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looking surprised by the discovery.
    “Look here, where do you live? It will be raining soon, and you have no coat.”
    The weather seemed to have gone unnoticed by her; she looked up to the sky with a frown.
    “Run along home,” he said, gesturing toward the woods. “Where is your house?”
    “Ashwood,” she said. “I live with the countess. The second countess. The first countess was only a pretend one, but this one is a real countess, and she’s quite pretty and very kind. She hasn’t a lot of friends, not like the pretend countess. She had squads and squads of friends. I am going to live with her in Ireland. Lord Donnelly is coming for the horses and for me and he is going to take me all the way to Ireland. They mean to adopt me, you know.”
    “That is happy news, indeed, but you’ll be no use to them if you are struck dead by cold. Run along home,” he repeated.
    “Where do you live?” she asked, ignoring his advice.
    “Tiber Park.” He looked up at the sky—the clouds were thickening and the girl was at least twenty minutes by foot from Ashwood. If she could be depended upon to walk a straight line. As much as Tobin despised the residents of Hadley Green, those feelings did not extend to children. That was the one part of him that hadn’t been entirely corrupted by the life he’d led thus far.
    “Come along. I’ll take you home.”
    “Why?”
    “I told you. It will rain soon and you have no cloak from the look of it, and I’ll not have your death on my conscience.”
    “People don’t die from rain, ” she said stubbornly.
    “Are you quite certain of that?”
    She frowned, as if she was privately debating that,then looked at his horse. “Do you mean to take me on that ?” she asked. “I don’t like horses. Once, a horse bit me.”
    “Indeed,” he said and stood.
    “Like this,” she said and snapped at him, her teeth bared.
    “I have never, in all my years, seen a horse bite like that,” he said skeptically. “Nevertheless, I assure you I am a competent horseman. You will not fall, and he will not bite you. Come.” He held out his hand to her.
    The girl eyed him warily before slipping her hand into his. “My name is Miss Lucy Taft. What is your name?”
    “Eberlin,” he said.
    “Oh! I know very well who you are,” she said breezily as they walked to where his horse was grazing. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”
    “Have you,” he said wryly and lifted her up to sit before the saddle. “Hold onto his mane,” he instructed. She gripped the horse’s mane as he lifted himself up behind her.
    “The countess does not care for you, you know,” she continued.
    “Doesn’t she?”
    “Oh, no. She once liked you quite a lot, when you were a boy, but she said you became a horrible man when you grew up. You’re not really a lord, are you? Lady Ashwood says you are not really a lord, for youdon’t have an English title. Perhaps you didn’t know you were to have an English title.”
    Tobin glanced heavenward and put his arm around her small middle, anchoring her to him. As he started his horse forward, Lucy Taft gasped and grabbed his arm that held the reins.
    “Miss Taft, you make it impossible for me to guide the horse. Let go of my arm.”
    “I told you I don’t like to ride.”
    “Let go,” he said again. “I have a very firm grasp of you.”
    She reluctantly let go and shrank back into his chest. “I don’t like riding in the least. I don’t know why everyone does, really. The pretend countess, she liked it very much. She raced about on horses, and she wanted me to do the same. I fear she’ll expect me to ride about all of Ireland. I rather like carriages, don’t you? I like the very big ones, for the smaller ones are quite close. Once, I went into the village with Mrs. Thorpe and Peter, the kitchen boy, in the old carriage, and it was quite close, and Peter didn’t smell very nice, and I had to hold my breath the whole way. ”
    Lucy Taft continued to