Brandon pretended not to hear. Shannon smiled to herself, liking the way Brandon dealt with his daughter’s less than impeccable manners.
Clara swallowed what was in her mouth. “I want to learn to ride, Papa.”
Brandon answered immediately. “That’s admirable, Clara, but I haven’t any mounts to suit you.”
“If I had a pony, I could do it.”
“If you had a pony,” he agreed.
“I wouldn’t hit any branches. Me and my pony would fit under them just right.”
Cody choked a little, and Brandon patted him on the back with a force that was harder than was strictly necessary. “Thank you,” Cody said, moving quickly out of the way of Brandon’s next blow.
Brandon shrugged and turned back to Clara. “I’m certain you and the pony would fit nicely under any branch,ifyou had a pony.”
“May I have a pony?” she asked ingenuously.
Cody laughed as Brandon rolled his eyes. “She has the bit between her teeth, as it were.” He winked at Shannon as she groaned appreciatively.
“We’ll see,” Brandon equivocated. “Who would teach you to ride?”
Clara tugged at Shannon’s sleeve. “Mishannon would, wouldn’t you?”
Shannon shook her head. “I don’t know how to ride, Clara.”
Three voices joined in incredulous unison. “You don’t?”
Shannon lifted her chin a notch. “Not all of us are born to the manor.”
“To hell with being born to the manor,” Cody said bluntly. “One doesn’t have to be titled to know how to ride a horse. How did you get around?”
“I didn’t go many places,” she said, looking at her plate again, miserably aware of the differences that set her apart from the others at the table. “We had a small carriage that we took to town. I wasn’t allowed to drive it.”
Brandon shot Cody a quelling glance. “It’s hardly in the nature of a sin that you never learned to ride, no matter what some people in this room might think.”
Shannon smiled shyly at him. “I’ve been on a horse once,” she said, thinking of the time he had escorted her to her home in Glen Eden. “No, twice,” she amended, remembering that he had also brought her back to the folly.
Brandon observed her guileless expression with something akin to wonder. She hadn’t the least idea she was flirting with him. He trod lightly on the toe of Cody’s boot, wiping the simple grin from his brother’s face. “Then you’re not a complete novice,” he said politely to Shannon.
Clara clapped her hands to pull attention back to herself. “I have an idea,” she announced proudly. “Mishannon and me will learn to ride together.” Her blue eyes widened, containing all the duplicity that was lacking in Shannon’s. “If I may have a pony,” she added, smiling outrageously at her father. “And if you will learn us, Papa.” She cast a sorrowful look at Cody’s swollen eye. “You’re good with kites, Unca Cody, but Papa is better at horses.”
“And you are a rotten child,” Cody said with complete sincerity.
“Papa?”
Brandon raised his hands in surrender. “I’ll teach you.”
“And Mishannon, too?”
“And Mishannon.”
Having secured her father’s promise, Clara promptly turned her thoughts toward the naming of a pony she had yet to see.
Chapter 7
“Mail’s come, Massa Bran!” Addie called. She waved the flimsy packets above her head and then sashayed up the path leading from the folly’s wharf to the house.
“I’ll be right there,” he shouted back. Brandon dropped Rainbow’s leading string and plucked Clara from her pony’s saddle. Shannon had started to dismount, but Brandon stayed her with his hand, then reached for her waist and brought her down himself. It probably wasn’t fair, he thought, to use any excuse he could to touch her, but he was thoroughly weary of being fair. Day after day he watched Shannon blossom like a spring flower after a particularly cruel frost. In front of his eyes she gained a measure of spirit, and displayed a certain confidence that had the capacity to surprise her. He waited for her to speak of the things that still troubled her, desiring nothing more than to erase the torment from her eyes, yet she remained silent, and no amount of subtle coaxing on his part could move her to reveal her thoughts.
