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"'Oh, dear,' what?" Paen asked, expression grim.
Avelyn batted her eyelashes at her new husband and forced an uncertain smile. "I fear I do not know
how to ride."
"What?" Both men peered at her blankly.
Avelyn shrugged mildly. "I have never needed to know. I have never traveled from Straughton. I had
expected to ride in the cart, but I underestimated all the things that Mother intended to send with me."
Paen stared at his young wife. She was fresh-faced and rosy-cheeked and smiling brilliantly up at him.
She was as lovely as a spring day, but she was also turning out to be the most helpless of creatures.
She'd fainted at their wedding, proved herself clumsy enough to start a fire on their wedding night, and
now admitted she could not ride. It did seem that Avelyn was not the strong, skilled bride he'd hoped for.
His gaze slid to his father's face, but the man was looking back at the women by the step. His mother
was looking concerned, but his bride's mother was looking merely bewildered. Before Paen could puzzle
that out, Avelyn captured his attention again. "Mayhap you could teach me to ride?"
Paen noted the way the confusion on Lady Straughton's face cleared at this suggestion, but had no time
to ponder the matter, for his mother was suddenly rushing forward, a beaming smile on her face.
"Well! What a marvelous idea! You shall ride with Paen and he shall show you how to ride. It should
only take a couple of days. Why, by the time we arrive back at Gerville, he shall have you an expert
rider. Lovely."
Paen shifted in the saddle, feeling as though he'd rather missed something. Everyone seemed so damned
pleased, he was sure there was something amiss, but could not figure out what. He was frowning over the
matter when his wife grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him forward. "Help me mount, please,
Warin."
"I can help you to& " Paen's voice faded away. It was too late to make such a protest Warin had
already set her on the mount before him.
She turned her head to smile over her shoulder at Paen with a sweetness that somehow made him
suspicious. Shrugging the uncomfortable feeling away, Paen grumbled under his breath about wives and
women in general, then reached around to try to take the reins, but she grabbed them up instead and
asked innocently, "If you are to teach me to ride, should I not hold the reins?"
Paen hesitated, reluctant to give up control of his mount, then sat back with a sigh. "Very well."
He didn't feel any better when she beamed at him. He wrapped his arms around her waist almost
reluctantly, felt her snuggle into him, and suspected it was going to be a long journey home to Gerville.
Avelyn was terribly pleased with herself. She finally felt that she'd done something right as a wife. She
may have made a muddle out of the wedding ceremony, the celebratory meal and the wedding night, but
here today she'd taken her first right step. She'd outsmarted her husband and tricked him into saving his
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hands further injury.
Avelyn frowned at her own thoughts. Dear Lord, she was proud about tricking her husband, about using
sly lies to let him think she couldn't ride horseback so that she would have an excuse to ride with him and
take the reins. This was truly a sad day, she decided and sighed heavily, then glanced down at her
mother as the older woman put a hand on her knee through her gown.
"You will do well, daughter," she said in reassuring tones as if having read Avelyn's thoughts. She
squeezed her knee. "We love you and will visit soon."
Avelyn felt tears well up in her eyes and blinked in an effort to stop them, but they would not be
stopped. She was leaving Straughton, the only home she'd ever known, and riding off into the unknown
with a man she barely knew. It was a terrifying step to take, terrifying and painful.
"I love you, Mama," she whispered, then was relieved when Paen grunted something of a good-bye and
put his heels to his mount's sides, urging it to move. Blinking away her tears, she tightened her hold on the
reins and paid attention to directing the animal out of Straughton's bailey.
Avelyn had not told a complete lie when convincing her husband that she should ride before him. She'd
lied about not being able to ride she'd ridden horseback since she was very young and was quite good
at it. However, she hadn't been on long journeys. There had never been any need to leave Straughton.
Avelyn supposed she'd imagined that they'd ride for an hour, stop to rest and refresh themselves, then
ride a bit more and stop for a nooning meal and another rest, then head out again. She thought wrong.
They ate their noon meal in the saddle fruit, cheese and bread that Paen had her retrieve from a bag
dangling from the saddle. Or, that was to say,she ate. His hands bandaged as they were, Paen had heen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]