The Heart Queen by Patricia Potter

Author:Patricia Potter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504002905
Publisher: Open Road Media Romance

Chapter Seventeen

Janet heard the excited scream as she mounted the stone stairway with a tray full of hot fruit pastries. She barely missed being knocked down as two little whirlwinds passed on the stairs, followed by a barking puppy and a racing kitten. Grace followed at a more sedate pace.

“What …?”

She barely got the word out as Grace stopped. “The marquis … is coming. He has two ponies with him.”

A promise kept. One, anyway.

Janet turned around and went down the steps with Grace, putting the tray on the table in the hall. Then she followed Grace through the door left open by the children.

The marquis was dismounting as Annabella and Rachel squealed with delight at the sight of two ponies, one white and one a dark bay, on a lead. Both had saddles on them.

Fearless Annabella started to run over to the white one. Rachel more cautiously approached the bay. She knew far better than Annabella never to take an animal by surprise.

Janet started to go to Annabella, but Braemoor reached her first, slowing her. He lifted her up and spoke something into her ear. Annabella grinned at him, then slowly held out her hand and touched the white pony, which shook his head then nuzzled her hand.

“He likes me.”

“She likes you,” Braemoor corrected her, then put her back on the ground. He remained close for a moment, though, then he turned to Grace. “I could only find two ponies, so the three of you will have to share until I find a third.” Apology was written all over his face, and Janet felt her heart melting again. The bloody man was always confusing her.

“That is perfectly all right,” Grace said in her grown-up voice. “I would rather read.”

The little mother. She had always seen to her siblings’ needs before her own. Sometimes Janet wished she would have a temper tantrum, be a child for once.

She went over to Grace and put her arms around her.

Rachel had slowly approached the bay pony. She turned back toward Grace. “I will share her,” she offered generously.

“Him,” Braemoor said. “He’s a gelding.”

Rachel looked up and beamed at him. “Does he have a name?”

“I did not ask,” he said. “So I imagine the three of you will have to name the two of them.”

“Can I ride him … her … now?” Annabella asked in a pleading voice.

Braemoor looked toward Janet for her approval. It was nice, she thought a trifle bitterly, that he was asking for approval for something. He certainly had not heeded her feelings in any other way.

She looked at Annabella and Rachel. They looked at her beseechingly.

Braemoor had won their hearts. He had the trust it had taken her months to earn. She hated the resentment she felt. And the fear.

Would he turn on them as he had turned on her eight years earlier? Once they were no longer a novelty, would he desert them with the swiftness of the stroke of a steel blade? That would be more cruel than their father’s contempt.

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