“He might, if you are of sufficient importance,” Petrina said after a moment, “and I think you must be to have horses like yours.”
“What is your Guardian’s name?” the Earl asked.
Petrina did not answer for a moment and he guessed that she was considering whether she could trust him or not.
Because of her reluctance to trust him, he then lost control of his temper.
“Dammit all! I am doing my very best. Any other girl would be grateful.”
“I am grateful to you for bringing me this far,” Petrina answered slowly.
“Then why are you so reluctant to trust me?”
“It is not that, it is just because I think that you are so old you have forgotten how to be young.”
The Earl squared his chin.
‘Old,’ he thought. ‘Old at thirty-three!’
But he supposed that was what a child of eighteen would think
