KDBookOnline
Share Us
“I’m very wicked,” she observed, but obligingly went down onto her hands and knees to peer into the thicket.
“Come along, Rosie,” he said in his normal voice, trying to sound a little annoyed. “We need to get back. We promised apples to Mrs. Brubbins and Billet.”
“I’m not listening to you,” Rose returned. “I’m finding a rabbit.”
“You’re going to get your dress dirty.”
At that she stood up, looking down to brush at the green gown where dirt showed across her knees. “Dash it, Georgie! I don’t want to ruin my dress.”
Brush rustled behind them. “Then you shouldn’t go crawling after rabbits,” he improvised. “You’re going to get us in trouble.”
“There you are,” Billet said, stepping around an oak tree and into the glade. “What are you doing down here?”
“I saw a bunny,” Rosie said, still brushing at her gown. “I tried not to get my dress dirty.”
The groom folded his arms over his chest. “A bunny,” he repeated skeptically.
“Yes. We don’t have bunnies in London. Just squirrels. And they bite.”
Oh, that was a nice touch. Rosie tended to see things the way she wanted them to be, but she could spin a good tale when they needed one. “Did you think we ran again?” he asked, folding his own arms just like Billet.
The groom narrowed his eyes. “No. Not with less than four weeks until you meet the duke.” He looked from George to Rose. “Did you stash something hereabouts?”
There were times George almost liked going up against the groom, because Billet knew things. At other times, though, he reckoned the groom knew too many things. “Did we?” he returned, narrowing his own eyes.
Billet sighed. “None of my affair. If you or anyone else nicks something from the stable, though, I’m going to fill your shoes with horse shite.”
“You said shite,” Rose observed. “In the presence of a lady.”
His jaw twitched. “My apologies, Miss Rose. If you nick something from my stable, I’ll fill your shoes with manure. Do you believe me?”
For a moment George weighed what he’d been learning about servants against what he’d observed of the head groom. Finally, he nodded. “We won’t nick anything from the stable.” He’d have to inform James, but there wasn’t much there he wanted, anyway, except maybe for the ponies. If they did nick Apple and General Jenny, though, his and Rose’s shoes would be on their feet while they rode for Gloucester. George sighed inwardly. Or York, blast it all.
“Good,” the groom said. “Now, let’s get you back. You scared Miss Hannah.”
“I like Hannah,” Rose declared, allowing herself to be nudged back toward the apple grove. “She helps me choose pretty thread colors, and she doesn’t try to make us learn things.”
“I thought you liked learning things,” Billet countered, falling in behind them.
“I do, but only some things. Dancing is good, even though we still haven’t done enough waltzing, and I like fencing. Embroidery is horrible. And so is sewing.”
“I believe Hannah is a fine seamstress. You might ask her to give you a few pointers.”
“Oh, I have.”
They passed by the fallen tree, which George made a point not to look at. It was just a tree, and there were a lot of trees. Behind him, though, Billet’s footsteps slowed a little. “Can a falling apple kill someone?” George asked quickly.
The footsteps resumed. “I suppose, if it cracked someone right on the skull. An apple falling on him is how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity, though, and it didn’t kill him, so who knows?”
“What’s gravity?” Rose asked.
“It’s the thing that makes apples fall when you let them go. Without gravity, I reckon we’d all be floating about in the sky.”
“Like birds? I don’t want gravity, then.”
“I don’t think you have a choice, Miss Rose.”
“Well, that’s stupid.”