"Mr. Bell arranged another visit on Thursday," James added.
She looked at him with faint surprise. "You remembered."
"I have been informed that listening is useful."
A smile tugged at her mouth. "An excellent beginning."
They spent the afternoon observing Storm from outside his stall, recording his appetite, movements, and reactions whenever Thomas approached to groom him. Emma refused to draw conclusions from a single quiet morning; James discovered that she possessed an extraordinary patience for uncertainty. She would watch the horse for several minutes, make a brief observation, and then wait rather than invent an explanation.
When he asked whether Storm would ever be ridden again, she set down her pencil. "I don't know."
"You might have offered me something more comforting."
"Would you have believed me?"
James looked through the stall bars. "Probably not."
"Then we have spared each other a disappointment."
He laughed quietly. It was an unfamiliar sound in the stable passage, and Thomas glanced up from the feed bucket with an expression of discreet astonishment.
Later, James accompanied Emma toward the forge, where she had promised her father she would help finish an urgent order. Heat rolled through the open doorway. Samuel Carter stood beside the anvil, his sleeves rolled above thick forearms. He greeted the Duke respectfully, but did not abandon the iron glowing in his tongs.
Emma removed her bonnet and fastened her leather apron. "Father, the smaller shoe is ready for shaping."
Samuel nodded toward the workbench. James watched her select a hammer and begin working the heated metal with measured blows. Each strike had a purpose; there was nothing delicate about the work and nothing uncertain about her movements. When the iron cooled, she returned it to the fire and glanced toward him.
"You look surprised, Your Grace."
"I was wondering how long you have worked here."
"Since I was tall enough to reach the tools without standing on a box."
"And your father permitted it?"
Samuel answered without looking up: "She was determined to learn. I was sensible enough to teach her properly before she taught herself badly."