before he could take her to task for riding on without him.
“Yes, but I would prefer that you wait for me next time,” Heath chided. “You should have an escort when you ride anywhere in London.”
“A pity that I cannot oblige,” she replied sweetly, spurring her horse into a faster canter. “You see, I mean to leave you in my dust.”
Heath couldn’t help but grin at her provocation. “Is that a challenge to race, Miss Loring?”
“Most certainly,” she called over her shoulder.
Bending over the mare’s neck, she asked for more speed, and Heath knew that if he wanted to keep Lily in sight, he would have to accept her challenge.
He dug his heels into his mount’s sides, and soon they were both galloping along the path, heedless of the impropriety of racing through a public park.
He managed to close some of the distance between them, yet he was distracted by the simple pleasure of watching Lily ride. She was a hellion in the saddle, that was strikingly clear. And then she threw her head back and laughed with sheer exuberance.
At the sound of her joyful laughter, Heath felt a sharp tug of sheer lust rippling in his gut.
Realizing that he would never win their race if he didn’t focus, though, he put all his effort into the match. Even so, she gradually drew away from him. And when they finally reached the end of the path at the far end of the park, Lily was ahead by nearly two lengths.
When she pulled up, her spirited mare was snorting and prancing in excitement, and Lily herself was a bit breathless.
“That was utterly delightful!” she exclaimed, patting the mare’s neck.
Heath drew rein ruefully, aware that he hadn’t been bested that badly in a horse race since he and Marcus and Drew were boys. He was even more aware of his exhilaration at watching Lily.
He couldn’t see the upper part of her face because of that damned veil, but her ripe mouth alone was enough to rouse a stimulating fantasy in his mind: making love to Lily and setting all that marvelous passion free. He had no doubt what she would be like in his bed. Hot, passionate, eager, wild.
The thought made him hard at once, which regrettably made his doeskin riding breeches painfully tight. Hence, Heath was glad for the slower pace when they turned back the way they had come and kept to a walk to cool their sweating horses.
They had reached the juncture of a new path when Heath found himself hailed again by more of his acquaintances. This time it was two ladies driving a dashing phaeton.
“You are quite popular this morning, my lord,” Lily murmured, flashing him a mischievous smile before turning her horse down the side path.
By the time Heath had suffered the ladies’ effusive regards, Lily was nowhere in sight. Impatiently he set out after her, a niggling concern for her safety chafing at him. Even though she seemed well able to take care of herself, an unaccompanied young lady could be a target for any manner of riffraff.
He followed the path Lily had taken, moving off it now and then to make certain she wasn’t hiding behind a thicket or concealed in a stand of trees. But there was no sign of her anywhere. She had disappeared.
Heath combed the entire park twice to no avail. Twenty minutes later, he finally returned to the park entrance and found her patiently waiting for him.
His relief vied with vexation, although her enchanting smile almost made him forget his ire.
“What kept you, Lord Claybourne? I have been waiting for simply ages.”
Her tone was teasing, provocative, and it made Heath want to drag Lily off her mare and onto his lap so he could kiss her senseless. But he settled for saying mildly, “I was searching for you, of course. I couldn’t credit that you would be so unwise as to ride alone. It can be dangerous for you.”
“Perhaps, but I decided to start as I mean to go on. I won’t make it easy for you to win points by always acquiescing passively to your tactics, my lord.” Her saucy smile broadened. “What will our judges think when you confess that you lost your quarry? It should prove amusing, seeing you explain how I managed to escape your escort.”
“It will hardly be amusing for me,” he said dryly.
She laughed at his exasperation. At that husky, glorious laughter, Heath felt a rush of heat arrow through him.
“I expect you won’t find it amusing, my lord,” Lily agreed. “But I warned you, remember? This is what you can expect if you insist on continuing our game. Are you willing to give up yet?” she asked sweetly as she turned her horse toward the street.
“Not on your life.”
He wasn’t about to give her up now, Heath reflected silently. He wanted this bright-eyed spitfire who radiated vibrancy. And the only honorable way to have her was through marriage.
The prospect was growing more appealing by the moment. He could imagine Lily as his wife now. He could even imagine willingly spending time with her once they were wed.
Long pleasurable nights filled with passion. Delightful days filled with laughter and adventure.
However, it would be a tactical mistake to suggest any such future to Lily, Heath knew. “You will find that challenges only spur me on to greater lengths,” he said instead.
“They do the same for me,” she replied.
“See, I’ve been trying to tell you we have a great deal in common.”
Her smile returned. “I don’t deny that, but my love of a challenge will prove very uncomfortable in a wife.”
“Actually I think it will prove exhilarating. And I think you are utterly enchanting.”
That made her smile falter. “I wish you wouldn’t do that, Lord Claybourne-shower me with empty flattery.”
“It is not empty, believe me.”
“Well, I don’t want your compliments.”
“Very well, if it makes you uneasy, I will stop.”
That was another difference between Lily and most other women he knew. She was so unassuming about her beauty. And she had no idea how desirable he found her.
But he did find her utterly desirable. There was a fire in her, and he wanted to be burned.
He had never expected to encounter a woman like Lily, Heath reflected. She continually surprised him, even if she left him exasperated and very determined to win their battle. She was feisty, clever, tart-tongued, generous, with a lively sense of adventure.
His mother had possessed her same high spirits, he recalled. In truth, he saw something of his mother’s vividness in Lily…except that his mother had been rather gay and flighty, always living for the moment.
Camilla was always laughing, also. He still missed the laughter she’d instilled in his childhood. She had died in childbirth when he was ten, dealing Heath a severe blow.
It had been a blow to his father as well, surprisingly enough. Before Camilla’s death, his father had been a staid, boring, deadly dull stick in the mud. And afterward, Simon had become more like a corpse, as if the very life had drained out of him. He’d withdrawn even further into his shell, closed himself off to any kind of joy or pleasure.
Heath was adamantly determined never to turn out like his father, which was why he’d pursued his own pleasures all those years-to prove he was totally different from his illustrious sire.
His desire for excitement and adventure had been a chief source of argument between them when Heath was in his salad days. His father had put great store in responsibility and duty, perhaps because he had so little in his life to fulfill or gratify him.
The fact that his parents had been so unsuited to each other in personalities and temperament was a prime reason Heath had resisted matrimony in the past. His greatest fear was that he would end up wedding an insipid, spiritless gentlewoman merely to sire necessary heirs.
But he certainly needn’t fear that with Lily. She was the first woman he’d ever met who could lure him into
