“I’ve been making a list.”
“I feared so.”
Her eyes warmed at that, green and lively despite the grey morning. Thomas looked away too late.
Cygnet shifted beneath his hand. She was a bay mare with a small white star on her forehead and more sense than halfthe men in Ashcombe, though less patience. She flicked an ear toward Amelia, then gave Thomas a look that clearly said she knew exactly what nonsense he was about to attempt.
Hob came out of the stable with a rolled blanket under one arm and an expression far too pleased for so early an hour.
“Set this behind the saddle, my lord. The lady will sit easier.”
Amelia brightened. “A cushion? Hob, you angel.”
Hob stopped dead. “I have been called many things, mistress. That is a first.”
“Enjoy it.”
Thomas took the blanket from him. “Do you have work?”
“Aye.”
“Then go to it.”
“I am doing it. Ensuring Mistress Amelia does not fall off your horse and break the clever part of her head.”
“My head has many clever parts,” Amelia said.
Hob looked her over gravely. “Best protect the whole of it, then.”
Thomas secured the folded blanket behind the saddle, aware that Hob was still standing there wearing the expression of a man prepared to be entertained at someone else’s expense.
“Leave,” Thomas said.
Hob scratched his beard. “Of course.”
He didn’t leave.
Edith appeared in the hall doorway with a wrapped bundle in one hand. “Bread, cheese, two apples, and a flask of small beer. And water for Mistress Amelia, since she insists on living dangerously.”
“I like water,” Amelia said.
Edith crossed the yard and tucked the bundle into Amelia’s satchel, then stepped back and looked from her to Thomas, eyes narrowed.
“Mind your veil in town,” Edith said.
Amelia touched the linen at her head. “Is it already falling down?”
“It’s fine now. It will not remain fine, because your hair has no Christian discipline.”
“My hair and I are working through some things.”
“Work faster.”
Hob made a sound suspiciously close to laughter.
Edith looked at Thomas. “And you. Don’t let her wander alone.”
“She is standing right here.”