Elva was silent for a moment.
“That is just a point you could not miss making because it is so obvious,” she said. “Eventually I suppose I will bear children, preferably a large number of sons who will ride as well as – as – my father does.”
“You very nearly said as well as you do,” the Duke interposed.
“All right, I am not ashamed of riding well and my children shall learn to ride as soon as they can walk.”
“You will need to have a husband first to produce them!”
Elva sighed.
“That of course is the one snag. All the men I have met so far are so dim-witted that I would either run away before my honeymoon was over or find some subtle way of disposing of them!”
“All I can say,” said the Duke after a moment’s silence, “is that you frighten me and I am only hoping that you will not push
