Page 7 of The Unfortunate Debutante
Emma wanted him to elaborate on how bonnets could be tricky, but she decided not to ask the question. For she was fearful that he would actually have an answer, and she just wanted this outing to be over with.
“Back to my original sentiments,” Lord Brisbane began, “I would be remiss if I didn’t reveal my intentions towards you.”
“Your intentions?” she repeated back in surprise. When had the conversation turned to his intentions? She really should have been paying attention.
He reined in his horse, and she reluctantly followed suit.
“It is time that I marry, and I believe you are a suitable choice.”
“Suitable?” She attempted to keep her face expressionless. He found her ‘suitable’? While she was debating whether she should be insulted or relieved by that comment, he continued.
“Aye,” he replied, oblivious to her annoyance. “You are beautiful, engaging, and the ward of the Marquess of Downshire. Furthermore, you are young and vigorous enough to supply me with heirs.”
Emma’s lips parted in disbelief. She didn’t know where to start with this insulting proposal.
Mistaking her silence for acceptance, Lord Brisbane pressed, “With your generous dowry, I will be able to fix up my country estate in Liverpool and…”
“No,” came her sharp reply.
Brushing off her answer with a wave of his hand, he said, “I haven’t spoken to Lord Downshire, but I am confident he will agree that I am a good match for you.”
Her horse pawed at the ground as if sensing her irritation. The moment he stopped speaking, she declared, “I will not now,not ever, marry you, Lord Brisbane.”
It was his turn to looked surprised. “I beg your pardon?”
“We hardly know each other, but I can tell that we would not suit.”
“Then may I ask why you agreed to this outing? I would hope that you understand the implications of being seen together in Hyde Park.”
Emma pursed her lips. No good deed goes unpunished, she thought. “Frankly, I was attempting to be polite.” She paused, then added, “And I always enjoy riding through Hyde Park.”
He frowned, or did he smile? She really couldn’t tell with his moustache. “Well, I never,” he declared in a haughty voice. “I daresay you will not do better than marrying an earl, despite being the ward of Lord Downshire.”
Adjusting the reins in her gloved hands, she gave him a tight smile. “I do not aspire for a title, Lord Brisbane. My only aspiration is to marry a man that will love me above all else.”
“You are a foolish girl. Love is for the weak-minded, not for the aristocracy. Surely you’ve been told that.”
“I have, but I do not accept it.”
Shifting his gaze over her shoulder, his next comment caught her off-guard. “Then you are destined to be a spinster and will become a strain on your guardian’s household.”
How dare he speak to me like that, she thought. She had many choice words that she would like to say to that arrogant man, but she bit those back, instead saying, “You, sir, are an ignoramus.”
Not waiting for his haughty response, she kicked her horse into a run. However, rather than her gelding racing away as she had intended, it reared up, and upended her. She landed in a heap on the muddied road and looked up in time to see the horse stepping backwards… right towards her. Reacting quickly, she rolled to the side, and landed in a deep hole, filled with mucky, muddy water.
Emma closed her eyes in mortification, hoping that no one had just witnessed her misfortune. However, when she opened them, she saw several women with their mouths agape and a few gentlemen rushing over to assist her. She rose swiftly and wiped her muddied gloves onto her mud-coated, dark-blue riding habit. That was counterproductive, she thought to herself, as she removed the ruined gloves.
She heard a man clear his voice from behind her. “This couldn’t get any worse,” she muttered under her breath as she reluctantly turned around and saw Lord Brisbane extending a white handkerchief towards her.
He looked appalled as his eyes roamed over her person.
“Thank you,” she said, accepting it.
Before she finished wiping the mud off her face, a footman from Caddington Manor approached her, holding her horse’s lead. “Miss Pearson, please allow me to help you mount your horse.”
“I would greatly appreciate that,” she murmured as she came to stand next to her gelding.
The footman assisted her onto her saddle. “It might be best if we walk back to Caddington Manor, Miss Pearson. I have never known this gelding to upend someone before. It makes me wonder if there is a burr somewhere under his saddle.” He glanced back at his horse and lowered his voice. “I would have offered the use of my horse, but it would have required me to change saddles, and I assumed you wouldn’t want to wait for that.”
