AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sucked in air because she was sure if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to breathe for there was nothing left in her lungs.
She had to sit up, she had to speak. She had to pull herself together.
Didn’t she?
He stepped toward her and she noticed he held the reins of two horses, one of them her own. She immediately jumped to her feet and squeaked out, “Oh…we can put them in the barn.” Why did he have such an affect on her? Last night, he made her want to pull out her hair with frustration. He was arrogant and dominant and didn’t let on what he was thinking and…
“Good morning…or rather, afternoon to you as well, Miss Sherborne,” he said with an inclination of his head.
“Yes, yes…I am sorry, I don’t know where my manners have fled. I suppose living in the wild and all,” she managed to give him a fleeting smile as she took her horse from him and led him forward without looking back to see if the duke followed.
They spanned the short distance to the dilapidated stone building where they had been housing their horses. The duke looked inside and asked, “Where are Ned and Chauncey?”
“Not sure, they were gone when I woke up. They left me sleeping…as…” she glared at him. “I didn’t have a horse.”
He grinned and then sighed, “How long did you think you could remain in hiding here?”
“Long enough,” she said not meeting his eyes. She had, in fact, believed they would find the diary and Elly Bonner in a short span of time and the nightmare would be over. Evidently, this thought—erroneous.
The duke gave her speculative look, and loosened his horse’s girth while she undid her horse’s bridle and removed it to hang it on a nail in the wall before undoing the girth of her saddle.
All the while, she found it difficult to think. He walked around as though he had the answers to everything and that no one knew anything save himself. He was insufferable.
He turned just as she began lifting her saddle off her horse and hurried to take it from her. She resisted, telling him, “Oh, I am quite used to doing this for myself.”
“I am sure and yet, not when I am here to do it for you,” he answered firmly.
She maintained her hold on the saddle. A streak of stubbornness suddenly took control of her senses and she answered coldly, “And still, I can do it, thank you.”
“And as a gentleman, I am afraid, that even though you are dressed like a lad and have probably forgotten that you are a lady, still I am a gentleman.” So saying, he pulled on her saddle.
Incensed with him and what he had said to her, she pulled back hard, tripped over the uneven flooring behind her and with a short cry flung her hands up as she fell backward and landed on her rump.
What was worse than the embarrassment and pain to her backside was the fact that he looked as though he was about to burst out laughing. There was, in fact, a chuckle to the sound of his next words. “Miss Sherborne…are you all right?”
Feeling as though someone had lit a flame to her cheeks, she started to scramble to her feet and found his arm around her waist steadying and helping her to stand.
She pushed at him and said pugnaciously, “I am fine.” Was she fine? He was so close, his lips so close. Would he kiss her?
“Are you?”
Oh, but she could see the laughter in his eyes and wanted to slap him. She did raise her finger and tell him, “I will tell you this, Your Grace, yours are the manners that are lacking, not mine. Yes, I am dressed like a boy to avoid detection. Yes, my toiletries here are meager, but it is because we had no choice but to flee. We had no help at the time and no one to turn to. You come here all curt and majestic an
d above us all, thinking yours is the only way, but where were you this past year? My brother and Chauncey may be convinced that you will see us through this ugly business, but I, Your Grace, am not convinced.”
“Are you not? No, you are impulsive, childish, and foolish beyond imagination. However, I will allow that you are distressed because of your present circumstances and forgive your rudeness.”
She stomped her foot at him, “Rudeness? Ooooh.”
“We seem to have gotten off to a rough beginning. Know this my dear, I mean to help Ned and none of the rest matters as long as I do just that.”
She eyed him for a long moment and relented, “Well, I…I…I suppose I must forgive you the rest then, if you mean to help Ned.”
“Forgive me, Miss Sherborne? Forgive…?” he seemed momentarily speechless.
She cut him off, “I shall allow you to call me Mandy. As you are my guardian, it is only fitting you should call me by my name.” She was all too conscious of the way she must look in her brother’s clothing and was suddenly flustered by it. Why she should care, she couldn’t tell, but suddenly she did.
“But my dear, your name is Amanda and it is a lovely name. Shall I not call you Amanda?” He had stepped closer to her.
