“Maybe Dr. Whitaker didn’t hear you, Linette. Shall we ride after him?”
Linette shook her head at Estelle, heartsickness overwhelming her. He hadn’t turned around when she’d called after him, “Wait, Adam! Please!”
She’d been so happy to see him, overjoyed, yet anxious, too. His look of surprise when he and Samson had veered around had quicklybecome guarded and almost forbidding, and she’d nearly lost her nerve and turned her mare in the opposite direction.
Yet could she blame him? She’d felt his pain emanating from him, raw, visceral, his eyes narrowed at her as if he was prepared not to believe a word she said. She’d lost her nerve, her voice—Lord help her, and now she’d lost any feelings he might have still had for her becauseshe hadn’t known the right words to say first!
“Linette, whatever is the matter? Are you crying?”
Yes, she was crying, but she quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Let’s ride on, Estelle, please. Didn’t you say you wanted to see your favorite beach?”
“Yes, and the cottage on the bluff. Then we’ll go home, Linette, I promise. I hated to leave Luther, but I didn’t want to risk losinghim again…”
Estelle’s face clouding, Linette drew her mare closer and reached out to squeeze her sister’s hand. “I think it’s good you see the cottage again, and then you’ll be able to put this whole terrible episode out of your mind—”
“And forget Prince Valentin?” Estelle cut her off. She resolutely shook her head. “Oh, no, I’ll never forget him as long as I live. You won’t tell Donovan I saidhis name, will you? No one can hear us out here anyway.”
“Not anymore,” Linette murmured, glancing in the direction that Adam had ridden away. Fresh heartache engulfed her, but she did her best to tamp it down as she looked back at Estelle. “Of course, I won’t tell him, but we must hurry. We’ve already been gone more than an hour.”
Estelle nodded, and this time she reached out to grasp Linette’shand, her reassuring gaze filled with an understanding beyond her fifteen years. “Don’t you remember Corie telling us how she and Donovan battled when they first met? Yet they love each other so much. It’s a strange thing, isn’t it, Linette? Love.”
She didn’t know what to say, swallowing hard against the tears threatening once again. Not from sadness this time, but a glimmer of hope.
“I believeso,” she finally said softly, summoning a tremulous smile that made Estelle smile, too. “Come on. I’ll race you.”
