" she murmured.
    Bloody well right, he would. "How could he not want
all this?" He waved his riding quirt in a half circle.
    She studied him with an unmoved countenance.
    Did she not understand how vast his holdings were?
His title, his income, even his hunting lodge were coveted by a
great many. How could anyone want more?
    "I am sorry for your loss."
    He nodded, unable to say anything as he remembered
his brothers so full of life, racing their horses over this very
hillock. Now they lay cold and still in their graves not far from
here. They would never gallop, laughing, over these fields ever
again. But he could keep Thomas from courting danger. He would not
encourage him the way he had his brothers. He could keep him home.
He would keep him safe.
    Their horses ambled forward. Max tried to regain his
equanimity.
    "Would you like to run the horses?" she asked. "I am
sure I have found my seat well enough to manage a good race."
    "How long has it been since you've been riding, Miss
Winston?"
    She shot a look at him as if unaware of how much she
revealed. "Four or five years." Then she snapped her quirt and her
horse leaped forward.
    He held his horse close until he was sure she would
keep her seat and then the race was on. She rode well, her
movements fluidly in rhythm with her mount's stride. With her horse
carrying the lighter burden and her head start, Max's horse nosed
ahead only as they neared Thomas and Julia.
    As she reined in her mount, Roxana laughed. The sound
ran through him like the chime of church bells. He stared at her
flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes as she circled her horse around
behind Julia to fix her skirt again. God, he wished the damn thing
would just fall off.
    "Who is that?" asked Thomas, pointing across the
stretches of field where a carriage lumbered up the drive to the
house. Numerous trunks loaded down the top and no less than ten
liveried outriders flanked the richly appointed coach and six.
    "Looks like the Breedons."
    Roxana looked up and blanched. She stole a look at
Max. "The one with the son of marriageable age?"
    Max's horse wheeled. No doubt the gelding was
dismayed by his jerk on the reins. "Yes, Miss Winston, Mr. Breedon
is of an age to marry." She would not want Gregory Breedon, in
spite of his deep pockets and eligibility, and he was not likely to
want her.
    Roxana focused on Julia. "Is there a way to enter the
house so I might get into my room to change before I am seen?"
    "Oh, of course, we may go through the French doors in
the library," answered Julia.
    Apparently she did not mind him seeing her in
ill-fitting, borrowed clothes.
    "Good. For I should not wish for my skirt to fall off
in front of your guests." She looked straight at Max.
    Damnation. Did she realize he'd been watching her
skirt with just such an interest? "No, that wouldn't be the
thing."
    "Does Mr. Breedon like to ride?" Roxana asked. "I see
several horses being led by grooms. Or do those belong to his
parents?"
    "Those are his. Mr. Breedon is quite proud of his
horseflesh," Max answered.
    Roxana swiveled toward him. She wore an expression of
grim determination that he had not seen before. "I shall have to
adjust the fit on this habit quickly, then."
    Did she mean to snare Breedon? Why not? He was young,
rich, not encumbered by a great deal of responsibility. Her birth
was better than Gregory's.
    Max closed his eyes. When he opened them, Roxana,
Thomas and Julia had already started their horses to the ridge.
"Shall we return to the house, then?" he asked the air.
    Annoyance that she had not set her sights on him
tugged at him. Max dismissed it. Miss Winston was just practical.
Had he not warned her off, himself? He admired her sensible nature,
didn't he? Surely only his pride was at stake in his dislike of her
preference for a man she'd never met.
     

Chapter Three
    With Julia's help Roxana made it to her room unseen.
She changed into one of her simple muslin gowns, added a dark blue
spencer and tied a