Page 99 of The Dravenhearst Brides
When she opened her eyes, Merrick was watching her. Under his gaze, she wanted to be worth more than her memories, to stand taller than them. His care, hislove, did that to her. It made her feel brave.
This time, when the impulse to smile came, she gave into it.
“You lost,” she called.
He smiled, unabashed. “I’m meant to lose. Fox is retired.”
“Too many sugar cubes, huh?”
He laughed, then reached into his pocket and produced another. The horse snatched it with incredible speed. She giggled.
Merrick’s eyes brightened, still watching her. He licked his lips, tilting his head.
“Would you like me to bring him over? To meet you properly?”
She shook her head. “Not today.”
He nodded, and she saw the effort he took to maintain the cheer on his face. Forher.
Her lips twitched again as she realized the words felt true in her gut before she released them into the world.
“Not today,” she repeated. “But soon, I think.”
It was so much harder to be hopeful inside the manor. So much harder to believe in something…anything. The future. In this house, everywhere she looked, Margot saw only the past. The stained-glass violets above the door. The candlesticks on the wall. Wailing centaurs trapped in the coffers. Dust-laden drapes over windows, blocking sunlight. Misery settled overhead like a blanket, stifling and heavy. Tight around her neck. Tight like a…like a…
“Noose, dearie?”
Margot startled, spilling a slosh of orange juice across the breakfast table. Eleanor stepped out of the shadows of the dining room, offering a thick coil of rope. Margot gasped, eyes darting from the apparition to Merrick, who raised his gaze from the morning newspaper.
“Everything okay?” he asked, waving Xander forward to assist.
“Y-y-yes,” Margot stammered. Did hesee?She was still there, Eleanor. Offering the noose. Margot couldn’t look away, though her words were directed to Merrick. “Just an accident. Silly of me.”
“That’s what they said about me too.” Eleanor nodded, tweaking the noose. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Just an accident. Silly woman.”
Margot’s hand flew to her throat.
“Are you quite well?” Merrick asked, his brows lowering with concern. “You’ve gone pale. Perhaps you should eat?”
Did hereallynot see her? Hear her? Feel the insidious cold overtaking the room?
Margot tilted her head, chest rising in a muted pant. She licked her lips.
He stared back, waiting. So handsome. So innocent. So sane.
While she…
“I’m fine,” she fibbed.
Lies, lies, lies.
Eleanor nodded again, sympathetically this time. “Best not say anything. Very tricky business, seeing things.”
Merrick ruffled his newspaper. “Three more in the last week.”
Margot swallowed. “Three more what?”
“States. Idaho, Maryland, and Virginia have all ratified the Twenty-First Amendment.”
