Page 90 of Snapdragons
She turned to him, shaking a little. With a look of absolute amazement, she nodded. “A horse like this shouldn’t be at a tiny fair in an isolated corner of the kingdom.Inever expected to be at a tiny fair in an isolated corner of the kingdom. My mind simply refuses to make any sense of this.”
“Logical or not,” Aldric said, “this opportunity is both real and, I suspect, fleeting. If you are going to seize it, you had best do so quickly.”
“I haven’t that much money on hand,” Penelope said. “I would need to write to my solicitors to release funds, which would take at least a week.”
Digby waved that off. “I can pay the man, and you and I can settle accounts once your funds reach you.”
“I would appreciate that.” Penelope still seemed to be holding her breath, as if afraid to let herself believe the truth of her unforeseen good fortune. “I would also need to keep the animal in the Pledwick stables until I can arrange for its transport to Surrey. That would be another inconvenience to you.”
Digby smiled. “I will consider it repayment for you and Niles getting my little silver filly to feel at ease. The stable staff are all singing your praises.”
Penelope looked at Niles once more. “It will still be years before Fairfield is profitable enough to help us find a solution to our separation. But this would make it possible.”
How he wanted to pull her into his arms, to kiss her and hold her and tell her how well worth the wait a life together would be. Decorum required he do none of those things. So he contented himself with a smile of encouragement.
“I’ve always wanted to be part of a miracle,” Digby said. “And purchasing horses is rather fun.” With a flourish, he strode back to where the horse trader waited. Aldric joined him there.
The nervousness that had clung to Penelope gave way to excitement at last. Her eyes danced and shone. “Our fortunes are turning, Niles.”
“And it’s about time,” Niles added. “Now we just need to plead for one more miracle tomorrow.”
“I’d beg you to be careful, but I suspect that would make the undertakingmoredangerous, as you’d be likely to hesitate and overthink.”
“I intend to fight as hard and as skillfully as I can,” he said. “And if fate is as kind tomorrow as she has chosen to be today, I’ll not only not get mauled in the process, but I might also even win.”
“That will be my request, then: not that you be careful but that you don’t get mauled.”
He chuckled. “I will do my best.”
Her gaze remained on the white horse. It was truly a beautiful animal.
“What do you mean to do the rest of today?” she asked.
“Walk about with your arm through mine. Perhaps have another fairing. Wander about, and enjoy the company.”
“That would bemycompany?”
He smiled. “If I’m lucky.”
She set her hand in his. “Niles Greenberry, from this moment forward, I am choosing to believe that we are going to be very, very lucky.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Digby had secured a roomin the Green Badger for the next day, where Niles could prepare for the fight in privacy, as much as he could with all the Gents there as well.
“I cannot promise this is the oddest thing you will do as a gentleman’s gentleman,” Digby said to Wilson, “but it definitely will not be commonplace.”
“Do valets not usually cut their employer’s hair?”
“Trim it, perhaps,” Digby said. “But very seldom will you find yourself cutting it all off.”
“I suspect Marston hadn’t anticipated, when taking the position as my valet ten years ago,” Niles said, “that he would repeatedly help me prepare for bouts in the boxing ring.”
Another snip of the shears sent a tumble of hair to the floor. Niles wasn’t vain about his hair, neither was he particularly attached to it, but the only time he ever cut it off entirely was in preparation for a fight.
Two hours remained until the battle was scheduled to begin, and it was starting to feel very, very real.
One more snip and Digby declared his hair “sorted.”
