Page 47 of The Muse of Maiden Lane

“My apologies,” he said. “It took rather longer than I expected to fetch my coat.”

“Not at all,” she replied. “Your timing is perfect. Lady Anne and Mr. Hartford have just driven off. I’ve been standing here only a moment.”

A small sleigh awaited them at the bottom of the steps. Adorned with red ribbons and greenery, it was hitched to a restless bay horse. He danced in his traces, sending the bells on his harness jingling. A groom with a heavy scarf wound round his neck stood at the horse’s head, holding its bridle.

“Is that your sketchbook?” Teddy tossed a pointed look at the book under her arm. He had recognized the nature of it immediately. He’d had similar ones of his own over the years.

“It is,” Stella said.

“With your sketches of winged horses?”

“Just horses. I ceased drawing wings when I was fourteen.”

“Pity,” he said. “I should have liked to see them.”

“You don’t wish to see these? I thought you might like to before I leave tomorrow.”

“There won’t be much light for it during our drive.”

“Lord March has had torches placed on the path.” She moved toward the sleigh. “Shall we climb in before another couple beats us to it?”

Teddy sensed his sister and brother-in-law hanging back in the hall like two doting parents. He felt an irritating flush of embarrassment. He wished they’d go away. He wished everyone would go away. Bolstering his acquaintance with Stella would be so much easier if he could board the sleigh under his own power and then drive off with her into the moonlight, away from the eyes of prying strangers and concerned relations.

“A capital idea,” he said tightly. “Jennings?”

Jennings materialized at his side. “When you’re ready, sir.”

Teddy gave the manservant a terse nod. There was no avoiding the indignity of what followed. Putting an arm around Jennings’s shoulders, Teddy gritted his teeth as Jennings took hold of his midsection and hauled him up out of his seat. It was a well-choreographed movement. One practiced hundreds of times over the years.

Teddy’s heart pumped hard with equal parts effort and anxiety as Jennings conveyed him to the sleigh. He was always at his most vulnerable during those moments when he was out of his chair. It was then he felt the full brunt of his disability. It was why he so rarely indulged in outdoor excursions—outings during which he’d have to be lifted in and out of his chair any number of times, and all of them in the presence of a group of other people. It simply wasn’t worth the trouble.

But Stella was.

She waited patiently as Jennings helped Teddy into the seat of the sleigh, and then, with the footman’s assistance, she climbed in to join him. Her full skirts bunched against Teddy’s leg. He couldn’t feel them, but he heard the rustle of her petticoats and crinoline—of starched linen underthings and soft velvet outer things whispering with a sensual friction. Her arm brushed his as she drew her cloak more firmly about herself, sending a surge of heat through his veins.

They’d never been this close before. Perhaps it was too close. She was all laundry soap and lilacs. An intoxicating combination of practicality and femininity.

“It’s me who should be handing you up,” he grumbled.

“According to whom?”

“Good manners.”

She wedged her sketchbook next to her before settling her oversized muff on her lap in lieu of a lap blanket. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, her gray hair hidden by a close-woven net and a stylish plum velvet bonnet. She’d arranged the amethyst satin bonnet ribbons in an oversized bow on the left side of her face. It gave her a rakish air.

“Do good manners also dictate that you drive?” she inquired. “Or shall I take the ribbons?” Her silver-blue eyes sparkled with good humor. “Though I warn you, I’m nowhere near as good a driver as I am a rider.”

“In that case”—Teddy gathered the reins—“I’ll do the honors.” He signaled to the groom to stand away, and then, with a slap of the leather, gave the horse the office to start.

The rangy bay leapt forward at a bouncing trot down the torch-lined path that led away from the house. He had a powerful gait, as well as an inclination to take the bit in his teeth. Teddy was thankful he’d spent so much time in strengthening his upper body. If he hadn’t, he’d have found himself in for a devil of a fight.

“He’s a spirited one,” Stella said appreciatively.

Teddy steered the horse through the snow. “Like your mare?”

She was surprised into a laugh. “Not by half. Locket is too temperamental to pull a vehicle of any kind. I doubt I could control her if I wasn’t on her back.”

“She sounds more and more like a horse unsuited for a lady.”