The Winter Wish Read Free Page A

see to his horse and was
scratching the large gray on the side of the neck. “Lady Kincaid, if you have
changed your mind and would like to accompany us…” he ventured in an undeniably
hopeful tone.
    “No,
no.” Lily spun to face him, muff in hand, and smiled brilliantly. “I see some
of my friend’s right over there,” she claimed, pointing to the left where a
trio of heavily cloaked women and one man were walking. “I will see you at
Twinings!” And she was off without so much as a backwards glance, leaving Sarah
quite frozen in place.
    She
watched, incapable of saying a word, as Devlin moved to the side of the sleigh
and held open the door. When he looked up at her expectantly she swallowed hard
and walked jerkily towards him, feeling as though her limbs were being
controlled by strings.
    “Thank
you,” she managed to croak when he helped her up onto the small leather bench
seat and laid a thick fur blanket across her lap.
    “Will
that keep you warm enough?” he asked, glancing sideways at her after he had
climbed in from the opposite side and gathered up the reins.
    Sarah
managed a slight nod. “Yes, this will do quite n-nicely.”
    “Hold
on tight,” Devlin suggested, and with a snap of the whip they were off.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE

     
     
    Of
all the different scenarios Sarah had imagined in her head when she dreamed of
meeting Devlin, racing in an open sleigh had never been one of them.
    Now
she knew why.  
    Despite
Lily’s prediction to the contrary, there was nothing romantic about huddling
under a fur blanket while slowly freezing to death. Within moments she could no
longer feel her toes or her fingers, and her teeth were chattering so badly she
feared she would bite her tongue in half.
    Sarah
supposed the scenery would have been nice to look at, except they were moving
so fast that the snow covered pine trees and rolling hills had been reduced to
little more than a blur of green and white. It was making her quite dizzy, if
she were to be perfectly honest, and after the second lap around the park she
simply shut her eyes and prayed for it all to be over.
    “You
can look now. We have stopped.” There was a husky note of laughter in Devlin’s
voice, and when Sarah tentatively opened her eyes she saw he was grinning at
her, his blue eyes filled with amusement. “You do not like horses, do you?” he
asked, and in the face of such a blunt question without Lily to lie for her,
Sarah was forced to shake her head.
    “No,”
she admitted softly, looking down at her lap. “I am afraid of them, to be quite
honest.”
    They
had stopped in the middle of a small clearing. The snow around them was
untouched, proving they were the first to venture here since its falling. In
the distance Sarah could hear the raised voices of children and guessed they
were somewhere close to the small skating pond where she had taken many a
tumble as a little girl with skates that were too big and hand-me-down skirts
that were too long.
    She
peeked at Devlin, hoping he would not be angry with her for fibbing. The
Viscount certainly did not appear angry. If anything he looked more
handsome than ever with his cheeks flushed red from the cold and his hair blown
back by the wind. Without warning he turned his head to the side and caught her
studying him. There eyes caught and held for one breathless moment, before
Devlin smiled slowly and nodded down to the fur blanket.
    “Do
you mind?” he asked.
    “N-no.”
    His
knee bumped against hers as he unfolded the blanket, then the hard length of
his thigh. Sarah felt her face burning and feigned interest in a pine tree so
she had an excuse to turn her face aside, not wanting him to see the effect his
nearness had on her body. She heard him sigh, and then cluck to the horse to
start them moving again, this time at a slow, leisurely walk.
    “Why
would you choose to go for a sleigh ride if you do not like horses?” Devlin
said. Beside him Sarah stiffened and began to