idea—”
“I knew it!” Bessie interrupted. “The open window, your jangled nerves, the telltale perspiration … He’s captured your fancy! It is Iron Will.”
Victoria’s eyes were growing wider by the second. “What do you know of such young men? Do act your age, Bessie. Or has your memory failed you yet again. in which Your son, the Duke of Mowbray, is now two-and—”
“Really, Victoria, looking at you is more than enough to underscore our advanced years, thank you very much,” Bessie interrupted, tossing her head to shake her glossy, dove gray mass of hair over her shoulder for effect.
Lucinda took advantage of her aunts’ sparring to stand and cross the room. She fanned herself with her hand before sitting down at her writing desk, the breeze tickling a tendril of hair at the nape of her neck.
“Ladies, I believe we were speaking of the appropriateness of His Grace as a suitor for Lucinda. Do keep to the subject, won’t you?” Charlotte chided gently, pushing her robust frame from the bed. “I knew his parents, of course, but I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the boy. Lucinda, dear, is he a gentleman worthy of your attentions?”
Victoria rose from the bed and marched across the room to where Lucinda sat. “A rake of the first order!” she answered in a severe tone.
“A man of experience, to be sure,” Bessie chimed in, rolling over on the soft mattress to lie on her side and smile at Lucinda. “But why that should be seen as an impediment is beyond me.”
Victoria frowned and wagged her finger at Lucinda, who had not been able to hide an amused grin. “This is hardly a laughing matter, my dear.”
“Yes, quite. Of course, Aunt,” Lucinda responded, forcing her lips into a serious line. “Though I would think the news would be cause for some celebration—on your part, in particular, considering your passion for horses.”
Lucinda had touched a nerve when she mentioned the one thing in life that had yet to disappoint Victoria. Her marriage at age eighteen to the Duke of Highbury had been a disaster, the duke being far more interested in his many mistresses than he ever was in his wife. Victoria’s inability to bear children had broken her heart and driven her further away from her friends and acquaintances, until all she had left were her sisters and Highbury’s vast stables.
While the duke understood little about Victoria, he discerned even less about his prize equines. His absence from the day-to-day stable operations left Victoria with free rein to learn all she could. To love as she would, to set free all the passion and caring forbidden her in her marriage.
And she did. Soo every follower of horse racing who ever visited Taltersalls could not get enough of the Highbury horses, whose impressive races were the event to attend.
At first, it was fulfilling for Victoria. But the duke’s arrogance over his “influence and guiding hand” caused her mild annoyance with the man to grow to outright hostility, until Victoria could hardly bear to be in the same room as the man.
And then he was killed in a riding accident, his stubborn insistence that his inexperienced mount take a high fence ending tragically for the horse, deservedly for the duke. The lack of an heir meant the estate passed to her nephew, leaving Victoria a very wealthy woman, thanks to her settlement, but without a home.
Her sisters immediately implored Victoria to join them at Bampton Manor, where they’d resided since the death of Lucinda’s parents, the magnificent unentailed estate having been willed to young Lucinda.
Once settled at Bampton Manor, Victoria had enlisted Bessie, Charlotte, and Lucinda’s help and begun to build her own breeding program. They created a fictitious male farm manager and, using their ample income, began buying colts and fillies, stallions and mares, and housing them on the estate.
King Solomon’s Mine was to be the crown jewel of the stables, a stallion with just the
“I knew it!” Bessie interrupted. “The open window, your jangled nerves, the telltale perspiration … He’s captured your fancy! It is Iron Will.”
Victoria’s eyes were growing wider by the second. “What do you know of such young men? Do act your age, Bessie. Or has your memory failed you yet again. in which Your son, the Duke of Mowbray, is now two-and—”
“Really, Victoria, looking at you is more than enough to underscore our advanced years, thank you very much,” Bessie interrupted, tossing her head to shake her glossy, dove gray mass of hair over her shoulder for effect.
Lucinda took advantage of her aunts’ sparring to stand and cross the room. She fanned herself with her hand before sitting down at her writing desk, the breeze tickling a tendril of hair at the nape of her neck.
“Ladies, I believe we were speaking of the appropriateness of His Grace as a suitor for Lucinda. Do keep to the subject, won’t you?” Charlotte chided gently, pushing her robust frame from the bed. “I knew his parents, of course, but I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the boy. Lucinda, dear, is he a gentleman worthy of your attentions?”
Victoria rose from the bed and marched across the room to where Lucinda sat. “A rake of the first order!” she answered in a severe tone.
“A man of experience, to be sure,” Bessie chimed in, rolling over on the soft mattress to lie on her side and smile at Lucinda. “But why that should be seen as an impediment is beyond me.”
Victoria frowned and wagged her finger at Lucinda, who had not been able to hide an amused grin. “This is hardly a laughing matter, my dear.”
“Yes, quite. Of course, Aunt,” Lucinda responded, forcing her lips into a serious line. “Though I would think the news would be cause for some celebration—on your part, in particular, considering your passion for horses.”
Lucinda had touched a nerve when she mentioned the one thing in life that had yet to disappoint Victoria. Her marriage at age eighteen to the Duke of Highbury had been a disaster, the duke being far more interested in his many mistresses than he ever was in his wife. Victoria’s inability to bear children had broken her heart and driven her further away from her friends and acquaintances, until all she had left were her sisters and Highbury’s vast stables.
While the duke understood little about Victoria, he discerned even less about his prize equines. His absence from the day-to-day stable operations left Victoria with free rein to learn all she could. To love as she would, to set free all the passion and caring forbidden her in her marriage.
And she did. Soo every follower of horse racing who ever visited Taltersalls could not get enough of the Highbury horses, whose impressive races were the event to attend.
At first, it was fulfilling for Victoria. But the duke’s arrogance over his “influence and guiding hand” caused her mild annoyance with the man to grow to outright hostility, until Victoria could hardly bear to be in the same room as the man.
And then he was killed in a riding accident, his stubborn insistence that his inexperienced mount take a high fence ending tragically for the horse, deservedly for the duke. The lack of an heir meant the estate passed to her nephew, leaving Victoria a very wealthy woman, thanks to her settlement, but without a home.
Her sisters immediately implored Victoria to join them at Bampton Manor, where they’d resided since the death of Lucinda’s parents, the magnificent unentailed estate having been willed to young Lucinda.
Once settled at Bampton Manor, Victoria had enlisted Bessie, Charlotte, and Lucinda’s help and begun to build her own breeding program. They created a fictitious male farm manager and, using their ample income, began buying colts and fillies, stallions and mares, and housing them on the estate.
King Solomon’s Mine was to be the crown jewel of the stables, a stallion with just the
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