Read Online The Wedding Affair by Leigh Michaels - Free Book Online

difference.
    She looked at the horses longer than she otherwise might have done, trying to distract herself from the ride to come. But when she heard the earl greet his friend, she could no longer pretend Andrew Carlisle wasn’t there. She smothered a small sigh and turned to the young man who waited on the top step.
    He was not the tulip of fashion that she had expected any friend of the Duke of Somervale to be. Instead, he was neatly but soberly dressed in well-worn riding garb, and at the railing by the base of the stairs a roan horse waited—saddled, bridled, and fresh from the stable. He was not as elegant or highbred as the earl’s carriage team; this was an animal intended to cover long distances efficiently.
    Andrew Carlisle had come prepared to ride. Despite what the earl had said, Penelope was not going to be the pressed-ham filling in one of those ridiculous sandwiches the gentlemen called for when they were too absorbed in gambling to rise from the table.
    She chewed her lip and looked warily at the young man. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Carlisle. I didn’t realize how disobliging I would be to take your place in the curricle. Surely you can’t intend to ride all the way.”
    “Take my place?” the young man said blankly. Then he started to grin. “You mean Charles let you believe I would allow him to drive me to Halstead? The truth is, Lady Townsend, I detest riding in a carriage of any sort. It’s a milk-toast sort of man who needs a curricle and a team and an entire system of roads to get himself across country.”
    “Milk toast? Keep talking that way, Andrew, and I’ll have to plant you a facer.”
    “Have no fear your husband will come to fisticuffs on your front step, my lady,” Andrew Carlisle said, “for he knows quite well he couldn’t carry out his threat. Give me a horse any day. I’ll cross the fields, jump the gates, and be there long before the curricle arrives.”
    For the first time in the three months of her marriage, she heard the earl laugh as if he was genuinely entertained. “Don’t believe him, ma’am. Andrew’s real reason for riding everywhere is that if the company is dull, he can saddle up his horse and escape before anyone is the wiser.”
    Penelope was so startled at the idea that the earl might have teased her—misled her on purpose simply because it amused him—that she whirled to face her husband, tripped over her ruffled hem, and nearly slipped off the step.
    Each man shot out a hand to steady her, but the earl moved more quickly, catching her arm as she flailed madly in an attempt to keep her balance. She felt as clumsy as a cow, having to be pulled back onto the stair.
    Andrew Carlisle looked thoughtful. “Now, Charles, don’t manhandle the lady. Even though she did look for a moment as though she would take a swing at you, I’m quite certain you deserve it.” His smile was endearingly crooked and his green eyes were alight as he swept a bow. “May I help you into your chariot, my lady, and show you how a gentleman comports himself? It’s dead sure Charles will never be able to demonstrate the finer points of—”
    The earl’s right hand was still firm on Penelope’s elbow; his left feinted toward Andrew Carlisle’s jaw, and the young man stepped nimbly back out of reach with a grin.
    Penelope’s cloak had slipped aside, and through the thin muslin of her sleeve she could feel the suppleness of the earl’s driving glove, the kid as warm as his own skin would be, barely an inch from her breast. Her nipple seemed to reach out for him, and she felt herself flush and tense. If he turned his hand in the slightest…
    “Yes, Andrew,” the earl mocked. “Do demonstrate. Seeing you giving lessons in etiquette will be something new.”
    Penelope’s breast felt chilly as her husband’s fingers relaxed and dropped away. She forced a laugh as she allowed Andrew Carlisle to take her hand and help her up into the curricle.
    But she wished the earl had been the