Free After the Kiss by Suzanne Enoch

chance to get in a blow against that arrogant lickspittle was simply too good to pass by. And he’d never been all that successful at resisting temptation, anyway.
    He worked Zephyr for another thirty minutes, until he could sense the mare’s growing comfort with and confidence in the two commands she’d learned. He could have proceeded more quickly, but Zephyr needed to be as calm and steady and gentle-paced as he could make her. Especially after what he’d done earlier.
    When they’d finished for the afternoon he put the mare up himself, measuring out her grain and hay and brushing her out as she ate. As he worked, the mare’s ears flicked at him and then away. A moment later he scented the light tang of citrus, and something he couldn’t put a name to swirled down his spine.
    “You’re still here,” Isabel said without preamble.
    He kept brushing. “Do you want me to go?”
    “I want you to face me when I’m speaking to you.”
    Sullivan dropped the brush into its bucket and turned around. “As you wish, my lady,” he forced out, folding his arms and knowing it wasn’t her fault that he felt scraped raw this afternoon.
    “That’s better.” Her pretty brown eyes gazed at him. “I will be out late tonight, and will be sleeping in. You will therefore be here promptly at ten o’clock in the morning.”
    “You want me to come back?” Sullivan asked, deeply surprised.
    “We have an agreement. And I’m still trying to decide what to do with you.” She looked from him to Zephyr, took a breath, and turned on her heel.
    “I’m truly sorry I frightened you,” he said to her back, half wondering why he felt the need to apologize. Frightening her was probably in his best interest. He’d certainly never prove himself harmless to anyone’s—to her—satisfaction.
    She slowly faced him again. “Yes. Don’t ever do that again. It was unfair.”
    “It wasn’t aimed at you, Isabel,” he said quietly. “And I won’t. Ever do it again, I mean.”
    Isabel took another breath, clearly assessing him. What she saw in his face, he had no idea, but her expression finally relaxed a little. “I’ll take you at your word, Mr. Waring. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have guests.”
    Again she didn’t say anything about Oliver and their so-called connection. “I’ll see you in the morning, then,” he said as coolly as he could.
    “At ten o’clock.”
    “Promptly at ten.”
    He watched her back out the wide stable doors. She’d left Oliver inside the house to come and talk to him. To make certain he’d be there in the morning. Isabel Chalsey liked him, which was bad for all concerned. Even worse, he liked her.

Chapter 6
    Though Barbara left to go home and change her clothes for the Edlington soiree, Oliver Sullivan stayed at Chalsey House for dinner and then offered his coach to escort all of them to the party. The five adults squeezed into his carriage while Douglas stood in the drawing room window upstairs and made faces at them. For once she wished she was three years younger so she could avoid attending, as well.
    It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy the dancing and the music. Generally—until tonight, in fact—she considered them to be the best part of the Season. After today, though, she felt more in need of silence and a very long while to think about what she needed to do next. Tonight, waltzing and smiling seemed a bit of a bother.
    From her father’s careful queries during dinner about the state of Zephyr’s training, clearly he knew that Oliver andMr. Waring were half-brothers, and also that the relationship was strained, to say the least. Douglas appeared baffled, only rousing from his talk of the latest wagers reportedly going into the book at White’s Club when Sullivan Waring’s name was mentioned. Phillip just as quickly changed the subject of discussion, so he knew the truth, as well.
    Blast it all, why had no one told her? She didn’t know that it would have altered what she did, but