What business could a man like this have with Daniel? Suspicions swirled. She studied the driver, from the brim of his tall beaver hat to the toes of his shiny boots. Thea had been subjected to enough elocution lessons to recognise that aristocratic drawl. His voice was deep and cultured-that of a gentleman born. It was a very long time since she had allowed herself to be attracted to any man. She quashed the tug of attraction she recognised deep in her core. The stranger appraised her with raised brows and she scowled back at him, irritated by the amused curl of his lips. Thankfully, though, Daniel had soon outgrown that wild behaviour.Īnd now Thea clung to her belief that whilst Bullet was missing, there was still hope. He was on horseback.Īnd that had been her one ray of hope in this desperate mess, one that she clung to with all her heart: her brother had ridden away and not returned, but neither had Bullet, his grey gelding, whose homing instinct was powerful and who in the past had often carried his foxed rider safely home after a night spent drinking. And besides.įool! Daniel didn’t even take his curricle. They were a pair of blacks, yes, but of far superior quality to Daniel’s, and a groom-another stranger-perched on the back of the curricle. I mistook your horses for those of my brother’s but I see, upon closer examination, they are not his.’ She bit her lip as sick disappointment flooded her, followed by the fear that had dogged her ever since her brother had failed to come home. ‘Oh!’ Those doubts had caught up with her and knocked her flat. Her jaw snapped shut and her cheeks scorched. ‘Who are you? Where is Daniel?’ She raked the driver with her eyes and then switched her gaze to the horses. Her eyes met those of the driver-a stranger-and she skidded to a halt, gravel spinning from beneath her feet. She shut her mind against the evidence of her eyes as she reached the foot of the steps and hurried to the curricle. She could not bear to let that prayer of hope fizzle and die. Across the hall and through the front door she sped.ĭoubts nipped at her as she sprinted down the steps to the now stationary conveyance, but she ignored them. A glimpse of a curricle drawn by a pair of blacks set her heart racing, and she flung her embroidery aside, gathered her skirts and ran for the door.
She leapt to her feet and hurried to the salon window.
Hope erupted through her.it had been five days since her brother had gone out one day and not returned. Thea’s head snapped up at the sound of wheels crunching across the gravel outside Stourwell Court.
0 kommentar(er)
