Page 75 of A Rare Find

She laughed unwillingly. “Much better.”

“At least we’re together. I’d rather I was with you than anyone else. Except Charles Peach.”

“The farmer?” She drew up her legs. Every inch of her felt grimy and raw.

“From a practical standpoint. He could punch through the mud.”

“I don’t think he’d have fit into the tunnel.”

“You’re probably right. Did I tell you that he carried a horse on his back?”

A tired smile curved her lips. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. Phipps watched him do it. A full-grown horse.”

“Why?”

“I think anyone would watch something like that.”

She bumped their shoulder. “Why carry a horse?”

“Unclear.” There was a pause. “Why not? If you can?”

She exhaled on another laugh. Her heart was beating more steadily. “This helps.”

“I’ve taken your mind off our being buried alive?”

She bumped them harder.

They laughed, and their laughter warmed the darkness.

A little more, and she’d stop shaking. She’d summon the last of her strength, and she’d do what had to be done.

“Tell me something else,” she said.

“I told you a man carried a horse. What else is there?”

She giggled. It was utterly bizarre, how much this helped. How blithely she could confront the fact that she was trapped in a horrible, dank hole, thanks to Georgie attempting so transparently to bolster her. Usually, she did the bolstering. Soothed and cuddled. Dried the eyes.

“A secret.” She leaned into them. “Tell me a secret.”

She’d said the wrong thing. She was pressed to their side, and she felt their resistance, their limbs still but suddenly unyielding. She might have been leaning on stone.

“Not your deepest, darkest secret.” She pulled away clumsily, embarrassed to have overstepped. But she hadn’t known that Georgie harbored a deep, dark secret.

And they did, didn’t they? What else could their reaction signify?

“A small secret.” She swallowed. “Something comical.”

“Comical?” They shifted closer, restoring contact. The odd moment had passed. “Give me an example.”

She hadn’t prepared one of her own. But there it was—blaring in her brain. Her embarrassment increased. She tried to think of anything else, failed, and proceeded.

“Well, then.” She hesitated. “It’s about that riddle, with the hungry sparks.”

“Good Lord. The answer was kiss?”

“No, but I wanted you to.” Now that she’d confessed, she prickled all over. “I wanted you to kiss me. I’d no idea you would, in that exact moment. It was more of a general condition.”