Lily (Flower Trilogy) by Lauren Royal Page A

cannot run.” She showed him the small broken leg she’d splinted.
    “But she doesn’t seem frightened.”
    “He,” Lily corrected. The small fox wagged its white-tipped tail. “And why should he be frightened?”
    A spell of silence followed, filled only by rustling and the assorted grunts of animals, as Rand tilted his head and studied her. “No reason,” he conceded finally. “You’re very gentle.”
    The tone of his voice made her heart turn over. “Anyone can be.”
    “Not anyone.” He stood. “What else do you have in your care?”
    She walked along the pens that crowded a corner of the barn, stopping where a spotted fawn nuzzled her with his nose. “Meet Timothy—”
    “Timothy?”
    “He looks like a Timothy, does he not? He lost his mother.” Feeding the baby deer a handful of grass, she leaned to the neighboring pen to lift the cloth draping a deep basket. “And here’s a rat—”
    “A rat?” He stared at the creature in question, a fat, furry brown rodent that never failed to make her smile.
    “You would save a rat?”
    “Randolph was hurt. But he’s recovered quite nicely. I may set him free later today.”
    “To be eaten by a cat, no doubt.”
    “Not my cats. My cats are his friends. Besides, ’twould be cruel to keep him confined when he’s well enough to roam.” Timothy had finished his treat, so she wiped her hand on her skirts and moved to the next enclosure.
    “Over here, I have a badger, but he’s sleeping.” She indicated where a black-and-white snout poked out from a pile of old blankets. “They’re nocturnal, you may know.
    And little Harold here is sleeping, too.”
    “A hedgehog?” Rand’s eyes radiated amusement.
    At the other end of the barn, a door opened. Lily’s brother started in, then spotted them and began backing out.
    “I’m finished, Rowan,” Lily called. “You can come play with the animals.”
    “Maybe later.” He slammed the door shut.
    Rose laid a possessive hand on Rand’s arm. “Shall we go see the gardens now?” she asked sweetly.
    “Your father’s gardens are quite extensive, are they not?” He glanced out the double doors toward the sun. “I really must be getting to Ford’s house. I promised him help. If I might borrow a mount—”

    “Of course,” Rose said with a smile. “Our stables are much more impressive than this old barn. And I will ride with you to show you the way.”
    “I think I can find Lakefield on my own.”
    No doubt he could, since Lakefield’s lands bordered Trentingham, accessible by both the road and the river.
    But Rose refused to be deterred. “I should like to come along. Perhaps I can help Violet. Twins are a handful.”
    Lily suppressed a laugh. The twins had two nursemaids, and Rose had never shown interest in helping Violet before. But ’twas good, she decided, for Rose to appear parental. A man looking for a wife would also be thinking in terms of a mother for his children.
    “Well, then,” Rand said easily, “we shall have a nice ride. You’ll join us, Lily, will you not?”
    “I—what?” she asked, taken off guard.
    “She has yet to eat breakfast,” Rose pointed out, having doubtless noticed her absence at the morning meal.
    She did, at least, tactfully forgo mentioning that Lily wasn’t properly groomed for a visit, either. “She can join us later.”
    “Nonsense,” Rand returned. “We’ll wait. In the meantime, you wanted to show me the gardens?”
    A smile lit Rose’s eyes. Lily followed them out of the barn, turning toward the house while her sister led Rand in the other direction.
    She stopped in her tracks at the sound of Rose’s voice.
    “Rowan Ashcroft, what do you think you’re doing?”
    Rose sounded very parental. Lily hurried around the back of the barn, arriving just in time to see her brother tug a thin wooden stick through a fold of paper, the friction producing a hiss. As the wood burst into flame, he looked up and gave a grinning answer to Rose’s