Page 32 of The Duchess Debt

“I don’t think she ever attends church except at Easter and Christmas.”

Alice piped up, “Can we not attend church except—”

“No,” Helena and Gabe answered at the same time. The two looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

“We have to set a good example for the village,” Helena explained.

“Even if it kills us,” Gabe muttered and sent his horse into a trot to lead the way and avoid the scolding look he knew Helena would level at him. But once he was ahead of the cart and Alice couldn’t see him, he chuckled.

They arrived at the Hansen farmhouse. Despite being surprised to see them, Mrs. Hansen welcomed Helena warmly and introduced her to half a dozen grandchildren who were running around the farmyard. The weathered old woman, who was rapidly approaching her eighth decade, thanked them profusely for the basket of goodies that Alice handed to her and wished them well on their upcoming nuptials.

Their second stop was just down the road from Mrs. Hansen’s, and the delivery went equally well. So did their third visit. Gabe was certain that his presence smoothed the introductions immensely. All the people they planned to visit had been his tenants for years and his father’s long before that—some of the villagers on Helena’s list, like Mrs. Hansen, had been here when his grandfather had been duke, and they allremembered the Cavanaugh family’s commitment to the estate and village. They would never spurn Gabe.

Unfortunately, they all remembered his first duchess, too.

Yet, so far, Helena was winning over their hearts. Having Alice at her side to present the baskets certainly helped. After all, if they thought Gabe’s child had accepted her as her new mother, then certainly they would also accept her as their new duchess.

When they left the third cottage, he began to help Helena onto the pony cart, but she put her hand on his arm and stopped him. “Why don’t you take Alice with you on your horse? She’ll enjoy the ride.”

He stiffened. So did Alice as she waited on the ground to scramble onto the cart after Helena. What he saw in Alice’s eyes at the idea wasn’t excitement. It was trepidation. She’d never ridden on a horse before, and the girl could surely sense that he didn’t care for Helena’s suggestion any more than she did. So he uttered the first excuse for refusing that popped into his head, “But ladies ride sidesaddle, and my horse has the wrong tack.”

“Not all ladies. Not the truly capable ones.” She dismissed his notion with an insulted sniff. “If you want Alice to grow up to be independent, then she needs to learn to ride a horse, both sidesaddle and astride.”

With a mischievous urge, he leaned in, his mouth close to her ear, and lowered his voice. “Is that what madeyouso independent and capable?”

“No, raising my three sisters did,” she answered just as impertinently as before, but this time, her voice was surprisingly husky. The sound of it sparked a pang of longing inside his gut, so did the impish look she slanted him from the corner of her eye. “Would you like all of them to move in with us and teach Alice?”

He laughed and stepped back, wisely putting distance between them. “All right, then. You win. Alice rides with me.”

He held out his gloved hand toward the little girl. She hesitated to take it, and the distrust implicit in her uncertainty pierced him more than he wanted to admit. It wasn’t only wariness of the large horse that troubled her, he knew. It was also being with him.

“You’ll ride in front of me on the pommel, and you’ll be in my arms the entire time.” When that argument didn’t persuade her, he added, “I won’t let you fall.”

But that promise did little to win her over. She darted a questioning glance at Helena, who only smiled encouragingly for her to go to Gabe. With downcast eyes, unwilling to disappoint Helena, Alice gave a jerking nod and put her hand in his.

Trying not to let her trepidation bother him, he gently lifted her off her feet and placed her onto the pommel, then swung up after her. When the horse shifted beneath his weight, Alice let out a gasp and grabbed for the horse’s mane.

“You’re all right,” Gabe assured her. “He’s just settling down beneath us. Most horses do that when you mount them.”

She nodded, but her fingers didn’t ease their hold on the horse’s hair.

His arms were around her, his body solidly behind hers. In order for her to fall, he’d have to go first, and he was far too expert a rider on a too-well trained horse for that to happen. But explaining that to her wouldn’t have done any good. Neither would having her be frightened at every move the horse made. So he took her small hands to gently pry them away from the mane and place them on the reins.

“I need you to help me guide him,” he explained. “Holding onto the reins like this will put you in control over him, all right?”

“Yes,” she whispered, but her hands clamped onto the leather reins as tightly as they had to the mane.

“His name is Maximillian,” Gabe told her. “Max, this is Lady Alice. Why don’t you say hello to her?”

He tapped his heel to the animal’s left shoulder, and the horse pawed at the ground with his foot. The little girl’s eyes flared wide with surprise at the trick. But then a happy giggle left her lips, and her death-grip on the reins loosened.

“And if you want Max to know that you’re enjoying the ride,” he added, “just reach down and pat his neck, like this.”

He patted the horse’s neck to show her. When Alice did the same, the gelding let out a long snort of pleasure, and her giggle turned into a bright laugh.

Gabe tapped his heels to the horse’s sides and sent them forward in a slow walk. Max’s antics had eased Alice’s fear, but she was still nervous. Yet as they rode along to the next cottage, Alice began to enjoy the ride and often reached her hand down to pat Max’s neck, which made the gelding’s ears flick back and forth in response. After the basket was given and it was time to get back on the horse, she eagerly reached her arms up for Gabe to lift her onto the saddle.

The morning had grown late, with only one basket remaining in the cart, and Gabe impulsively decided to put Alice onto the horse by herself for the short ride that remained. He raised the stirrups until they dangled just beneath the saddle, showed her how to place her feet into the metal hoops, and positioned the reins in her little hands. “There. You’re all set for your first real ride on a horse by yourself.” He smiled reassuring at her. “Ready?”