Tessa's Touch by Brenda Hiatt Read Free Book Online Page B

face, but she couldn't be sure, for they both turned their
horses at once to rejoin the field for the next run. Tessa's heart was
pounding, but not from anticipation for the chase this time. But no, she did
feel a sense of anticipation. It must be the hunt, therefore, for what else did
she have to look forward to?
     
    * *
     *

    As the day wore on, Anthony found himself
staying close to Miss Seaton. He told himself it was so that he could more
accurately evaluate her mount, but he knew there was more to it than that. It
bothered him, for he felt an attraction that went beyond anything he'd ever
experienced before.
    "Infatuation," he muttered to himself
as he watched her clear a hedge that three quarters of the field had elected to
go around. He'd felt it before, to a particularly alluring actress or even a
fresh and beautiful debutante. But it never lasted past a few minutes'
conversation, which invariably revealed an empty head.
    True, he'd had two—no, three— conversations
with Miss Seaton now, but it did not signify. He still knew little about her
except that she was a remarkable horsewoman.
    And that her head was decidedly not empty.
    A vague sense of self-preservation kept him
from approaching her at the next check, but it did little good since Killer
used the pause to discuss her mount —and herself.
    "Amazing animal. Simply amazing. I must
have him," his diminutive friend was saying. "Gaston and Bancroft are
both interested as well, but I should be able to outbid either of them. Miss
Seaton seems to like me, as well, which may count for something."
    "Oh?" Anthony strove to conceal his
amusement. "What makes you say so?"
    "Every time I smile at her she smiles
back. Not all women require height and broad shoulders in their men, you
know," Killer replied, preening a bit.
    "Not if he's got enough in his
pockets," Stormy agreed, riding up to join them just then. "Since
you're well padded there, that should give you a fighting chance with the fair
maiden, eh?"
    Killer frowned. Anthony felt like doing the
same but restrained himself. "Miss Seaton ain't like that," Killer
protested. "She's a real lady— anyone can see that."
    He said it a bit too loudly, for Lord
Porrington sidled over on his lanky dun gelding. "Where would a 'real
lady' learn to ride like that?" he asked with an unpleasant chuckle.
    Anthony had never cared for Porrington, but
just now he found him more irritating than usual. "I suppose the same
could be said for a real gentleman," he said casually. "Though that
wouldn't explain you, now, would it?"
    It took a moment for his import to sink in, but
then Porrington scowled. "As for Miss Seaton, I've heard her grandfather
was a horse trainer," he said with a sneer. "That makes her little
better than the other females I've seen in the hunt, however much better she
might ride." He headed off before any of them could respond.
    "Guess he still hasn't got over that
dunking he took last year," Rush commented. "Obnoxious fellow, isn't
he?"
    The others agreed, to Anthony's relief. He'd
prefer not to be put in the position of defending Miss Seaton to his friends.
"Killer, be sure you spend some time with that bay before bidding on
him," he said then, as much to change the subject as anything.
    "I suppose I can try," replied the
plump viscount with a shrug. "But if a lady—" he emphasized the word
with a glare at Porrington's retreating back—"can handle him so well, I
can't imagine I'll have any trouble."
    Anthony couldn't think of any other caution he
might make that wouldn't prick his friend's pride, so he merely nodded and
determined to take a look at the horse himself that evening, when Miss Seaton
would presumably have gone home.
    The hunt ended an hour or so later, one of the
best opening hunts Anthony could remember. Against his better judgment, he rode
over to Miss Seaton, who had indeed finished out the day. Not surprisingly, he
supposed, she showed no desire to be in at the kill.
    "It's all part of the