“No!” Richard hollered, and his voice was shortly thereafter replaced by Harry’s as he was shouting exactly the same thing.
“It can’t be,” Harry yelled as Leticia and Helena came parallel to him and Puck. “We left you back there at least a half mile ago.”
“You should never count me out of a race. You know that, Cousin.” Leticia tipped her head back then and laughed joyfully. Only a moment later, she and Helena outstripped Harry and Puck altogether, and they raced to an easy victory. As they’d made a loop of the Estate, she found herself back near the river once more. She led Helena to the bank and encouraged the horse to drink her fill. “Good girl,” she said as she massaged the horse’s flanks. “I knew we could do it.”
“How do you do it?” Harry asked as he dismounted Puck and led him toward the water. “I was sure I had you this time.”
“You have always underestimated me,” Leticia replied. She lifted her chin proudly and continued, “I aim to always overcome even the worst odds.”
“Yes,” Richard joined them then. She had not noticed his arrival, but as he led Hermia to the bank, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. “I suppose that much is true.”
He looks different somehow.
Richard took off his hat then and squatted. Just the toes of his boots were in the water, but then, he scooped some of it into his hands and splashed it on his face and in his hair. She watched as droplets clung to the ends of his long, raven-colored tresses.
“And now,” Richard said, standing once more. As he spoke, Leticia stopped staring at him and forced herself to focus on his words. “What is my punishment?”
“Punishment?” she asked. She shared a confused look with Harry.
Harry scoffed. “He lost the race, Letty. Doesn’t the last one to the water always have to suffer a consequence?”
“Ah, yes,” Leticia said, remembering herself and shaking completely free from the lustful thoughts she was currently having about Richard. “Yes,” she repeated, “I suppose, in the past, we have made Richard perform many a task when he fell short and lost the contest.”
Harry rubbed his hands together in a greedy way. “And what do you say we torment him with today?”
Richard chuckled and began taking off his overcoat. He threw both his hat and his coat onto the bank and waded further into the water. Next, his fingers flew toward the buttons on his shirt, and her heart began to thud noisily in her chest. “What will it be now? A swim down the river? Must I fetch one of the freshwater pearl mussels for you, my dear?”
And as the words tripped from his lips, Leticia felt her head spin. This was the first time he’d ever referred to her as anything other than Leticia, and the impropriety of it…using the term of affection…it made her world tilt on its axis.
“I—” Leticia turned away as she couldn’t look directly at him. Standing there, with several articles of clothing either shed or unbuttoned, she wanted more than anything to demand that he kiss her as he had done that day in the church, and it took all her power not to say as much with Harry standing nearby.
You can do this…it’s just Richard.
She schooled herself by clenching her hands into fists then she took a shallow inhalation and turned to face him once more. “There will be no punishment today.”
“No punishment?” Richard and Harry said in unison.
“But Letty,” Harry insisted, “we always make Richard do our bidding when he loses.”
“Yes,” Richard added. “I lost the race. I know the consequences. Go on then. Do your worst.”
The temptation dangled in front of her, but Leticia refused to be swayed, for she knew if she was to say what she wanted Richard to do right now, it would be considered highly inappropriate. Instead, she steeled herself and lifted her chin. Using her most formal and posh voice, she said, “There will be no punishment today.”
Harry groaned once more, and she lowered her gaze toward him. “Harry, we are adults now. We must try to act like it sometimes. Besides,” she sniffed, “things have changed.”
Harry had only been playfully jesting before when he was putting on the show of moaning and groaning. But now, his eyes darkened, and a scowl formed on his face. “Yes, I can see how things have changed a great deal,Leticia.”
She was stunned by the way he said her name so coldly. It was so unlike Harry. Even when he was most annoyed with her or during these past few weeks when he’d skulked about, he still always referred to her affectionately as Letty. But now, he had purposely said her full name, drawing attention to the fact that she was vexing him.
“I think—” Richard began, but he was not allowed to finish his thought as Harry stepped forward and gave Puck’s reins a jerk. The horse stamped his feet in the river, but Harry patted him on his side to calm him.
“Never mind,” Harry said, casting a scathing look at the pair of them. “It seems that even when you lose the race, you still win the day. Enjoy your spoils, Your Grace.” Without allowing either Richard or Leticia the chance to say anything further, Harry mounted Puck and rode away.
Richard bent to retrieve his jacket then. As he did up the buttons, he said quietly, “Seems to me, our friend is a bit upset with us.”
Leticia sighed heavily. “I know, but it can’t be helped. We must keep up with this courtship for his sake too. I do wish he would see that.”
“Perhaps if we were honest with him,” Richard suggested. “We could tell Harry that this entire courtship is a charade—if you like.”