work them out with God then.
She would hardly be the first person of faith to do something foolish and then pray for a fix.
Knowing that she was still on the front end of that foolishness eroded some of the peace she’d been feeling moments before.
A glance over her shoulder revealed Jonas braced against the small dressing table. Deep breaths made his chest rise and fall slowly. Pain and exhaustion twisted his face into a tight grimace.
Pressing her mouth into a stern line, Sophia adjusted her hold on the reins until they were taut enough to create a proper connection with her horse and pasted a smile on her face. One more show. One more evening. Then they would make their escape, running into the dark to find a new life that suited them all.
AARON’S UNEASE GREW with every mile he put between him and his new employee. What if the man didn’t show tomorrow morning? What if he couldn’t ride? He had been using a lead. At the time, Aaron had seen it as deference to the fact that the horse was carrying a rider in all the shows, but what if it wasn’t?
What had Aaron been thinking to hire a man he hadn’t even spoken with? What if he didn’t speak English? What if he didn’t speak at all? Every breath brought a new question to mind that he should have asked while at the fair.
No matter what, he’d still find the man a job. His acceptance of Aaron’s offer meant the trainer was as desperate as Aaron was—maybe even more so. If he wanted out of the circus life that badly, Aaron would help him.
That didn’t have to involve a race, though.
Aaron urged Shadow to move faster down the road. If he could get to Lord Davers tonight, he just might be able to avoid the challenge entirely. It was a long shot, but he had to try.
Back in Newmarket, he stopped by Oliver’s stable to arrange for one of the stable boys to see to Shadow. Aaron usually did it himself, but he didn’t have time if he wanted to stop the challenge.
Three-quarters of a mile down a rutted road behind Oliver’s stable sat Aaron’s small cottage. A two-stall stable of nearly the same size sat behind it. Aaron loosened Shadow’s girth and made sure the water bucket was full before going into his house to change. The stable boy would see to everything else.
Fortunately, Aaron knew where Davers was likely to be this evening.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t somewhere Aaron would be particularly welcome. Yes, he’d received an invitation, but no one—especially not the hostess—expected him to use it. That was assuming Aaron could even find it. He normally tossed them out as soon as they arrived.
Which was why he didn’t have a set of true evening clothes in his cottage. He kept his formal clothing in London, where he did—on exceedingly rare occasions—use one of the elaborately written cards that came his way in order to appease his father, the Marquis of Lindbury.
He pulled out his best ensemble, one of the two he wore to church on Sundays, and splashed some water into a basin so he could wash off the road dust.
The sun was dipping into the trees as he departed and strode toward the center of town. At least the card party was close enough to walk to. Not having to stable his horse at the gathering allowed for a quieter entrance and a hastier exit.
With any luck, he’d be in and out in half an hour. As much as he wanted to slip in the back, see to his business, and glide out again with no one the wiser, he knew better. Coming through the front door would mitigate some of the murmurs about whether he’d been invited.
Instead there would be gasps at his audacity in showing up in the first place.
He showed the footman the card he’d pulled from a pile of paper on his hearth and then bypassed the receiving line. Just because he wasn’t going to slink in didn’t mean he wanted to endure the false greetings and tight smiles of his hosts.
All the doors of the ground-floor rooms had been thrown open and guests milled about, talking and preening and seeking the best position to show off their new fashions. A ballroom would have been more convenient. It was far easier to find someone when there was only one room to search instead of several.
He finally found Davers in the