And then the horse reared up.
Mr. Barrow was over the fence, his body tense, poised, and ready to run to the Duke’s aid. The mare came back down, and Felicity could barely hear the Duke’s words over the pounding in her ears.
“Good girl. It’s all right, my darling. Easy, love. I’m not going to hurt you. Easy.”
A look passed between the Duke and the stable master, and even as the horse reared back up, Mr. Barrow stepped back against the fence. Felicity gripped the fence rail, nails biting into the white wood.
It all happened so fast, it couldn’t have been longer than a minute. But it was as if time slowed, the minute dragging out painfully long. The mare didn’t come back down this time. Horse and rider were suspended mid-rear, the horse pawing the air with frantic hooves, eyes white and wild. Each thrash of the horse’s hoof felt like a direct hit to Felicity’s gut.
The Duke kicked his feet out of the stirrups, leaning flat against the mare, his thighs straining as he held onto the mare with just arms and legs. The horse teetered on her back legs and Felicity’s heart jumped to her throat, out of her body. She couldn’t breathe. And for a heart-stopping moment, the mare—Oh, God, she was going to topple over backwards.
The Duke threw his weight on the mare’s neck, and she tilted forward, coming back down in a cloud of dust as her hooves blessedly met sand. He immediately pulled the mare’s head in with the reins, and she started spinning tight circles.
Mr. Barrow let out a loud exhale, and Felicity finally took a breath. If the stable master could breathe, she knew the danger must have passed.
She glanced over at Lady Pandora who was as white as her lawn shirt. The young man next to her just as ghostly pale. It was the first time Felicity had ever seen the girl completely immobile. Felicity gently pried the girl off the fence and tucked her to her side, brushing the girl’s arm.
“Everything is well, Pandora. Your papa is well.” Felicity wished her racing heart believed her words, but it hadn’t caught up with her brain yet.
The slight girl trembled in Felicity’s arms, but she nodded.
“He was always in complete control, Lady Pandora,” Mr. Barrow assured. “Don’t fret. If she were to go over, he would have jumped. He was ready; you saw him free his feet. Your father’s been at this a long time. He can read a horse better than any horseman I know.” He turned to the young farrier. “Yer well, Billy?”
“Y-yes, sir,” the lad said, though his attempt at bravery was diminished by the quaver of his voice.
The Duke and the horse were still spinning in tight circles, the Duke sitting tall, reins loose, his hands resting on the mare’s mane. A shuddering breath left Pandora, and she turned into Felicity.
Pandora’s muffled words barely reached Felicity’s ears. “He is all I have.”
The girl’s words wrapped around Felicity’s heart and squeezed hard. The poor girl. No mother. Two brothers grown and barely ever home. All alone on this large estate. Felicity frowned at that. All alone…not even a governess. Where was the girl’s governess?
“What is he doing now?” Felicity asked, hoping to distract the still shaking girl in her arms. She tucked a few loose tendrils behind the girl’s ear, glad to see a bit of color coming back in Pandora’s cheeks, ones that still held the slight apple-roundness of youth.
“Something frightened the poor thing. She’s worked herself in a tizzy, she has,” Mr. Barrow said. “She’s circling like that all on her own because she’s so worked up. He’ll let the anxious thing work it out on her own now. Poor sensitive soul was trained with a rough hand, with rough equipment.” The stable master’s voice turned hard. “Badly beaten when she came to us. Purely because she didn’t understand what her poor excuse for a trainer was asking her to do. Criminal is what is it. Nothing the Duke can’t fix.”
By the end of Mr. Barrow’s explanation, Pandora had relaxed into Felicity, no longer shaking. The stable master headed to the center of the arena, where the Duke was dismounting.
“Come with me, Billy,” he called over his shoulder.
The boy scrambled awkwardly over the fence, shooting a glance back at Felicity and Lady Pandora, his gaze lingering overlong on Lady Pandora. The tension in his features seemed to relax slightly as his gaze trailed over the girl in Feliciy’s arms.
Interesting.
“Walk her out, Barrow, and brush her down extra.” The Duke’s low, authoritative tone snapped Felicity’s attention back to him. “She needs some extra love after that.”
The Duke’s gaze landed on Felicity, quickly glancing down to his daughter in her arms. Something unreadable flashed across his face, but he quickly cleared his expression and threw them a smile.
A rare, breath-stealing smile. Like a thief, it stole the air right from her.
He lifted a hand. “All is well, Pandy Pie.”
With that, spirit seemed to rush back into Pandora. A wide smile split her lips, and she blew her father a kiss, which he promptly caught and put on his cheek.
And Felicity died a little inside. Every impossible dream of true love, of a houseful of children, of a forever kind of family and affection, came bubbling up to the surface. An unbearable yearning skittered through her veins, one she didn’t quite understand. One that made it impossible for her lungs to sufficiently draw in air.
“I need to wash quickly, but then why don’t we do something fun,” he called over to his daughter.
Pandora bounced next to Felicity, and the girl being back to her usual self was almost enough to distract Felicity from the fact the Duke just mentioned washing.
