Carousel of Hearts Read Online Free PDF

notable engineer working over in Macclesfield, and I intend to call on him soon.”
    Adam grinned.  “I never knew an inventor who didn’t need more money for his work, and a businessman to show him how to get the most out of his ideas.”
    Antonia was startled. “Do you think horses will no longer be needed?” She gave her mare’s glossy neck a protective pat. “I can’t believe that.”
    “My guess is that long-distance travel will become much easier with steam-powered vehicles, probably ones designed to run along tracks, but such engines will be expensive, connecting only major cities,” Adam said reassuringly. “We’ll still need horses for local travel.”
    “All these new mechanisms fascinate you, don’t they?”
    “They are the future. Tony, and it is better to be fascinated by the future than frightened by it.” A dry note entered his voice. “Of course, most members of your class prefer to stay in a protected world, ignoring what is happening among the common folk of Britain.”
    “Adam, how dare you refer to ‘my class’ like that,” Antonia said, tugging at her reins so sharply that her mount whickered as it stopped. “I am no different than you.”
    His face serious for once, Adam halted his horse next to hers. “We are different in a thousand important ways, Tony. It is to your credit that you ignore such distinctions, but the rest of the world notices them. You are an aristocrat, born to wealth and privilege. I am a merchant at best, an unfortunate blot on the family escutcheon at worst.”
    As Adam’s wry gray-green eyes met hers, Antonia was reminded again that they were children no longer.  Her cousin had been struggling to make his way in a world very different from her own cushioned existence. “You are what you have made of yourself,” she said quietly. “Has it been so very bad?”
    “I don’t want your pity,” he said, his deep voice harsher than she had ever heard it.
    “Then what do you want?”
    It was a perfect opportunity, but as he looked at Antonia, her cinnamon eyes earnest with the desire to understand, her bright hair a nimbus around her exquisite face, Adam lost the courage to speak. “I suppose I want the world to be different than it is,” he said slowly. Which was the truth, but his wishes were far more specific than that general statement.
    “The world, like British weather, is constantly changing,” Antonia said, her face relaxing into a mischievous smile. “If you don’t like the way it is now, wait a few minutes. It will be different, and possibly better.”
    “But at the very least, different,” he agreed, with an answering smile.
    “Do you remember how to ride a wild-goose chase?”
    Adam chuckled as he recalled the mad races of their youth. In a wild-goose chase, whichever rider was ahead set the course, while the followers tried to pass and take over the lead. “Of course! A miracle neither of us was killed.”
    “I hope that doesn’t mean that you’ve become too respectable to run one. Catch me if you can!” With a flick of her whip, Antonia and her mount went tearing down the steep hill like a wind from Hades.
    For just a moment, the practical businessman that Adam had become thought of badger holes and loose rocks and the risk Antonia ran of breaking her lovely neck. Then he laughed. Both of them knew and understood this country, minimizing the risks.
    Besides, who wanted to live forever? Kicking his mount, he charged recklessly after her.  As he bent over his horse’s neck, urging the gelding to its best speed, he comforted himself with the reflection that it was early yet, too soon to speak of serious things.
    Adam didn’t know that time was about to run out.
    * * * *
    Simon Launceston, fifth Baron Launceston, arrived that afternoon. Like all great events. Lord Launceston’s arrival was ever after indelibly etched in Judith’s memory.
    When he was announced, they were taking tea in the small parlor, which commanded a splendid