“Kate . . . ?” He stopped abruptly at the sight of her face. She sat rigid in the saddle, her face suddenly gone very pale. Her eyes were riveted on the small copse.
He strode quickly to her. “Good God, what the devil is the matter?”
Her lips moved, but there was no sound. As if with great effort she tore her gaze away from the copse. “I don’t like this place.”
Her voice was so low that he could barely make out her words. She was trembling visibly, and she looked at once frightened and bewildered. “I don’t like this place,” she said again.
Before he could say anything, she whirled poor Carrot about and dug in her heels fiercely. Carrot gave a snort of surprise and plunged into an erratic gallop. Kate didn’t look back.
Julien swung himself into the saddle in one swift motion and urged Astarte forward. Good God, what had upset her so? Had she seen something that he hadn’t? He felt at once perplexed and fearful for her. In but a few moments he drew alongside her panting horse. She seemed not to see him; her eyes were fixed on the road ahead.
His first thought was to grab her reins and forcibly pull the horse to a halt. But she appeared to have her mount well in control. Thus he contented himself with keeping pace with her.
She swung off to the left to another path that Julien hadn’t noticed on their ride. Without hesitation she soon veered from the path and skirted a large meadow. Several minutes later, Julien saw that they were quite near to Brandon Hall. He would never have thought they could return so quickly.
The instant her horse’s hooves touched the gravel of the drive, she pulled to a halt and blinked rapidly, as if awakening from a dream.
He reined in beside her, his arm stretched out to touch her shoulder. “What the devil is the matter? What did you see back there?”
She turned a pathetically white face to him. It was a moment longer before she answered him. “I don’t know. It’s simply a place that makes me very uncomfortable.” Her voice was surprisingly calm, almost devoid of emotion.
“Don’t tell such bald-faced lies, ma’am. If that is your notion of discomfort, you have need of verbal education. You were terrified back there. That or you saw something. What did you see?”
She flinched at his harshness, and he eyed her with mounting frustration. “I’m sorry,” he said at last. “I didn’t mean to shout at you. But I would like to know what upset you so. I saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing at all. Please speak to me.”
“No, it’s really nothing, my lord. I’ve behaved quite foolishly. Indeed, I was more of a ninny than I was three years ago when I managed to fall from an apple tree right on my head. It wasn’t anything, truly. If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to forget it.”
He looked searchingly at her, trying to probe her mind. She returned his gaze almost defiantly.
“Very well, if that is what you wish.” But it wasn’t at all what he wished. However, she didn’t yet belong to him, and until she did, he had no right to demand the truth from her, in any and all things.
She fanned her hands in front of her in a helpless gesture. She realized that he wanted her to confide in him, but how could she explain something that she could not even now understand herself? She had the lingering certainty that the place was evil. Just exactly what the evil entailed, she didn’t know, for it seemed closed behind an impenetrable wall. For a moment, she’d probed at that wall, but something black and deep was behind it and she was too afraid to continue. She backed away.
Julien curbed his frustration at her silence and lifted his arms to help her down from her horse. It was a gesture he normally proffered, and one that she usually ignored, alighting unassisted, as would a man. This time she responded and touched her hands lightly on his shoulders as he circled her waist. He swung her down but didn’t immediately release her. To his infinite joy, she didn’t draw away but gazed up at him, an unfathomable expression on her pale face. Without thought and with great gentleness, he bent down and kissed her. And he knew he wasn’t mistaken in her response. She parted her lips ever so slightly. He felt her hands press against his shoulders. But the brief moment was over as quickly as it had begun. She tore herself free of his arms and jumped back, her breath coming in short, jerky gasps. She raised her hands to her lips in a protective, bewildered gesture. Her eyes grew larger and darker. Then she just stood there, staring up at him in the most innocently provocative way he’d ever seen.
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