His chest tugged with an ache of admiration and sympathy.“I’m afraid I’m woefully unqualified to help you answer that question.”
Constance reached over to pat him consolingly on the knee as they rode.“You still have your uses.”
“Do I?”Neil wondered skeptically.
“Certainly,” Constance assured him, eyes still twinkling.“And I’ll be sure to let you know all about them—just as soon as I figure out what they are.”
Neil struggled to hide a smile.“Why do I find myself recalling that time you put pepper in my tea?”
Constance snorted.
A rumble of soft, distant thunder echoed across the fields.
“Should we find a place to stop?”Neil pressed.“It looks like it might rain.”
“It’s the monsoon,” Constance countered.“If we insist on avoiding the rain, we won’t get anywhere until October.Come on!”
?
Eighteen
Ellie’s muscles balkedat the unaccustomed effort of the ride as the day drifted toward afternoon.Sitting on top of an animal that did all the walking for you really oughtn’t be so strenuous—or unsettling.Ellie was uncomfortably conscious of just how far the ground was and how easily she might land there if the horse grew irritated with her.
She glanced back at Constance and Neil.They had fallen a little behind, out of earshot but still comfortably within view.
“Worrying about your brother?”Adam asked.
He was perfectly at ease riding beside her, his borrowed Winchester slung over his shoulder.Unsurprisingly, he had shucked out of his jacket the moment they’d left the palace.It was slung across the back of his saddle, where he would likely be perfectly happy to lose it forever.The sleeves of his shirt were pushed up to expose his tanned forearms.
Vanika bounced ahead of them on her mule, Kalb trotting happily at her side.
“There are so many ways this pretend engagement of theirs could go wrong,” Ellie admitted.
Adam shot her a thoughtful look.“You haven’t wondered…”
“Wondered what?”Ellie pressed when he trailed off.
“Whether there might actually be something going on between those two.”
“Neil and Constance?”Ellie echoed uncomfortably.“My stick-in-the-mud brother and the girl who spent most of our childhood finding creative ways to torment him?”
“She’s not a kid anymore,” Adam pointed out.
Ellie raised her brows.
His blue gaze sparked with warm humor.“Don’t worry, Princess.I’ve only got eyes for one set of trousers around here.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“So?”he prompted.
“Don’t be silly,” Ellie quickly answered.
“You saying that because you’re sure?Or because the idea gives you the willies?”
Ellie shot him a glare.“Constance and Neil are two grown adults perfectly capable of making their own decisions in life.Why should I have the ‘willies’ about whatever they choose to do with each other?”
“No idea,” Adam replied innocently.
