Read Online Ruined by Moonlight by Emma Wildes - Free Book Online Page B

Interesting…it brought to mind the years of the war, and how when he was challenged and lives hung in the balance it had never been a question whether to act if it was a decision of how much to risk and in what way. He’d have laid down his life for king and country and had taken that road more than once, but this current situation was at once more simple and yet more complex.
    He leaned his arms on the railing of the paddock. “I’ve an obscure question. If you were intent on eloping with a young lady who has a powerful father, tell me, how would you go about it?”
    Altamont blinked for a moment, his brawny forearms also against the fence, his thick dark hair ruffled by the morning wind. There was a hint of alarm in his clear blue eyes. “My lord, please let me assume this is strictly a hypothetical question. The occasional enthusiastic titled lady is trial enough without some accusation coming my way. I vow I’ve been doing nothing more than training your horses.”
    It was impossible not to laugh. Ben hardly walked around judging the appearance of other men, but it was true that his trainer was not only brilliant with his high-strung charges but good-looking and did seem to attractconsiderable female attention at the race meets. “No, no accusation, though I do advise you to keep to the safer venues that do not include the daughters of earls.”
    They weren’t that disparate in age, actually, maybe a three-year difference, which was why everyone had recommended a seasoned trainer for the expensive stable. But Ben had liked Adam immediately and, more importantly, his horses had responded in the same way. He’d seen him handle them, realized at once the affinity between man and animal, and had hired him on the spot despite his lack of experience. This would be the first racing season since his father’s old trainer had retired and Ben thought the horses looked fitter than ever.
    “I
do
know better,” Adam murmured, his smile slight. “Always. I am not so foolish as to risk my career for a casual tumble. One word against my name and suddenly I do not get to train horses like yours. It isn’t worth it.”
    Or
no woman had made it worth it yet,
Ben mused, thinking it over. It was all about perspective. “But let’s say in theory you wished to spirit away a young lady who was the daughter of a powerful man. How would you go about it?”
    “Off to Scotland, I suppose.” Adam frowned, his shirt open at the neck, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “That’s the fastest way to marry with the least effort, though it isn’t a particularly short journey. I’ve never fancied that idea myself. It seems to me if a lady is worth marrying, it is worth doing it properly.”
    A sensible attitude. Admittedly Ben had also chosen a safe, proper course, selecting Alicia for her bloodlines, her beauty, and her serene disposition. He’d dutifully courted her by calling and bringing the occasional bouquet that almost always his secretary obtained for him,and, in retrospect, maybe he hadn’t quite completed the task in the way he thought he had. When he’d proposed to her, he and her father had already hammered out the marriage agreement beforehand and solicitors had been consulted, and, if looked at that way, to his chagrin, it did not seem very romantic.
    However, his current standoff with his wife was not part of what might have happened to Lady Elena but an entirely different problem.
    “Quite,” he agreed, the scent of fresh earth, dug up by the hooves of the racers, pungent. “But not always an option. What if her father didn’t approve of you?”
    “If she was a true lady I doubt he would,” Adam said frankly. “I might be the son of a baron and decently educated, but I have no prospects except a working man’s income, and I’m not a part of the beau monde by any means. That’s fine. I prefer my horses anyway, but approaching an earl for his daughter’s hand…no. Is this about Whitbridge’s missing