“You will survive. I am certain of it. Any man who can be thrown and live to tell the tale can face some honesty.”
Her words were mildly icy, but the way she was looking at him was anything but. If he were a less intelligent man, he might have thought that she liked him.
“There it is,” he said.
Her brows drew together slightly. “What?”
“The way you are looking at me.”
“I do not know what you mean. I never look at you in any particular way.”
“But you do, and this look in particular is the one you give me when you are trying not to show that you find me entertaining.”
Anne looked immediately unimpressed. “I never find you entertaining.”
Diamond nudged her shoulder impatiently, as though he were waiting for the discussion to be done with.
Dorian narrowed his eyes at the horse. “You are most disrespectful.”
Anne’s lips twitched faintly. “He simply has excellent judgment.”
“Your horse dislikes me.”
“He tolerates you, though.”
“That somehow feels worse.”
“He tolerated no one when you bought him,” Anne reminded him. “You should consider yourself fortunate.”
Dorian leaned casually against the paddock fence, watching her loosen Diamond’s reins.
“You know,” he said after a moment, “my trainers now listen to you more than they listen to me.”
“That says more about your trainers than it does me.”
“No,” he said quietly, still watching her. “I think it says something about you.”
She glanced up briefly. Something softened between them for only a moment, before she looked away again.
Dorian had begun noticing these moments more frequently—the pauses, the almost-smiles she seemed annoyed at. Marriage had not made her softer exactly. She still guarded herself carefully, yet he had begun seeing glimpses of someone warmer, someone who still laughed when she forgot herself long enough to allow it.
The realization unsettled him more than he cared to admit, mostly because he had begun wanting to be the reason for it.
“You should ride with me.” The words left his mouth before he thought them through.
Anne looked up immediately. “No.”
The refusal came so quickly that he nearly laughed.
“You did not even consider it.” He pushed off the fence. “You spend all day here.”
“Youspend all day here.”
“Yes,” he agreed easily. “Which is precisely why I deserve to spend some time away, and with company.” He followed her as she led the horse toward the paddock. “One hour.”
“No.”
“Half an hour?”
