Supervising Sally Read Online Free PDF

we used to live in Buxton. My mother has been unwell, she and I have just come to make our home with my sister and her husband.’
    He clearly did not know he was destined to escort her to Brussels. No doubt Beatrice would tell him. If he knew she was a mere employee, would he be willing to ride out with her? Just in case he was not, she would not mention it herself. The opportunity to ride out for the first time in over four years, since they had been forced to sell her horse, was too precious to jeopardize.
    Peters reappeared, saying her ladyship’s maid would meet the young lady in her bedroom. Phoebe swallowed the last of her coffee, jumped up, and almost ran from the room. Within a quarter of an hour she was walking into the stable yard, the skirt of a very elegant dark-green habit looped over her arm, and a matching military-style hat perched on her head.
    Two horses were waiting, a tall, rangy chestnut gelding and a smaller, dainty black mare. The earl was talking to a groom, but he turned when he heard Phoebe’s footsteps and smiled at her.
    â€˜Good, you don’t waste time. Let’s go.’

    Phoebe did not see Dorothy or Hermione until it was time for dinner before the ball. She and the earl had ridden up on to the moors, and when he saw she was a confident rider he led the way along an ancient track which was an old drove road, letting the horses stretch their legs in an exhilarating gallop.
    He had brought food, and they had picnicked under an ancient oak tree, talking about the scenery. The earl told her about his own home in Shropshire, beside the River Severn, much gentler country, and Phoebe spoke of her life in
Buxton. She did not like to mention Brussels. He might think she was being too forward. It was the middle of the afternoon before they returned to the house.
    â€˜You will ache,’ he said, as he lifted her down from the saddle. ‘Soak in a bath or you will be unable to dance tonight. I warn you, I shall ask you for a waltz, and I cannot tolerate partners who plead soreness or exhaustion.’
    Phoebe had taken his advice, and the maid looking after her lit the fire in her bedroom, brought a hip bath and a procession of footmen carrying cans of hot water, and stayed to help Phoebe wash her hair. As Phoebe sank into the scented water she sighed with pleasure. This was so different from their genteel poverty in Buxton, and the grudging provision of just three extra cans of hot water once a week, which was all Jane permitted in the way of a bath.
    Kneeling in front of the fire rubbing her hair dry, Phoebe recalled every moment of the day. In the earl’s company she had not thought of the moors as bleak and inhospitable. He had talked about the birds they saw, pointed out a couple of deer hiding behind some straggling bushes, and said he loved coming here when the heather was in flower. She would enjoy travelling to Brussels in his company, she decided. If she had had any qualms about this first journey so far away from home, she no longer felt them.
    There were fewer people sitting down for dinner tonight, just the house party. Phoebe had contrived to avoid Reginald’s sisters during the rest of the afternoon, and in the drawing-room before dinner she had talked to Priscilla and the earl, giving them no opportunity to reproach her for perceived faults, though both of them had glowered at her in a manner which promised they would have plenty to say later. Hermione joined the small group and, simpering up at his lordship, began to relate all they had done during the day. It seemed mainly to consist of viewing the pictures of
Lord Drayton’s ancestors in the picture gallery, helping Lady Drayton arrange flowers, and resting in their room in preparation for the evening’s exertions.
    â€˜So where were you all day?’ she asked Phoebe, her tone hardening.
    â€˜I took Miss Kingston riding,’ the earl replied for her.
    Hermione gasped. ‘I hope you took