“Indeed, Nicky, and the experience will make you a better prince, someday,” Gabriel said, ruffling his hair as he passed.
Callie watched him and smiled.
“I’m glad to see you’ve accepted it,” he said after Nicky had left.
“Far be it from me to stand in the way of Nicky’s princely development.” She glanced at Gabriel. “I don’t suppose you’ve picked up any livestock, too.”
“No. Your luck is quite out today.”
“I’m not so sure,” she said, trying not to smile. “You ruffled my son’s hair just then. And for the past few minutes, you’ve been scratching. Perhaps you’d better see Mrs. Barrow, too.”
Ten
Callie was bored. She’d spent the whole morning sewing, and now she wanted a change. The books in the library didn’t appeal—it seemed Great-aunt Gert had disdained frivolous reading matter of the sort Callie and Tibby adored, for there was not one single novel—she had no letters to write and nobody to talk to.
She’d even offered to help Mrs. Barrow organizing the maidservants, an offer that had been received with horror. A princess, keeping a bunch of useless scatty girls applied to their work? Heaven forfend! And Mrs. Barrow had bustled off.
The princess, feeling a certain kinship with the useless, scatty girls, dolefully returned to her sewing.
A shout and the clatter of hooves in the courtyard outside caused her to jump up and run to the window. In the courtyard two horses were walking around in a rough circle, their hooves clip-clopping on the stones. Gabriel stood in the middle, observing, giving instructions.
Jim clung to the back of the first horse like a little monkey, his face alive with excitement.
Her son sat on the back of the second horse, pale and straight-backed, his face stiff with anxiety, his hands in the correct position.
Callie pressed her hand to her mouth. How many times had she watched this scene before, the prelude to the moment when Nicky went crashing on the ground, to lie crumpled and shamed, a failure yet again.
Gabriel called out something and she saw Nicky stiffen and rein his animal to a halt. His face frozen, he waited as the tall man strode across the courtyard, a frown on his face.
If he dared to yell at her son…Callie stood poised, ready to fly to Nicky’s defense.
He stood on the other side of the horse, fiddling with something, and suddenly she realized he was adjusting the stirrup. Callie blinked. She hadn’t even noticed there was a saddle. Every other time her son had been put on a horse it had been bareback.
Gabriel said something and stepped back. Nicky gave him a startled look, then grinned. He made a movement and the horse moved off.
Callie watched.
As the horses moved around the courtyard, Nicky’s stiffness faded. His face lost that frozen look, and he even began to call out remarks to Jim. Callie wished she could hear what they were saying, but she was glued to the octagonal window.
Gabriel said something else, and the boys kicked their horses into a trot. For a breathless moment, Nicky bounced unsteadily, clinging on, his face white with the expectation of falling, but Gabriel called out advice and suddenly Nicky was rising and falling with the rhythm of the horse.
She was biting on her knuckles, she realized. Even from here she could read the pride in his bearing. He was riding. Not bareback, not fast, but alone and unaided.
He glanced at the window and saw her watching. His eyes lit up. With great daring, he raised a hand and quickly waved to her, his small face incandescent with joy.
Callie waved back, hoping he could not see the tears in her eyes. Nicky returned to his lesson with renewed determination.
Callie’s gaze drifted to the tall man in the center of the courtyard. He was watching her, an enigmatic expression on his face.
She mouthed the words “thank you” and he gave her a slow smile, before turning back to the boys.
She stood watching with a lump in her throat and a hard knot in the middle of her chest. It was going to be harder to protect herself from him than she thought.
He had a way of sneaking under her defenses.
Suddenly there was a flurry of noise and movement as the curricle, driven by Ethan Delaney, came shooting under the arch and into the courtyard. The horses shied and the two boys clutched their manes, all instruction forgotten, but thankfully nobody fell.
Gabriel strode forward, lifted first Nicky, then Jim down, handed the boys their horses’ reins and ordered them to the stables. Callie could see why.
