*Barkley*
I can watch her now as I hadn’t been able to since the moment I placed her on the horse outside the stables. Her long dark lashes feather lightly over cheeks flushed with the effort of her running. My gaze follows the line of her throat, an ivory smoothness I desperately want to press my lips against.
Her hair is in danger of spilling over her back. I’m tempted to help it along, to reach up and remove the last bastion of pins. How stubbornly they hold on. Just like her. Determined to keep a distance between us.
I brought her here hoping to bring her some joy. Instead, she’s been constantly, warily looking around as though fearful that she will spy someone she knows, that someone will see her with me… and then how the deuce will she explain that?
She doesn’t want my laughter,
