The Aim of a Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

until she returned. The stable boy who had released him the previous day flushed and promised to make sure no future escape would take place.
    Diana surveyed the contents of her archery shed— the bows and arrows, the pieces of leather for finger and arm guards. After setting aside her own equipment, she chose a larger bow and longer arrows for Alma. When he arrived she asked him to test the draw, a matter which he did awkwardly, never having handled a bow before. She demonstrated for him and taught him to brace the bow for himself. While demonstrating the proper stance and nocking procedure, she swept her long skirts behind her with a deft movement which amused her companion. Indeed, as he had decided there was not the least bit of coquetry in her action. Diana, unaware of his thoughts, taught him to hold and draw properly, to use an anchor point and the relaxed attitude with which one must release the arrow once it was properly aimed.
    Accustomed to excelling at all forms of sport in which he participated, Alma expected archery to prove no exception. Ignoring Diana’s warning to use guards for his fingers and arm, he was vastly irritated with himself and her, when he was stung by the bowstring after he had released his first arrow, which came nowhere near the target.
    “Confound it, Miss Savile, you are determined to kill me,” he barked.
    “You moved your elbow, Lord Alma.”
    “Well, you didn’t tell me not to.”
    Diana handed him the guards he had refused previously and he accepted them, though he glowered at her menacingly. While he was attaching them, she called his attention to her own method of handling the bow; her arrow landed precisely in the center of the target.
    “Remarkable!” he exclaimed admiringly, forgetting his grievance. After several attempts he began to hit the target with a fair degree of accuracy.
    “Well done, Lord Alma. You will make an excellent archer in no time.”
    “Miss Savile,” he said ominously, “these arrows we're using, they are not like the one you took from me.”
    Diana flushed guiltily. “No, these are target arrows. I was using hunting arrows yesterday. I...wanted to see whether I would be as accurate with them.”
    Surprisingly, Alma’s frown became an amused grin, and he shook his head wonderingly. “Just my luck to arrive when you were curious.”
    “Yes, it was very unfortunate,” she sighed, her eyes laughing. “You’re a good sport, Lord Alma. Would you like to see Crusader?"
    Alma was becoming familiar with her rapid changes of subject. “Yes, he should be exercised. I have scheduled a match between him and Barrymore’s Chanticleer at the Spring Meetings, and I sent my groom ahead to London. Have you anyone who can handle him?”
    “I can manage him if he’s well-mannered,” she suggested hesitantly.
    He eyed her skeptically. “You are very small for so large an animal, if you will excuse my saying so.”
    “You know that doesn’t signify if he’s well-trained,” she protested.
    "And if I say he’s not well-trained you will wonder why I own him,” he grumbled, uneasily running a hand through his black hair.
    “If you do not wish me to ride him, I shall not. Why not come to the stables and you can watch me?” Although her eyes beseeched him, she spoke diffidently.
    “Very well.”
    They returned the archery equipment to the shed and proceeded to the stables, where Diana released Rogue. In an ecstasy of delight the dog nearly knocked her over, and Alma again expressed his doubts of her ability to control Crusader.
    Regardless, Diana ordered the horse saddled and wandered around the stables with Alma during the wait pointing out the horses bred at the Park. When Crusader was ready, Jenkins spoke confidently to his mistress. “He’s pretty-behaved, Miss Diana. I misdoubt me you will have any trouble with him.”
    She nodded and allowed him to hand her into the saddle, all the while a whisper of encouragement to the horse on her lips. The