Page 34 of Winterset

As they stepped up into the carriage, Anna turned and looked down the street. A horseman was riding toward them. Her throat tightened.

“Reed!” Kyria exclaimed.

He pulled up for a moment, then urged his horse forward, coming to a stop beside their carriage. “Ladies.” He swept off his hat. His eyes went over to Anna. She could not read his expression.

“Have you come to pay a sympathy call, too?” Kyria asked. “I did not know you were riding here.”

“I did not know you were, either,” he responded.

“Yes, I happened to catch Anna as she was leaving, so I came along.”

“Stay here,” he told them. “I will be back. I want to talk to you.” Again his eyes slid toward Anna.

He dismounted, handing the reins of his horse to the coachman, who had jumped down to take them. Kyria heaved a sigh.

“Well, if that isn’t just like him,” Kyria said. “He’s always been inordinately bossy. Much worse than Theo, and he’s the oldest. I’ve half a mind to tell Henry to tie Reed’s horse to that tree and drive on.” She shrugged. “Of course, he’d just catch up with us later, so it’s hardly worth the trouble.”

Anna nodded. The way he had looked at her, she couldn’t help but think it was she to whom he wanted to talk. She would have liked very much to leave, but she could scarcely tell Kyria that she wanted to flee her brother.

“How are Con and Alex?” Anna asked, to make conversation.

“As rambunctious as ever. Of course, they are morbidly interested in this killing. They want to investigate, but Reed put his foot down about that. Told them they are not to leave the house and gardens without a groom along. So they have been having to create what deviltry they can within the confines of the house and yard. Of course, they are up to the task. They’ve tied a rope to the railing on the second-floor landing and have been climbing up and down it. It frightened a maid so badly she dropped a load of dishes, the first time Alex came swinging over the side.”

Anna chuckled. “I shall have to come and take them to Nick’s again to see the dog they found. They seemed to enjoy that last time.”

“Oh, my, yes, they revere your Mr. Perkins. They would love to go again, I’m sure. But only if you don’t mind—I wouldn’t want them to be a bother to you.”

“They are no bother,” Anna assured her. “I had an excessively good time with them both times we were out. They are lively, intelligent boys.”

Kyria smiled at her, pleased at her assessment. “I quite agree. Not everyone is so understanding, I’m afraid.” She looked past Anna at the Akins’ house. “Ah, there is Reed. I wonder what it is he’s wanting to say. He has been grim all day.”

His grimness was unabated, Anna thought, as she watched him approach the carriage. His face was set in stern lines; his gray eyes were unreadable.

“Miss Holcomb,” he said without preamble, “will you walk with me? I—I wish to speak to you.”

Dread gathered in Anna’s stomach. She had no desire to talk to him, but she could see no way out of it, not when she was sitting in his sister’s carriage. She glanced at Kyria. The other woman’s face was alight with curiosity, but she could see no sign that Kyria knew what Reed’s intent was.

“Of course,” Anna said, climbing down from the carriage. She took his hand to help her down the step, but withdrew it as soon as her feet were on the ground. She looked up at him, her chin lifted a little defiantly. He gestured toward the street in front of him, saying, “I would offer you my arm, but I have the feeling you would not take it.”

Anna swept past him, holding her skirt up a trifle to save it from the dirt of the road. When they were far enough away that their words could not be heard, she began crisply, feeling it was better to attack than to wait for whatever he intended, “Lord Moreland, if you intend to lecture me again, let me—”

“No, no, I assure you. I have no intention of lecturing. I—I did not mean to yesterday. I wanted to talk to you because I wanted to apologize for what I said to you. I was…unkind.”

Anna glanced at him, surprised.

“Please, do not look so amazed,” he said, half smiling. “You will make me think I must seem the veriest ogre.”

“No. I just—it is an awkward situation.”

“I was concerned for your safety. You are correct in saying that I have no right to be. Whatever I thought we once had, it is, of course, long over. I did not really mean to assume any rights. It is just that I—” He sighed and looked off into the distance. “I don’t know how to put this without you thinking that I have run mad. But I did not want you to think that I am arbitrarily meddling in your affairs.”

Anna looked at him, curious now. “What are you saying?”

“Not long ago, I—I dreamed about you.”

Anna felt a blush rising in her cheeks, and she looked down at the ground. She, too, had had dreams about Reed, ones that left her crying and bereft, and others that she awoke from in a hot daze of passion.

“It was not the first time—I will not pretend that,” Reed went on. “But it was the first time in a long time, and it was…different. It left me afraid.”