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friendship with the family was well known. “She sits a horse like an Amazon,” he murmured.
    Helena did indeed look at home on her big black gelding. “This is the first time I’ve seen her on horseback.”
    “You should see her ride with the local hunt up in Leicestershire. A genteel trot around Hyde Park can’t convey her magnificence. She takes your breath away.”
    Caroline regarded him curiously. “I forgot that your estates aren’t far from the Nashes’.”
    He turned to her and suddenly she found him more appealing than ever before. The rueful smile in his deep-set green eyes changed him from a hero in a novel to someone much warmer and more approachable. “We grew up together. Helena used to try to boss me around.”
    Caroline laughed. “She always thinks she knows best, doesn’t she? The problem is that she usually does.”
    “Good morning, West, Caro.” The faint chill in Silas’s voice made Caroline’s head snap up. Was she still out of favor? She’d hoped their recent awkwardness had passed. Three nights ago at the opera, he’d seemed his usual self. Well, mostly. Upon reflection, she’d wondered how truthful he’d been about his friends. Especially when he’d made no secret of his dislike of her plans.
    “Good morning,” Helena said, and Caroline caught the critical glance she cast her brother. “Silas decided to join us. I hope you don’t mind.”
    “I was telling Lady Beaumont that I pulled your pigtails when you were an infant.”
    Helena’s unreadable dark gaze settled on West. “Yes, you were an abominable child.”
    His eyes glittered bright emerald. “You didn’t always think that, Helena. I gave you your first kiss, if I recall.”
    Surprised, Caroline studied her friend. Helena hadn’t confided that particular morsel. “Helena, you must tell me more.”
    If West’s announcement embarrassed Helena, she didn’t show it. The haughty features beneath the stylish hat remained impassive. “In truth, I’d forgotten. How kind of you to remind me, West. I wouldn’t expect you to remember. After all, you’ve had so many…kisses since.”
    Caroline caught West’s chagrin, but it was gone before she could interpret it. “You unsheathe your claws early in the day, Lady Crewe,” he said neutrally, although something told Caroline that his reaction was anything but neutral. It seemed that Helena and West shared a long history. Not altogether a happy one either.
    “You two can’t help yourselves,” Silas said lightly from the back of his dapple gray. “You’re giving Caro quite the wrong impression of our childhood revels. Shall we ride?”
    Caroline had hoped to use this meeting to further her acquaintance with West, but conscience made her rein in beside Helena while the two men went ahead. “Are you all right?”
    Helena turned an opaque dark gaze upon her. She hardly seemed aware of the need to control the huge brute of a horse ambling along the path in perfect docility. West was right. She was clearly an adept horsewoman. “I’d dearly love a good long gallop. Curse the dictates of propriety.”
    Her friend’s evasion didn’t distract Caroline. “I had no idea you and West were so close.”
    Helena’s eyes narrowed on West’s back in its superbly cut black coat. “We’re not.”
    “It sounds like you are. Or at least you were.”
    She shrugged. “We’ve always rubbed each other up the wrong way.”
    Caroline bit her lip, unsure whether to speak her mind. Helena could be prickly when someone peered beneath her unconcerned manner to the painful secrets beneath. But this was important. “If you have your eye on West, I can step aside.”
    A mocking smile curled Helena’s lips. “That’s astonishingly generous.”
    “You’re my friend.”
    “In love and war, no rules apply.”
    Caroline frowned, wishing she didn’t have to devote quite so much of her attention to steering her horse. She was only a middling rider while it was obvious that West and the