Page 24 of Outrageous

“I don’t like living in the city.”

He shrugged. “You may live where you please.”

She brightened. “Truly?”

“Within reason.” He studied her stunning face, suddenly curious. “Why? Where do you wish to live?”

“I wish to live in the country.” She bit her cushiony lip. “On a stud farm.”

A surprised laugh broke out of him and she glowered. “Why is that funny?”

“It is just . . . unexpected. So, you like horses, do you?”

“Better than most people.” The look she gave him told Godric which category he occupied.

“A stud farm, eh? Fancy yourself an equine specialist?”

She snorted.

“What type of horses would you raise?” he asked.

“Racehorses,” she said, her tone clearly implying there was no other kind.

“If you want to breed racehorses, you must know a bit about them—not to mention a great deal about racing.”

“I’m a bruising rider and could have been a jockey if I’d been born a man.” She hesitated and then added, “And I’ve been to more than a few races.”

Godric heard the bitterness in her tone and knew the subject was not one he should tease her about, so he remained silent.

She gave him a cool, heavy-lidded look of scorn. “I could ride you into the dirt.”

Her taunt surprised a laugh out of him. “Is that so?”

“It is.”

“I don’t suppose it has occurred to you I was a cavalry officer for over a decade and a half.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“I don’t care if you were a cavalry officer for a hundred years—I would still best you in the saddle.”

“The only way a chit like you could best me is if I had been in the cavalry for a hundred and thirty-six years.” Only after he issued the asinine taunt did he realize how childish it sounded. She didn’t appear to notice, her attention snagged by a different fact.

“You’re thirty-six?”

Godric bristled at her tone. “What of it?” he asked, not caring that he sounded testy.

She merely shook her head and turned to look out the window, her quiet acquiescence taking the wind from his sails more quickly than a taunt would have done.

* * *

“Why do we have to stop for the night?” Eva asked.

Visel smirked at her—yes, he smirked. “In a hurry to get up to Scotland and jump over the broomstick, my love?”

She gave him a scathing look. “The sooner we can get married, the sooner we can go our separate ways,” she reminded him.