Page 10 of Persuasions of an Earl's Daughter

It had to be because of her. He watched her hasten up to a boy who had found a moment’s peace sitting on an overturned bucket between the stables and the carriage house. From the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he ceased thinking of her as Lady Lilly Musgrave. It seemed erroneous somehow even though they were not well-acquainted enough for him to refer to her by her first name. Something about her warranted familiarity.

Her bonnet hung from its ribbons around her neck and a few dark brown curls swung about her face. In the space of minutes, she had gone from daughter of an earl to a wild country lass with rosy cheeks.

Somehow, this woman had persuaded his uncle to part with the horse. He cocked his head and eyed the interaction with the boy from a few paces away. The question was, how? He couldn’t spot a single element of guile in her. Whilst she was beautiful, she seemed to have little idea how to use her good looks and her strange, stomping sort of walk hinted at someone who had never once decided to sway one’s hips to snare the gaze of a gentleman.

Perhaps she was extremely clever. Perhaps it was all a trick.

Well, whatever she’d done to sway a poorly man into giving up his prize horse, August wouldn’t fall sway to it, and he would most certainly cease being amused or even intrigued by her.

“You saw the horse?” he heard her exclaim.

August spurred into action and covered the distance across the yard in moments. “You saw the horse?” he repeated.

The boy rose to his feet, took a large bite of an apple, and nodded, his cheeks bulging.

“I just asked that,” Lilly snapped.

“Where did you see him?” August demanded.

The boy shrugged and spoke around a mouthful of apple. “They took him away late last night. I thought it was whoever owned it now. Mr. Hampton said something about it belonging to a fine lady now His Lordship was dead an’ all.” He glanced at August. “Sorry, my lord...now he has passed an’ all that.”

Lilly folded her arms across her chest. “Who took him and where?”

The stablehand shrugged. “Two men. I didn’t see much. It was dark.” He took another large bite of the apple and swiped a chunk of it off his shirt. “They went north. Figured they were taking it to the lady.”

August ran a hand over his jaw. “And you did not think to tell anyone this?”

“Who would I tell? Mr. Hampton is gone and there was no one here.” The boy swung a look between the two of them, his eyes widening. “The horse weren’t my responsibility. I didn’t even know if I still had a job what with His Lordship being dead...uh...passed.”

August muttered a curse under his breath.

Lilly nodded as though in agreement with the curse. “I certainly didn’t send anyone to collect Icarus.”

“Horse thieves,” August muttered.

She cursed aloud and he fought the amusement twitching at his lips when she uttered words that should have sounded inappropriate falling from such delicate lips, but instead seemed entirely correct. Really, he shouldn’t be finding anything amusing about this situation. Who knew what would happen to the horse?

Before he could ask the boy anything else, Lilly pivoted on a heel and marched into the larger stables where both their horses were. She emerged only moments later, and August blinked several times to ensure what he was seeing was correct. She sat astride one of her horse’s which wouldn’t have shocked him given what he’d witnessed previously.

Except this time there was no saddle.

An apple dropped to the ground and rolled into August’s boot. He looked at the boy to see his mouth wide open, his eyes bulging.

“Cor...” murmured the boy.

Cor was about right.

“What are you doing?” August demanded.

“Going to find my horse,” she declared, gripping the horse’s mane and directed it toward the courtyard exit.

Before he could step in front of her or warn her of the ridiculousness of her declaration, she yelled a command to the horse and raced out across the cobbles.

The boy gave a whistle. “Never seen anything like that before.”

“Cease your gawping,” August snapped, “and saddle my horse.”

The stablehand straightened and closed his mouth. “Aye, my lord.”

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