Page 144 of The Viscount's Seduction
Her hand went to the knot and she steadied herself.
“Are you well?” he asked.
Was she? She fingered the knot. The vision was gone.
She was tired. The evening’s events were working on her. Bakeley would be with his father and Kincaid. He’d be safe.
“Yes,” she said. “But, Bakeley, no more secrets. No more surprises.”
“None,” he said. “You’ll know everything.”
“You there. Phillip,” he said. “Stay with her.”
He kissed her again and hurried up the stairs.
She followed the footman through the ballroom, where lanterns had been brought in for the servants tending to spent candles.
The groom waiting at the terrace door was none other than the slender young man who’d saddled Lightning for Bakeley the morning before.
How had he fared in the wild melee earlier? An uneasy feeling settled over her. Her neck ached under the Brighid’s knot. She didn’t remember seeing this lad among the crowd outside, but then of course, she’d fainted, hadn’t she?
“You’ve my brooch?” she asked.
“Aye, miss. That is, er, one of the boys from Kent found it when they were bringing the…er…new horse in.” He reached a hand into his pocket and pulled it out empty, a look of consternation on this face. “Beg pardon, my lady. In all the excitement, I must have set it down and left it there. As bad as that Banshee, is this new mare—”
“Mare? From Kent?” She looked back. The footman had disappeared. She should tell someone she’d be in the mews.
But…a new mare from Kent with a wild disposition. That could only be Pooka.
Her heart filled with love. Bakeley had brought Pooka up as a surprise.
And her cousin was dead. She shoved past the boy and headed down the walk, heart pounding.
No more secretsshe’d told him.No surprises. And all the while he’d had this one up his sleeve, and the joy of it bubbled up in her, making her laugh out loud.
She was going to visit a hobgoblin.
