He turned his attention back to Daniel who shrugged his own confusion from the safety of his bed.
“Laurel?” Daniel called again. “What are you going on about?”
The girl’s warm eyes brightened at that moment as though an idea had finally taken shape in her mind. “Daniel! I mean I was looking forDaniel!” She brushed past Alec as she stepped over the threshold, into the bedchamber.
Alec wasn’t sure why she was lying, but he had no doubt she was doing just that. After all, who went in searchof a man who was stuck abed? “Yes, well, with his broken leg, he should be rather easy to locate the next little while.”
A bit of pink stained her cheeks as she looked back him, clearly realizing that Alec hadn’t believed a bit of her nonsense. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important.” She turned her attention to her bedridden cousin. “I thought you’d be in need of company.”
Daniel gestured to Alec, near the doorway. “I was not lacking of it before you arrived.”
The flighty girl dropped into a seat by the bed and said, “One can never have too much. So, what are we talking about? Anything interesting?” She glanced back at Alec.
“Not particularly,” Daniel replied.
Alec pushed away from the door and stood his tallest. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
“No!” The girl leapt back out of her chair. “I mean—you should stay too.” Then she cleared her throat. “That would be nice, don’t you think? All of us together talking about nothing at all.”
“I think you’ve gone mad,” Daniel said.
The strangest laugh escaped the girl. “Oh, Daniel, don’t be silly.”
Alec shared a glance with his friend. If anyone in the room wassilly...
* * *
In the yellow parlor,Poppy could barely sit still on the sunny-hued settee beside her neighbor Mr. Barrow. Her heart was racing at a clip, while her mind spun with a myriad of thoughts. She shouldn’t have sent Laurel to investigate Captain Galbraith. What if her sister made their situation even worse?
The man beside her cleared his throat and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Had he come because he’d somehow heard about Poppy’s exploits at the crossroads the night before?
“Such a lovely day,” she said as she had to saysomething.
Poppy’s stepmother, Caroline, glanced up from her cross-stitching in the nearby chair before returning to focus on the needle in her hand.
“Indeed,” Mr. Barrow agreed. “Last night was not so lovely, however.”
Blast it! Poppy swallowed over a lump in her throat. Was Papa right, after all? “L-last night?”
“Lost a shire colt in the middle of the night.”
In the middle of the night? Certainly, he didn’t think Poppy was a horse thief! “A shire?” Was that why he was here? He’d heard about her being out in the dead of night and thought perhaps Poppy had made off with his colt?
Mr. Barrow nodded. “I cannot understand how he got loose.”
“I’m certain there’s any number of possibilities,” Poppy said, irritation settling in her chest. Had he really thought she’d stolen his horse? Of all the ridiculous…
To even entertain such a nonsensical idea!
After all, Halwell Chase bred some of the most prestigious horseflesh in all of Britain. There was no reason anyone at The Chase would steal ashireor any other breed from their neighbors, for pity’s sake. “I do hope you’ll find him.”
“Oh, we found him this morning.” Mr. Barrow pinned her with the most mystified stare. His light eyes seemed darker than normal, troubled almost. “Or…we foundsomeof him, I should say.”
Some of him?Poppy felt the blood drain from her face. “I beg your pardon?” What in the world was that supposed to mean? Certainly, her neighbor didn’t think she’d slaughtered his colt after stealing it from his stables! That was much worse than thinking she was a simple horse thief.
“Apologies.” Her neighbor shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that. I…I suppose I’m still baffled by the whole thing. You haven’t noticed anything odd at The Chase, have you? Any strange goings on?”
Everything at The Chase was strange and had been since Great-Aunt Alora died. Admitting that, however, was the last thing Poppy would ever do.
