Unbefitting a Lady Read Free Page A

her best haughty but polite tones. ‘The poor man will hardly get
settled, Giles, and Anderson will be up and about. Until then, I can manage. I
don’t mind.’ She did not want any help, no matter how handsome the face that
came with it. The stables were her domain, the one place where she had some
autonomy. She wasn’t about to let a stranger take that away.
    Giles gave her a thin warning smile that said he was not to be
crossed on this. ‘Phaedra, you’ll be busy with the colt now.’ What he really
meant was that she owed him. He’d backed her on her ridiculous bid, now it was
time to do things his way.
    Phaedra swallowed. ‘You’re right, of course. Warbourne will
take much of my time if he’s to be ready to race in May.’ It was a gutsy gambit,
based on the hope that Giles would not contradict her in front of the newcomer.
They’d not discussed racing Warbourne this year with any specificity and
certainly not in May. But only three-year-olds could race the Epsom Derby. This
was his year if she meant to do it.
    Giles looked at her sharply. ‘That remains for another
discussion.’ He flipped open his pocket watch, an effective conversation closer,
and checked the time. ‘Let’s get home and get Warbourne settled before we plan
his racing career.’
    The ride was accomplished without mishap. Their home,
Castonbury, was two hours from Buxton, and Warbourne travelled the distance well
with a few rests. Phaedra travelled the distance well too. She was thankful
Giles didn’t take advantage of the carriage’s privacy to berate her for her
behaviour at the fair. She was thankful, too, for the myriad thoughts crowding
her mind, all of which made the time pass quickly. There was Warbourne to
consider, which stall he should have, how she should begin his training, and
then there was the stranger riding up on the box next to John Coachman. He took
up a fair share of those thoughts.
    Only he wasn’t really a stranger now that Giles had hired him
on. He had a name and a position and he posed a threat to her autonomy. She
would need to get the rules of their association established early. They were her stables and they were going to stay that way
from now on. She was twenty and plenty old enough for some responsibility of her
own.
    The carriage turned into the Castonbury parklands, passing
through the wrought-iron gates of the entrance, and began the slow, grand,
winding drive to the house. They travelled past the boathouses and over the
bridge that spanned the river and up to the mansion. Phaedra smiled quietly to
herself as she looked out of the window. Castonbury’s majesty never failed to
impress even her and she’d grown up here her whole life. Bram Basingstoke was
probably sitting atop the carriage, his mouth agape at the wonders of Castonbury
Park and thanking his lucky stars her brother had hired him on. It wasn’t every
day a man got to be head groom at a ducal estate, even temporarily.
    The big house came into view but they passed by and headed west
where the stable block lay behind the main house. Phaedra looked across at
Giles, whose eyes had opened when the carriage halted. ‘We’re home.’ She placed
a hand over his. ‘Thank you for everything.’
    ‘You’re welcome.’ Giles hesitated before asking, ‘Could I leave
you to give our new head groom a tour?’
    He wanted to ride down to the vicarage and see Lily, Phaedra
guessed. She smiled. ‘It’s the least I can do.’ A tour would be just the thing
to set the right tone, just the right way to assert herself.
    But Bram had other ideas. The moment the carriage halted, he’d
jumped down and taken charge of getting Warbourne untied before Phaedra had
barely set her feet on the ground. Warbourne responded to him without any fuss
and she had to admit that on first impression he had a good way with horses and
with men. The other stable hands leapt to do his bidding. She hastened her pace
to catch up and walk beside him, wanting at least to give the