Serena Read Online Free Page B

many of you dislike the side saddle?”
    “Because men , like yourself, think we present a ‘charming’ picture with our skirts spread out around our horse, sedately walking said horses along …” She laughed. “Also, to be fair, I suppose tradition puts us in sidesaddles, which is fine for riding in a park or some other quiet sort of thing. When I ride to hounds, I don’t bother with a ladies’ saddle, for I ride ‘neck or nothing’, and that requires a firm grip with both legs around one’s horse.”
    “I should say so. Well, I would never expect you to use a sidesaddle if you preferred not. I can tell you that,” he said with conviction. “I should always want you to be exactly who you are.”
    “Oh, Freddy, you are sweet, but you know … you should be at school.”
    “How about a bit of a race to the Old Well?” he said, completely ignoring her remark. “I shall give you a head start since you are hampered by your sidesaddle.”
    “I don’t need a head start, young man, no matter what saddle I am sitting!” she countered.
    He came up alongside her and said, “Shall we make it interesting then?”
    “Ah, a wager?” she answered, giving him an arched look.
    “Your dark eyes bewitch me,” he answered.
    “The wager, Freddy?” she returned warningly. “Right, what shall it be, my handsome puppy?”
    “Yes. I,” he said, sitting tall in his saddle, “am not a puppy, but a man, as you shall soon learn.”
    She couldn’t help the hearty laugh that burst out of her. He looked so put out. “Yes, my Lord Radburn. How remiss of me to not take notice. Now, what is the wager?”
    “If you lose, you marry me ,” he teased.
    “No, puppy lord,” she responded, giving him an eye and a tease. “If you lose, you return to school .”
    “No and never. That would leave Warren free to bother you, and I don’t mean to do that.”
    “Freddy …” Serena sighed. “I am well able to fend off any and all … including your attentions, my dear, dear boy.” She hoped she sounded sisterly.
    His color heightened. He reached over and touched her forearm. “I swear … three years between us is nothing. I have all the education I need. I won’t leave you to the wolves, and those are not the words of a puppy, but of a man.”
    She couldn’t hurt him outright, but she had to do something. She sighed and said, “Never mind all this now. The well is just ahead, and since we cannot agree on a wager, there shall be no racing, but I daresay we should hurry along as Sir Newton waits for no one when it is time to take the hounds for their run.”
    They found this to be quite the case, as they arrived to find Sir Newton already leading his hounds away from the kennel.
    They waved and hurried their horses along to join the elderly man. They watched with great interest as he trained his hounds to the sound of his horn.
    He called his pack in to him, but one, Warrior, stood at the edge of the woods, quite torn because he had obviously picked up on the scent of a fox. He raised his head and sang out his song, encouraging his master and fellow hounds to follow in his wake as he took off.
    Two hounds immediately joined him, making music of their own, and then all havoc broke loose.
    This was training only—a time for exercise, not hunting. The hounds had been relaxing all summer, though, and were eager to give chase. The morning was crisp and the hunt something they enjoyed, so when Warrior gave the call, they heard nothing else.
    “And he’s supposed to be the lead hound, ha.” Sir Newton muttered. “Warrior! Damn it, you know better.”
    Frantically he called to the two gentlemen serving as ‘whips’, and they attempted to recall their hounds with voice commands and the use of their horns.
    The hounds, however, were on a hot scent. At that moment it was all they knew, and they were off doing what they had been bred and trained to do—track fresh scent.
    Freddy exchanged a look with Serena, and they both