Alissa Baxter Read Free Page B

he was here before her again, even more disturbing in person than she remembered. Her hands clenched into fists at her side. “May I say that it is not a pleasure to renew my acquaintance with you, Mr Chanderly.”
    “Now, now, my dear. Your comment was not that of a lady.”
    Alexandra flushed angrily as she realised that Mr Chanderly had adroitly used her previous words to him on her, and several less than polite responses sprang to her mind. But she valiantly bit her tongue, deciding that the best course of action open to her now would be to retreat in haste with dignity. She had no desire to continue arguing with this man while standing before him in a wet gown. It placed her at too great a disadvantage. Therefore, in a carefully neutral voice, she said, “The wind is quite chill, and I am catching cold. I think it is about time that I returned home.”
    Mr Chanderly nodded. “Of course.” Looking around, he saw Alexandra’s horse tethered to a nearby tree, but no sign of a groom. “Why are you unescorted?” he asked curtly.
    “I always dispense of a groom’s services when I am out riding, Mr Chanderly, because I know the countryside very well, and see no need to burden myself with one,” Alexandra said coolly.
    “I beg to differ, but it is not at all the thing to ride unescorted. You may encounter an unsavoury character and have no protection from him.”
    “Yes,” Alexandra mused, “I think I discovered that today.”
    “Careful, my dear,” he said softly.
    Seeing the dangerous light in Mr Chanderly’s eyes and realising that she had gone too far, Alexandra backed away from him, and went to untie Starlight, her chestnut mare. Mr Chanderly followed her, and stood frowning down at her. “I will throw you up into the saddle, and escort you home, Miss Grantham.”
    Knowing from her previous experience that it would be futile to argue with him, Alexandra, with a somewhat ill grace, consented to being thrown up into the saddle.
    Mr Chanderly mounted his own horse, which was tethered nearby, and said, “The way, Miss Grantham?”
    Alexandra looked haughtily across at him. “My home is about a mile down the lane which borders this glade, Mr Chanderly, although I see no reason for you to accompany me. I know the way very well, and sincerely doubt that I will encounter any “unsavoury characters” in this area. Why, most of the people who live here have known me from my babyhood!”
    “Nevertheless, Miss Grantham, it would be remiss in my duty as a gentleman to allow you to ride home unescorted,” Mr Chanderly said shortly.
    Alexandra opened her eyes very wide. “But, sir, not ten minutes back you informed me most succinctly that you were ‘no gentleman’.”
    Mr Chanderly gave a sharp crack of laughter, and looked appreciatively at the audacious young woman riding beside him. “ Touché , Miss Grantham. Now I am properly put in my place.”
    His admiring look made Alexandra feel uncomfortably warm and, feeling at a loss for words, she seized on the first topic of conversation that she could think of in an attempt to distract Mr Chanderly from scrutinising her flushed face. “Don’t you think that the weather has been unseasonably warm for this time of the year, sir?”
    Mr Chanderly smiled at Alexandra’s obvious discomfiture, but merely said, “It has been warm. Many of the London hostesses are hoping that the temperatures will be mild this year so that the al fresco parties and other events that they are planning will not be ruined by inclement weather. Do you, Miss Grantham, go to London for the Season?” he asked abruptly.
    Alexandra frowned, remembering the letter from her grandmother. “In all probability, yes. My grandmother, Lady Beauchamp, is to bring me out.”
    “The prospect does not please you?”
    “Indeed it does not.”
    Mr Chanderly looked his surprise. “How extraordinary! In my experience of young women, most of them are inordinately eager to take the Polite World by storm,