Page 42 of The Trouble with Anna

Anna caught his excitement. “Ready!”

He shouldered the door open and sunshine flooded in, so bright that she had to shield her eyes.

“Good heavens!” she exclaimed when her vision cleared. She streaked across the flat roof and threw herself against the parapet, all of London sprawling out beneath her. Above, the clouds rolled and billowed across the sky, but from this height she could see that the land was rolling too, deceptively flat over Hyde Park and toward the Queen’s Palace, but dipping down to the Thames and swelling into Ludgate Hill in the distance.

“Look, Julian! You can see riders on Rotten Row!”

Julian came to stand beside her. “There’s more. Follow me.”

He led her across the roof to a tall tower, built of massive limestone blocks and capped by a pepper pot dome and a brass rod that tapered to a point, as if it were trying to give the clouds a good poke. Only as they got closer did she see the narrow metal staircase that wrapped around the tower, leading all the way to the top.

She could feel her eyes spark. “Can we go up?”

“Certainly.”

Anna’s walking boots rang on the thin metal steps as she made her way up, one hand on the railing and one hand tracing the rough limestone. They circled higher and higher, climbing into the sky.

“You’re not afraid of heights?” Julian called, close behind her.

“No!” She shot him a look over her shoulder. “Not of the dark, and not of heights either.”

One last turn and the staircase ended at a little metal platform right below the dome. It was barely wide enough for two and so high up that they caught the wind. It pulled at Anna, blowing into her clothes and tugging at her hair, whispering,Come fly with me.

Anna leaned into the railing, pressing her face into the rush of the wind, and she couldn’t help but laugh at how high they were. “It’s fantastic!”

“I brought you here to see the staircase, not the view. The sixth Earl commissioned these stairs, and I liked them so much that I built something like them at each of my estates.”

“Let me guess—so you can stand here and lord it over everyone?”

Julian locked his hands on either side of hers on the railing. “Not at all. I stand here to see trouble coming. I should have spotted you.”

The wide world stretched out below Anna, and behind her was a solid wall of Julian. She let herself fall back against him and gave a contented sigh as his arms closed around her.

“Anna?” His voice was warm against her ear.

She twisted around to look up at him. “Yes?”

A little ember had burned in her chest since the first moment she saw him. It had flared to life from something small, perhaps even something as silly as the curve of his jawline or the color ofhis eyes when they lit up with laughter, but it sparked and grew each time Julian teased her, or kissed her stupid, or flipped her heart by being gentle to a horse.

He flushed, the planes of his cheeks going dark. “The reason I was angry yesterday was because I liked dancing with you. Too much.”

Anna’s eyes crinkled up and the corner of her mouth curled. Her insides swooped and whirled like the wind. “Yes, that would be troubling.”

“But now I have another problem, even worse.”

“Yes?”

His voice went solemn. “My man of business told me this morning that you’re making inquiries about selling off the horses.”

Anna’s mouth uncurled. Everything inside her went flat. She whipped her head forward. “He had no right!”

“Why would you do such a thing?”

Anna shrugged, but he turned her gently around to face him. “Horses as valuable as mine are never mistreated, not like people can be. It’s the only way I can see to pension off the servants.”

“Christ, Anna, it’s a bold throw of the dice. It reminds me of what happened when—” He shook his head. “Do you know how damned proud I—” Something occurred to him and he stopped, his forehead wrinkling up. “Have you been… good lord, you minx, have you been planning this behind my back the whole time I’ve been courting you?”

Anna shrugged again. Everything had shifted so quickly that she wasn’t sure what was real and what was thin as the clouds, ready to blow apart at the smallest breeze.

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