Page 39 of A Duke Changes Everything
Two dimples appeared when he smiled, one on either side of his mouth. Mina couldn’t look away. She could barely recall the question he’d asked while she’d gotten stuck staring at his mouth.
“I don’t remember. It was a long time ago.”
“Too long, I imagine. You should go back. I’m overdue for a visit to the seaside myself.” He sounded wistful and so intrigued by the prospect that Mina half expected him to suggest they hitch a carriage and head off directly.
But, of course, he didn’t.
The gulf between them and their desires was an enormous one. He was a duke and could hie off to Bath or Brighton or anywhere he pleased. Mina’s life didn’t work that way.
“My place is here, Mr. Lyon.” Unless he or whoever leased the estate dismissed her. “At least for now.”
He worked his lower jaw like he was chewing on a retort but said nothing more. Clearing his throat, he scanned the fields beyond the maze. “Is that Eustace’s horse, the one involved in the accident?”
Mina bit her lip when she spotted the ebony stallion. The wounded racehorse was healing quickly. Mina visited every morning, taking him apples and checking his wounds, but she’d yet to decide what to do with him.
“Not my father’s either,” he said decisively. “His favorite was white and bulky as a prize fighter.”
The odd sense of falling while she was standing perfectly still swept over Mina, and she took a quick step back from the ledge. She struggled to slow her breathing.
“You truly hate heights.” The duke reached for her upper arm to hold her steady.
Mina looked up to find him close, the flaps of his overcoat brushing her skirt, his eyes locked on hers.
“Is he yours?” he asked softly.
“None of the horses in the stable are mine.” One deep breath for courage and she confessed, “He’s not a Tremayne horse.”
Just as Mina expected, the duke’s glower deepened. He tensed his grip on her arm. “I don’t understand.”
“I found him wandering the field near the copse on the night you arrived.”
“But where does he belong?”
“Here,” Mina said emphatically. “For now.”
“Miss Thorne, who does he belong to?”
Mina chewed the inside of her cheek. “Lord Lyle of Stebbing Hall. His estate’s just outside the village.”
“I know the man. Or my father did.” He waved toward the field. “Have Tobias return Lyle’s property to him immediately. His lordship is not an even-tempered sort.” The duke started past her on the walkway, carefully sheltering her from the edge.
When Mina didn’t follow, he glanced over his shoulder. “Are you coming?”
“I won’t return the stallion to Lord Lyle.”
Shock made Nicholas Lyon look younger, softening the striking aspects of his sharp-angled face. The lines of worry between his brows melted. The grim tension in his full lips eased. Shadows faded from his dark-lashed eyes. Then one black brow shot up and clashed with the wave of hair that had dipped down to dangle over his forehead.
Mina pushed away the notion that she should aim to surprise him more often.
“Are you defying me?” His voice rasped low. Little more than a whisper.
“I suppose I am.” A gust swept a lock of her hair from its pins, and Mina pushed the strand back behind her ear. “Lord Lyle, or someone in his stables, beat that horse bloody. There were deep stripes on his haunches when I found him.”
She steeled herself. He’d tell her what she already knew. Lyle’s cruelty didn’t matter. Property mattered. Ownership. Especially here in the countryside. Lyle was known for his interest in horseflesh and betting on races. He’d want his fine stallion back.
The duke said nothing. One narrowed blue eye, a tightening of his jaw, and he seemed to come to a decision he didn’t plan to share with her.
Another burst of wind swept the tail of his coat out behind him and pulled more of her hair loose.
