Trotting to the bush, he drew rein and looked down at her. His chest was heaving-the effort of the ride had left him feeling as if he’d run a mile.
His temper left him feeling like tearing a strip off her.
She started to smile at him, then caught the look in his narrowed eyes.
“You witless female!” He paused to let the fury behind the words sink in. “You heard me yell-why the devil didn’t you stop?”
Her eyes flashed green fire; her chin set mulishly. “I heard you, but I’d be surprised if even a sophisticated gentleman such as yourself could have known there was a gorse bush here!”
“It wasn’t the gorse that was your problem.” She struggled to sit up, but the gorse wasn’t that accommodating. He swung down from the chestnut’s back. “Damn it-you shouldn’t be riding, certainly not hell-bent as you were, if you can’t pace your mount better. The grey was tired.”
“He wasn’t!” She struggled even more furiously to rise.
“Here.” He held out a hand. When she hesitated, eyeing his hand and him through narrowed eyes, he added, “Either take my damned hand, or I’ll leave you there for the night.”
The threat was a good one-the gorse was in bloom, well endowed with spiny spikes.
With a look as haughty as any princess, she held out a gloved hand. He grasped it and pulled-then she was on her feet before him.
“Thank you.”
Her tone suggested she would rather have accepted help from a leper. Nose elevating, giving a haughty swish of her hips, she swung her heavy skirts around and turned to the grey. “He is not tired.” Then her voice changed. “Knight… come on, boy.”
The grey lifted his head, pricked his ears, then came ambling over.
“You can’t get back in the saddle.”
At the clipped, blunt words, Francesca threw a dismissive look over her shoulder. “I’m not one of your lily-livered English misses who can’t mount without help.”
He was silent for a moment, then replied, “Very well. Let’s see how far you get.”
Reaching for Knight’s reins, she gathered them, using the action to camouflage another glance at her almost-betrothed. He was standing, arms crossed, watching her. He’d made no attempt to take his chestnut’s reins.
His expression was stony-and calmly expectant.
Francesca stopped. She stared at him. “What?”
He took his time answering. “You fell into gorse.”
“So?”
After another aggravating moment, he asked, “Don’t they have gorse in Italy?”
“No.” She frowned. “Not like tha-” The truth dawned; eyes widening, she stared at him, then twisted to look at the back of her skirt. It was covered in snapped-off spikes. She grabbed at her long curls, pulling them over her shoulders. They were adorned with spikes, too. “Oh, no!”
She shot him a glance that told him what she thought of him, then fell to pulling the spiny spikes from her skirt. She couldn’t see; in places, she could barely reach.
“Would you like me to help?”
She looked up. He stood no more than two feet away. The offer had been couched in a completely flat tone. There was nothing to be read in his eyes; his expression was utterly bland.
She gritted her teeth. “Please.”
“Turn around.”
She did, then looked over her shoulder. He hunkered down behind her and started plucking spikes from her skirt. She felt nothing more than an occasional tug. Reassured, she turned her attention to the curls tumbling down her back to her waist; she pulled and plucked, reached and stretched-he growled at her to stand still, but otherwise applied himself to her skirts in silence.
His gaze fixed on the emerald velvet, Gyles tried not to think of what it was covering. Difficult. He tried even harder not to think of the emotions that had crashed through him in the instant she’d fallen.