“Still,” she said. “I suppose being spirited, as you say, will not endear me to the other ladies.” Her lips pursed before she let out a resigned sigh. “I suppose it is for the best that I shall be spending my time in a sick room.”
His brows arched high. “A sick room?” He couldn’t stop the laugh in time. “Oh, Miss Sally. I fear you’ll have to find some other way to occupy your time at the manor.”
She frowned at that, though she didn’t seem too shocked. He had to assume Dr. Roberts had filled her in. “You see, Miss Sally, my father fears falling ill more than he is actually...ill.”
He winced as she studied him. She deserved honesty and to have her eyes wide open before coming to stay with them, and yet he did not enjoy having to discredit his own father.
But to his relief she gave a short nod. “Yes, his physician suggested as much.”
“Did he,” he murmured. How he wished he could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. When at Hampton Manor, Dr. Roberts was his father’s puppet. Rushing to and fro and catering to his whims. But the man was learned and, most importantly...not blind. They were all well aware that the earl wasn’t truly sick, but that did not make his behavior any less upsetting.
Sebastian hurried on rather than risk her questions. It was not terribly pleasant to acknowledge that one’s father was struggling. It was even less pleasant to dwell on the reasons why.
“So you see,” he said with a far more jovial tone. “You shall not be called upon to do much for the patient, I should think. Most days he goes about the business of hosting and hunting with all the vigor of a man half his age, and that leaves you—”
“With no means of occupying myself,” she finished in a wry tone. “Yes, I see the dilemma. Still, my sister will be there. And I’m certain you have a library…” She trailed off with a questioning look.
“Oh yes. The best library in the area, I’m certain.”
“There then.” She smiled placidly again. He did not care as much for this smile. It seemed put upon, like she was trying to put him at ease.
No, the twitch of her lips when she was suppressing laughter was definitely preferable. The beaming grin when she was happy was even better. His mind called up the image—a flash, really. He hadn’t had more than a second to take in her expression when she’d been racing toward him at full tilt, but it was ingrained in his mind.
It wasn’t a smile but a glow. A wild, passionate, fierce glow. It was the look of someone fully alive and in their element. Ideas came to him, bold and insistent. New images. How she might look racing across the manor’s meadows. How she’d look with her hair down and whirling about her shoulders. How she’d look in his arms while dancing. And the most vivid of all…
“Do you ride, Miss Sally?”
She blinked in surprise. “Ride?”
“Yes. As in a horse.”
Her brows fell at his teasing. “I knew what you meant. And I’m afraid I haven’t had much occasion—”
“Then that is what you shall do,” he said. And then, in case there was any doubt, “With me.”
“With you?” she echoed. She looked around, once more seeming to be on the lookout for help. “You wish to ride with me?”
“I wish to show you how. Once you are familiar and comfortable, I imagine you’ll be unstoppable. I shouldn’t try to hold you back.”
The words echoed between them and her lips parted. The words were inconsequential when he’d said them but they seemed to gain significance with each passing heartbeat.
“I think...that is, if you’re sure…” A whole new glow lit her eyes and she wasn’t pretty. No, not pretty at all.
She was breathtaking.
She quite literally took his breath away. She stole it just as assuredly as she’d stolen his senses the first time he’d seen her.
“I should like that very much,” she finished softly.
“Then it is settled.” Surely she could see the way he preened at her approval. His grin, he had no doubt, was of the sort most often seen on a lunatic headed for an asylum.
She took a step back and for the first time since he’d met her he caught a hint of uncertainty as she glanced once more toward home. “I should be getting back. My sisters will wonder.”
“Of course.” He hesitated. He did not wish to see her go. Which was silliness because he would see her the very next day. “I shall be by with the carriage at first light, if that is still convenient.”
“Yes, I shall be ready.” Her lips did that thing that he loved. They curved upward in a sly smile. The smile of a shared joke. “I cannot promise the same for my sister, but I shall do my best to get her into the carriage in a timely fashion.”
He laughed. “I am not in a hurry, Miss Sally. In fact, I was thinking we might stop at the gardens at Rosenhall along the way...if you’re so inclined.”
The idea only came to him now but when her eyes widened in surprise, he was grateful for the burst of inspiration. Yes, a detour before entering his father’s house seemed like an excellent idea indeed.
It had not been a part of the original plan. In fact, him being there at all was not according to plan. But it seemed like a genius idea when her eyes sparked with happiness. “I should like that very much.”
“Good. Very good. Very, very good.” Oh drat, he sounded like an imbecile as he gave her another daft grin. “Then I shall see you and your sister in the morning and I shall do my best to show you a pleasant day.”
Her brows drew up in a question. “You
