The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance by Candice Hern, Bárbara Metzger, Emma Wildes, Sharon Page, Delilah Marvelle, Anna Campbell, Lorraine Heath, Elizabeth Boyle, Deborah Raleigh, Margo Maguire, Michèle Ann Young, Sara Bennett, Anthea Lawson, Trisha Telep, Robyn DeHart, Carolyn Jewel, Amanda Grange, Vanessa Kelly, Patricia Rice, Christie Kelley, Leah Ball, Caroline Linden, Shirley Kennedy, Julia Templeton

adorable.”
    “I am sure they are. But are they respectable?”
    “They are respectable enough for a vicar’s daughter,” replied Caroline. “But they happen to be in various colours, and Mama is so fussy about me wearing white. I cannot think why. It does not suit me, and, anyway, young ladies no longer wear exclusively white. That fashion went out when Mama was a girl.”
    “As long ago as that?” enquired Annabelle.
    “Are you laughing at me?” asked Caroline suspiciously.
    “Not at all.”
    They seated themselves in the carriage. Annabelle took the reins, and then they were off.
    Caroline revelled in the admiring glances that were directed towards them as they set out, though she was sensible enough to realize that they were directed towards Annabelle rather than herself, and she dreamed of the day when she would be the one holding the reins. What a figure she would cut as she dashed through the streets!
    “How did you learn to drive?” asked Caroline. “Did your papa teach you?”
    “No,” said Annabelle. “It was … someone else.”
    Her mind flew back to the day when Daniel had said to her, “It is about time you learned to handle the reins.” And she remembered him putting them in her hands, then putting one arm around her so that he could show her how to hold them properly, and the way it made her feel, with his hands around hers and his breath on her cheek and …
    “Aunt Annabelle!”
    Caroline’s cry brought her back to the present just in time, as a brewer’s cart rolled out from a side road and she had to swerve in order to avoid it. The carriage behind her was not so lucky, and the sound of heated cries and barrels rolling on to the road followed them as they headed out to the country.
    Green fields took the place of crowded streets. The air was fresh here, without the smell of fish or pies or a hundred other things, savoury and unsavoury, which perfumed the London streets. Annabelle breathed in deeply. It was good to be alive.
    “I am looking forward to the party,” she said.
    “But I am not. It will be very boring,” said Caroline with a yawn. “House parties always are.”
    “There might be some interesting people there,” said Annabelle.
    “And there might not.”
    “There speaks the experience of seventeen,” said Annabelle, laughing.
    “I know already who will be there. A retired general who will pinch my cheek and call me a clever puss. An old admiral who will talk of nothing but the sea and try to tell me all about the Battle of Flamingo—”
    “I believe you mean the Battle of St Domingo.”
    “And a whole bunch of mamas who will look daggers at me because I am prettier than their daughters.”
    “But once they learn you are to marry, they will breathe a sigh of relief. They will thank heaven for Able because they will know that, for all your pretty face, you are no competition for their daughters. A girl in love has no interest in anyone else. She does not like to dance with the most eligible bachelors, she prefers to sit at the side of the room.”
    Caroline looked at her suspiciously, but Annabelle preserved a countenance of angelic innocence, and they carried on their way.
    They stopped shortly after midday, choosing an idyllic spot in a country lane. The tiger climbed over the stile and into the neighbouring field, where he spread out a rug and began to unpack the picnic hamper. Annabelle and Caroline strolled along the lane to stretch their legs before settling themselves on the rug, beneath the spreading arms of a chestnut tree.
    “How much farther is it to Whitegates?” asked Caroline.
    “We have a few hours more to travel,” said Annabelle.
    “Can I drive for part of the way?”
    “Very well. I will give you your first lesson after lunch.”
    They started to eat their picnic. It was a delicate affair of chicken and ham, with crusty bread and newly churned butter, and they finished their repast with peaches and grapes.
    Their meal over, Caroline looked