Page 104 of Miss Flibbertigibbet and the Barbarian
They ate, drank, and toasted each other on the successful conclusion of their pursuit of The Barbarian.
For his part, Nigel was deeply grateful to have been saved from parting with further sums for a magnificent horse that, ultimately, he would have had to surrender to the Sommervilles. He waved his goblet. “If you lot hadn’t arrived when you did, that pair would have presented me with The Barbarian, and quite frankly, I would have been blinded by the desire to have him at the family’s stud, and when I asked for the papers, odds are they would have spun me some tale about the papers being on their way or some such lie, and with the reality of that horse right there in front of me, I fear I would have weakened and agreed to hand over the rest of the price Wisthorpe had asked for.”
“The Kirkwoods maintain that Wesley was born with a silver tongue. I gather he’s always been a very persuasive sort.” Viola softly huffed. “It seems he’s fallen into the habit of using that talent in less-than-acceptable ways.”
Nigel shook his head. “This incident will teach me to more definitely suspect any deal that appears too good to be true. Especially when I’m being offered something I will obviously desperately want.” He looked at Nicholas and arched a brow. “I don’t suppose you’ll consider loaning The Barbarian to the Devenish Stable?”
Nicholas reached for his goblet, sipped, swallowed, then met Nigel’s hopeful gaze. “There’s that Arab mare you have, the one with the white socks and the blinding turn of speed. Perhaps we might manage some mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Nigel’s eyes widened at the thought. “Oh yes. I’d like to see the offspring from a pairing like that.”
Nicholas grinned, and he and Nigel agreed to meet in Newmarket in a few weeks. “Give me time to settle The Barbarian into his new home.”
Adriana cleared her throat. “You haven’t actually bought the beast yet.”
Nicholas smiled at her. “But I intend to, and with your support, your father will sell to me, once we get the horse back to Aisby Grange.”
“And if, by chance, the earl decides he doesn’t like the look of Cynster’s money,” Nigel put in, “do bear in mind that the Devenish Stable stands ready to make a most attractive offer.”
Nicholas and Adriana laughed, although Nicholas knew Nigel was quite serious.
Adriana’s smiling face had drawn and fixed Nigel’s attention. “Speaking of being persuasive and pulling the wool over people’s eyes,” Nigel said, “I have to ask—are you truly Miss Flibbertigibbet?”
Nicholas caught the glance Adriana threw him, and their gazes held for a weighty second before she looked at Nigel and replied, “No. I was, but Miss Flibbertigibbet is no more.”
Addie looked at Dickie, then at Phillip and Viola. “As I don’t imagine I’ll be spending much time in London in the years to come”—she raised her gaze to meet Nicholas’s again—“I doubt I’ll have reason to summon Miss Flibbertigibbet to the fore again.”
Especially not if I’m married and no longer in any gentleman’s sights.
She let her eyes and the reassuring tenor of her smile convey that unvoiced thought; from the answering, warm and private smile that lit Nicholas’s eyes, he caught her meaning well enough.
Viola asked Devenish about his family’s stable, and under cover of the discussion, with everyone’s attention on Devenish and his reply, Addie felt Nicholas’s fingers find hers beneath the table. His hand engulfed hers, then his thumb drew circles over the back of her hand.
She felt her lips curve irrepressibly, felt a warm glow spread through her. She’d wanted to know how strong, how powerful, his feelings for her truly were. While she hadn’t been conscious when he’d found her, that he’d carried her out of that field and, in doing so, had faced the all-but-insurmountable difficulty of convincing The Barbarian to allow him on his back and, subsequently, had accepted the undeniable risk and succeeded in his rescue of her told her a great deal about the unbending nature of his devotion to her.
And she knew The Barbarian. From the first time the horse had seen her and she had seen him, they’d connected in a way she would be hard-pressed to explain. She’d put it down to similar natures—a recognition of like to like. They were both reckless, impulsive, and unpredictable.
Perhaps it was illogical to put faith in an animal’s instinctive insight, yet The Barbarian, a horse that trusted rarely, trusted Nicholas.
It might seem ridiculous to others, but she felt beyond reassured. Beyond confident that Nicholas was, indeed, a gentleman she could trust. With herself, with her life, with her future.
She tried to convey all that with her eyes and her smile, and the intrigued and eager look she received in reply suggested that he divined something of her feelings.
Devenish turned to Nicholas with a question about some other mare that the Cynsters had, and the conversation once more turned to breeding racehorses.
Addie listened, drinking in the talk of bloodlines and the discussion of various markers of performance.
The serving girls came in and collected the dessert plates. Their company had made short work of a delicious trifle.
Once the table was clear and the door had closed again, Addie seized the moment of distraction as the gentlemen passed around a bottle of whiskey to whisper to Nicholas, “Clearly, I’m going to have to brush up my understanding of all things breeding.”
She saw him blink. Saw the question of whether she was alluding to horse or human reproduction rise in his mind. Before he had a chance to voice that query, she smiled across the table at Viola and Phillip. “Now that this business has been resolved, and in doing so, we’ve all got to know each other, what are your plans?”
Phillip and Viola shared a glance, then Phillip took Viola’s hand and looked at Addie and Dickie. “Obviously, we intend to marry, but exactly when…”
Addie nodded briskly. “You’ll have to tell Papa and bring Viola to the Grange and introduce her to Papa and Mama and everyone else she needs to know.”
Phillip’s eyes widened, and he looked more uncertain than he ever had. “I don’t know—”
