106. Love's Dream in Peril Read Free Page B

“How very kind of them. But I don’t think we have been introduced. Mrs. Mottram will be furious. Quick, let’s find a nice safe teashop!”
    And the two girls walked on into the town centre through the peaceful leafy streets, following the echo of the swift horses’ hooves.
     

CHAPTER TWO
    “A penny for your thoughts!” Digby Dryden said to Lord Ranulph Fowles, as they strolled languidly towards their College from the Livery Stables where they had just left their horses.
    Lord Ranulph did not respond, but kept on walking.
    Digby sighed.
    Sometimes he wished that his friend could take a more easy-going approach to life.
    Their years of study were over and done with now that they had taken their final examinations. Surely they should be enjoying themselves?
    “Cough up, old chap! What’s on your mind?”
    “Oh, nothing,” Lord Ranulph replied, looking up and down the street as if he was searching for someone.
    Digby laughed.
    “Now I understand! You are wondering what has become of those two pretty schoolgirls we lent our kind assistance to as we rode into town!”
    Lord Ranulph’s handsome face turned a little red. Digby had guessed correctly.
    “So, which of them took your fancy?”
    “Well – I – ”
    “The shy one with the parasols, I should guess she would look most fitting upon your arm. Her dark-haired beauty would be a perfect match for your own good looks.”
    Lord Ranulph looked surprised.
    “Actually, it was the other who caught my eye.”
    “The Goddess with the golden hair? She seemed a proper scatterbrain, dropping her ribbon and letting her hair down. I would not have thought her your sort of girl.”
    Lord Ranulph looked rather wistful.
    “I thought her the most lovely creature. A perfect English rose and her brown eyes, so unusual a colour with her fair hair.”
    Digby stopped in his tracks.
    “I don’t believe it!” he said. “You are smitten, my friend! For the first time in all the years I have known you, a young lady has actually made inroads into the fortress of your heart!”
    “Digby, I am really not as stuffy as all that!” Lord Ranulph retorted indignantly.
    “She is very pretty, I’ll say that for her,” Digby nodded. “You should have swung her up behind you on Major and carried her off!”
    Lord Ranulph punched his friend on the arm.
    “Enough!” he exclaimed.
    The two young men carried on walking. They were just outside the ancient stone walls of their College when it was Lord Ranulph’s turn to stop in his tracks.
    On the other side of the road two grey-skirted girls were lowering their parasols and stepping through the door of one of the most respectable teashops in Oxford and there was no mistaking the bright gold of Adella’s hair, glinting in the sunlight.
    Digby watched in high amusement as Lord Ranulph gazed at her, catching his breath as if someone had hit him a hefty punch. He seemed to be suffering quite badly.
    “Shall we go and join them then?” he proposed on a mischievous impulse.
    “It would hardly be proper.” Lord Ranulph said, turning away, his face flushed with confusion.
    “I can be perfectly proper!” Digby countered. “I have five female cousins all still at school and I have often had to sit through tea with them.”
    “I am sure we will not be welcome.”
    “Of course we will. Did you not see how adoringly the dark one looked up at you?”
    “You are mistaken, Digby, and anyway you are not interested as you prefer the other.”
    Digby grinned.
    “Well, Lord Ranulph, shall we see who will win the heart of the little English rose?”
    “What?”
    “I was looking forward to relaxing in my rooms after our ride and having Batcup bring us a nice glass of wine. But now I think I am reconciled to a cup of tea!”
    “You intend to join them?”
    “On one condition. I will wager my last bottle of vintage champagne against a bottle of your best port that she will fall for me. So much so that she will agree to accompany me for a walk