thick hot air of New York in August, a longing for Seabeck’s fresh, sea-scented breezes surprised Annis with its intensity. The second cutting of hay would be almost ripe. The Andalusians would be frolicking in their sunny paddock. Would the field roses have finished their bloom? She wished she could see them transform into the scarlet hips James had described to her.
It was all terribly confusing. She had wanted nothing more than to be home again, and now she was missing Seabeck and Rosefield Hall. And James, too, but she shied away from that thought.
She needed to see Bits, to bury her face against his warm neck, to feel him nibble at her shoulder. He would stamp and whicker, happy to have her home. She would examine him from nose to tail to assure herself he was healthy. When they were reunited, she would feel like herself again.
She found her hands twitching in her lap, as if she could slap the carriage horse’s reins and make him go faster.
Robbie pulled up the carriage at the top of the curved drive in front of Allington House. Annis stayed to see Velma and Frances on their way up to the front door, where Mrs. King was waiting, before she picked up her skirts and ran around the side of the house to the stables. She heard her father call after her, but she pretended she hadn’t heard. She couldn’t wait another minute to see Bits. The weeks of their separation had felt like an eternity.
She could smell the stables before she stepped into their welcome shade. She gladly sniffed the scents of fresh straw and hay and sawdust. Careless of the hem of her traveling suit, she trotted to Bits’s box and leaned over the gate.
The stall was empty. Sally’s was, too. Only old Tater put his head out over the gate to blink at her. Down the aisle Chessie eyed her with disinterest.
She hurried to the paddock behind the stables. Bits must be there, having a bit of a walk, though the air was so hot and close. She would find him, bring him into the coolness of the stables, refresh his water trough.
He wasn’t in the paddock, either.
She heard the creak and jingle of the carriage coming up the lane from the house and ran to meet it. Robbie was climbing down from the driver’s seat, and when she saw his face, her heart clenched in her chest.
“Robbie! Where’s Bits? Where’s Sally?”
Robbie looked so sorrowful she thought he might burst into tears. “Sold, Miss Annis,” he said. “Mr. Allington sold them right after the wire came.”
“Wire? What wire?”
“The telegram,” he said, as if that would explain it. When she only stared at him, he added, “The telegram saying you was going to be married.”
“Married? I’m not going to be married!”
“Mr. Allington said you was, and so he sold Black Satin, and threw Sally in as a bonus.”
“S-sold?” Annis cried. “Robbie, no! It can’t be! Frances said—We hadn’t—”
Panic seized her. On a normal day she would have lent a hand with the carriage horse’s tack, rubbing him down, seeing to his feed and water. Now, with a cry of pain, as if she had been stabbed, she spun away from Robbie and dashed back to the house.
She burst in through the front doors, pushed past Mrs. King without a greeting or an apology, and ran to her father’s office. The door was closed, but she banged it open without knocking. He was at his desk, his back to her. He didn’t turn at the sound of her precipitate entry.
She shouted, so loudly he winced. “Papa! How could you?”
He still didn’t turn. With a deliberate movement, he closed the ledger lying open on his desk. He didn’t pretend not to know what she was asking. “Her telegraph said you were going to marry a marquess.”
“She lied!” Annis stalked over to her father and stood hugging herself to keep from bursting into childish tears. “I never said I would marry him! Where’s Bits? And Sally?”
Slowly her father turned in his big leather chair so he could look up at her. His face was drawn. “Annis,” he said heavily. “I can’t worry about horses just now. I have to think what to do about Frances.”
“What do you mean, what to do about her?”
“Her maid didn’t come back with you.”
“Antoinette stole two pieces of Frances’s jewelry and disappeared. Where’s Black Satin?”