Jordan was cursing beneath his breath as he finally subdued the bays. “Good God, what are you about? Did you wish to kill us all?”
She stiffened defensively. “How was I to know they would behave so foolishly? My horse is not so skittish.”
“These horses are bred for spirit and speed, not docility.” He glared at her. “You don’t jump out in front of a team like this and expect them to behave like plow horses.”
“Perhaps if you’d train them to be better-” She stopped and scowled at him. “Very well, I’m in the wrong. I should not have done it.”
“Yes, you are.” He stared speculatively at her. “But you don’t usually admit it so readily. What mischief have you been practicing?”
“No mischief. You speak as if I were as young as Alex.”
“It’s how I’ve been endeavoring to picture you for the last few days. However, I doubt if even Alex would have the lack of maturity to step out before a team of horses.”
She gestured impatiently. “I wished to talk to you. I have a request to make.”
“You couldn’t wait until I reached Cambaron?”
“Dorothy is there, and she would… She is very determined to have her own way and has very strong opinions. She says you would not mind, but I have to be certain.”
“This request is becoming lengthy, and it’s not good to keep the horses standing.” He held out his hand. “Get in the phaeton.”
She cast a wary look at the horses as she sidled past them. As he pulled her up and onto the seat next to him, her stomach rolled queasily. She felt perilously high and vulnerable in the open carriage. “I think I’d rather get down and walk beside you.”
“Nonsense.” He flicked the reins, and the team leaped forward with a bound. “The request?”
She said in a rush, “Dorothy says you wouldn’t mind if I made stained-glass panels for the windows at the castle.” She added, “And perhaps decorations for some of the walls.”
“Why should I mind? If your work is creditable, it can only improve the place.” His gaze suddenly narrowed on her face. “Is that all?”
“Well, not exactly.” She moistened her lips. “I wonder if you’d let me cut a hole in the roof.”
He blinked. “I beg your pardon? Wouldn’t that be a trifle drafty?”
“Not the entire roof. Just in the south wing where the ballroom is located.”
“I see,” he said solemnly. “I’m relieved we’re to have a little shelter from the elements. I knew you had a dislike for Cambaron, but don’t you think such destruction is a little extreme?”
He was not taking her seriously. “It will only be for a little while. We needn’t start cutting for a long while, and even after the hole is there, we can cover it until I’m ready.”
“Until you’re ready for what?”
“A dome.” She rushed on eagerly. “I’ve always dreamed of doing one. A beautiful stained-glass dome with flowers and vines and perhaps birds. Wouldn’t that be splendid?”
His stared musingly at her. “It sounds utterly magnificent… and complicated. Are you sure you’d be capable of fashioning this dome?”
She nodded. “The panels themselves will not be too difficult. The precision and balance of setting the panels into the dome will make up the greatest challenge. I’m very good now, and the more complicated tasks I undertake, the better I’ll get.” With a touch of defiance she added, “And you do want me to improve. Isn’t that why I’m here?”
He didn’t answer the challenge. “And how long would such a project take?”
“I don’t know. A long time. There’s a great deal of work involved in such a project.”
“I can see there would be.” He added dryly, “And in the meantime I exist with a monstrous hole in my roof.”
Her face fell with disappointment. “Yes.” She bit her lip. “You’re right, it’s too much to ask.”
He was silent a moment. “How big a hole?”
Hope leaped within her. “Not the entire ballroom. The dome would be in the center.”
“How comforting.”
She held her breath.
“Oh, the devil with it.” He smiled recklessly. “What do I care if you chop up the place? Make your blasted dome.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.” He shook his head as he saw her luminous expression. “It takes very little to make you happy.”
“This isn’t little.” She was so excited, she was having trouble sitting still. “It’s very seldom a craftsman gets to work on such a project. My grandmama did only two domes in her entire life.”
“Well, if you don’t stop wriggling, you won’t be alive to do this one,” he said. “You’re making the horses restless.”
She didn’t care. She was so full of joyful exuberance, even the dratted horses didn’t intimidate her. “You seem to be able to control them.”
“Would you like to try?”
She looked at him, startled. “Me?”
“A new experience.” He put his left arm around her and transferred the reins to her hands, which he then covered with his own. “Hold tight, but don’t pull.”
Power. Excitement soared through her as she felt the pull on the reins. All that strength and spirit, and she was holding it in check, guiding it!
He chuckled. “You like it.”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly. “It’s… wonderful. Take your hands away. Let me do it alone.”
“Not this time.” He moved his arm from around her and took back the reins. “Next time I come to Cambaron, I’ll give you a lesson in handling the ribbons.”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise.” He smiled indulgently. “If I keep you sufficiently occupied, perhaps you’ll delay poking a hole in my roof until the winter snows are done.”
Perhaps this wasn’t the time to tell him that the snows would come and go again before she would be through with the flower dome. “You’re going away again?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
“I have business to conduct abroad.”
“When will you be back?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. Perhaps in the spring.”
Spring. He wouldn’t be back until spring. She would be able to work with no interference and with no inner torment. The realization must not have set in yet, otherwise she wouldn’t feel this curious flatness.
The gates of Cambaron were just ahead, and she was surprised at the sharp twinge of disappointment she experienced. Their short time together on the phaeton had been amazingly companionable. She had not been aware of even a hint of sensuality in Jordan’s manner. He had been as casually indulgent as if she had been a younger sister.
She darted a glance at him from the corner of her eye. His expression was bland, controlled, faintly amused. Yet it was too… too smooth, as if he were wearing a mask.
He did wear a mask, she realized suddenly. She never really knew what he was thinking unless he told her.
“What are you plotting now?” he asked with mock alarm. “The ballroom is one thing, but I absolutely refuse to allow a hole in the roof of my stable. My horses are much more sensitive than any of the two-legged specimens of my acquaintance.”
What did she care what was beneath the mask? He had said yes. He had given her the opportunity to create her dome! “I wouldn’t think of it.” She smiled happily. “You’re not the only one who likes horses better than people. Alex would never permit it.”
William says next year I’ll be ready for a bigger horse,” Alex said as Marianna tucked the
