The lake...the moonlight...the touch of his lips. Her pulse quickened at the memory and she slid a sidelong glance at his impassive profile. Did he remember? Of course he did...it was an idiotic question. More pertinent—might he snatch this opportunity to kiss her again? And, if he did, would she allow it?
The sight of three figures on the bank ahead of them answered her question as to whether he might snatch a kiss. Zach had told her Leo, Dominic and Daniel were fishing and he must have known, by riding in this direction, they would meet them. He had no wish to prolong their private talk or to kiss her again, that was abundantly clear, and knowing that made her feel...deflated, somehow.
And what did you expect? Have you given him reason to think you have enjoyed this conversation or his company this morning?
‘Zach.’ The other men had yet to notice their approach and she must say this before it was too late. ‘I should like you to know—I might not have shown it, but I have valued our conversations. They have helped me.’
He smiled. ‘Thank you. I did not mean to annoy you, but please think about what I have said before you finally decide upon your future. You owe yourself that much.’
‘I promise I shall. And I shall visit my aunt and meet his lordship again before making any commitment.’
The three men ahead had now caught sight of them and Cecily waved. She interpreted the reason behind Leo’s frown so, to forestall any negative remark concerning her choice of escort, as soon as they were within earshot, she called, ‘There you are! Mr Gray offered to show me where you were fishing. Isn’t it a glorious day?’
Chapter Five
Leo’s frown lifted slightly, but he still looked stern enough to make Cecily anxious. Her brother was nothing if not protective and she would not have chosen to meet him in this way. She wished Zach had shown more discretion—a glance at his expression showed no apprehension. Did he not realise their social blunder?
Of course he does not. He is a Romany.
‘I understood you said there was a horse needing your treatment, Gray.’ Leo’s voice was clipped with annoyance. His gaze flicked to Cecily and, to her chagrin, she felt her cheeks heat. ‘I trust my sister did not distract you from your errand of mercy?’
He strode towards them. As he reached for Cecily, ready to help her dismount, a loud braying noise rent the air. Polly laid back her ears and skittered sideways, away from Leo. Cecily, her leg already lifted over the pommel and her foot free of the stirrup, was taken unawares and she lurched across the horse’s neck, her hat falling to the ground. As her arms flailed in an attempt to grab the pommel, a strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind, plucking her from the saddle and onto Zach’s lap. Before her brain could even register the sequence of events, Cecily felt her body relax back into the solid strength of Zach’s as though she belonged, safe and secure in his arms. His lips pressed momentarily to her hair. Then he swung his right leg across his horse’s neck, so he was sitting sideways on the horse, and he held Cecily close as he slid to the ground. There was no stumble as he landed—graceful as a cat—and he gently set Cecily on her own two feet. Only then did he release her, with a slide of his hand and a brief squeeze at the side of her waist.
Leo’s face was like thunder but, before he could speak, Daniel said, ‘Oh, well caught, Absalom. Lucky you were there, or Lady Cecily might have come a cropper.’
‘My sister is an accomplished horsewoman.’ The manner in which Leo bit out his words told Cecily of the effort it cost him to keep his temper in check. ‘She would have recovered her seat without help, I assure you.’
Cecily cast an imploring look at Dominic, who ghosted a wink in reply to show he understood her silent plea to defuse the tension. He walked over, picking up Cecily’s fallen hat on the way.
‘Was that a donkey?’ he asked, as he handed the hat to Cecily.
He gazed in the direction of the sound, as though expecting one to materialise from among the trees further along the riverbank and beyond a narrow brook.
‘It was,’ Zach said. ‘He will—there he is.’
And, sure enough, a donkey emerged from the nearby copse and stared, ears stiffly upright, in their direction.
‘Why is he not tethered? Does he belong to you?’ Leo still scowled, his attention still locked on Zach.
‘He is not tethered because he is free.’ Daniel slapped Zach on the back. ‘That’s one of the first things I learned about my friend here.’
He emphasised the word ‘friend’ ever so slightly, and Leo’s gaze switched to him. With a barely perceptible nod, he signalled he had taken Daniel’s point and Cecily breathed more easily.
‘He can charm the birds out of the trees,’ Daniel continued. ‘Creatures love him and he allows them to stay or go as they please.’
The donkey—brownish-grey with ludicrously long ears and huge eyes—had crossed the brook and wandered over to them as they talked. He nudged his head against Zach, who scratched behind his ears. Cecily reached out and stroked his velvet-smooth nose.
‘Does he have a name?’
‘Sancho.’ She caught the quick glint of humour in Zach’s dark eyes—not black as they sometimes appeared, but the deepest, darkest brown she had ever seen. ‘Sancho Panza.’
Dominic guffawed. ‘Sancho Panza! Did you hear that, Father?’
Leo’s lips twitched in a half-smile. ‘And you see yourself as a modern-day Don Quixote, do you, Gray? You and your faithful squire on a quest to revive chivalry, undo wrongs and bring justice to the world?’
There was challenge and a hint of mockery in his tone, but Zach seemed not to notice. He stood, completely relaxed, the donkey by his side.
‘I have yet to mistake a windmill for a ferocious giant,’ he said, with a smile, ‘but it seemed a fitting name.’
Leo acknowledged the comment with a tilt of his chin. ‘Come, Cecily,’ he said. ‘I shall escort you back to the house.’
Before he could move, however, Zach was by Cecily’s side, lacing his fingers for her to step into.
‘Permit me, my lady.’
She stepped into his cupped hands and he effortlessly hoisted her on to Polly’s back. Then he faced Leo.
‘You may entrust Lady Cecily to my care, your Grace. The mare will be ready to treat by now, so it is time I returned. We’ll leave you to enjoy your fishing.’
To Cecily’s surprise, Leo accepted this with a curt nod, but the look he sent her warned she was likely to suffer a lecture on the wisdom of riding around the countryside accompanied only by a Romany. The hypocrisy of his attitude fired her sense of injustice. She knew only too well that Vernon and Thea had, prior to their marriage, spent several unchaperoned days and nights together on the road as they searched for Daniel, who had gone missing. Compared to that, a short morning ride around the Markhams’ estate was completely harmless. She batted away the nagging voice that reminded her that the difference was that she was female.
Thea is a woman, too. And Leo does not think any the less of her for her behaviour.
‘Your brother disapproves,’ Zach said as they rode away, Sancho following behind at a trot.
They crossed over the same little brook and headed towards the copse from which Sancho had emerged.
‘He is protective. It is who he is.’ Cecily might find Leo’s attitude exasperating, but she was allowed to criticise him and be irritated by him. He was her brother.
‘My opinion of him would be less if he were not. He is a strong man and he cares for those he feels responsible for.’
‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’
His expression blanked and she cursed herself for asking such a direct question. Had she not already established that he did not respond well to curiosity? They rode along the edge of the copse until it gave way to a large hayfield. Between the edge of the uncut grass and the trees was a camp, with a tent and a cart. Standing next to the dead ashes of the fire was Myrtle, tail wagging so hard she was almost wriggling with joy.
‘Why
is Myrtle here? We left her at the stables.’
‘She would not remain there on her own. This is her home. She will always return.’ Zach turned his head and caught Cecily’s eye. ‘It is where she feels safe, where she is loved.’
Cecily’s heart squeezed at Zach’s words. Home. That is exactly how she felt about her home and her family—safe and loved. But hankering over the past was pointless. She accepted that now. Everything had changed and she was determined to find her new place in the world.
Zach leapt from his horse’s back and crouched down to fondle the dog, murmuring, his voice too quiet for Cecily to make out his words. Then he sprang once more on to his horse and Myrtle settled down, her head on her outstretched paws, and heaved a sigh. As they rode away, Cecily looked back, seeing that the donkey, too, remained at the camp, cropping at the grass.
‘What did you say to Myrtle?’
He sent her a sharp glance. ‘You think it odd that I talk to her?’
She did, a bit. But she did not say so. ‘I have never had a pet dog. Rosalind—the Duchess—she has a dog. He is huge, almost up to my waist, and she talks to him all the time. He lives with us now.’
‘You are a good horsewoman. Do you not talk to your horse?’
‘Not really. Only if they need calming down.’
He shook his head. ‘I find that odd.’
‘Is it because you live alone, do you think?’
He laughed, tilting his head to the sky and breathing deeply, as he had the other night. ‘I am not lonely, if that is what you wish to know. I am content. I enjoy this life and being outdoors. I love nature. I am a fortunate man.’
A picture of his campsite formed in her head. He had so little, compared to the riches and the opulence she and her family took for granted: the huge, sprawling Cheriton Abbey in Devonshire, minor estates scattered around the country, each one of them with a house at least as big as Stourwell Court, and a full contingent of staff to keep them in readiness for family visits, plus a magnificent town house in Grosvenor Square in London. And yet he was content, and she...she...
I have done nothing but complain. Poor little me: my brother got married and I am no longer the mistress of the Abbey and all his other properties.
Zach’s attitude was humbling.
‘You are fortunate to be so content. I hope to be as settled and as happy as you in the future.’
‘True contentment comes from following your heart and in appreciating what you have, not hankering after that which you have not.’
She pondered his words. ‘That is true, but only to an extent.’
She pictured Leo’s bleak expression as she had ridden away with Zach. She knew her brother well enough to know he used his anger to mask his concern, as well as any hint of weakness, and she also knew she had upset him by following her own inclination—her heart—and returning to the Court with Zach rather than with Leo.
‘What if, by following your heart, you cause pain to someone you love?’
Zach’s mouth twitched. ‘Then you have a choice to make about which is more important to you.’
‘Mayhap that is why you are so content. You only have yourself to please.’
Pain flashed across his face and was as quickly gone.
‘What is it?’
‘My mother—she died last summer.’ He raised his hand to the diamond in his ear.
She touched his arm. ‘I am sorry. Is...is your earring a traditional Romany adornment?’ Her fascination with that glinting diamond prompted her to risk the question.
‘It was part of a wedding gift from my father to my mother. She had to sell her jewellery after he died.’ Bitterness lit his eyes. ‘But she gave me the ring and I had the stone made into this.’
Diamonds? Cecily hid her surprise that a Romany could lavish such an expensive gift upon his bride, but she felt the poignancy that Zach’s mother had been forced to part with such a treasured gift. ‘It is a lovely memento of both of them.’
They had arrived back at the stable yard and a groom emerged to take charge of the horses.
‘I shall see you later,’ said Zach after he had helped Cecily to the ground. His dark gaze roamed her face, then drifted down her body, conjuring heat wherever it lingered. Her corset grew tight, restricting her lungs. ‘I am invited to dinner. I refused the invitation last night, but I shall accept tonight.’
The news pleased her. She longed to learn more about this enigmatic man and watching him interact with the others at Stourwell Court would hopefully allow her to do so.
‘Are you going to treat Thea’s mare now?’
‘Star? Yes, I am.’
‘I should like to watch.’
He held her gaze. ‘Your brother will not approve.’
She smiled. ‘But my heart is telling me I wish to see how you help her even though my head tells me I ought to return to the house.’
* * *
And he could not argue with that, because it was how he had encouraged her to think. Zach shook his head at her, smiling, then strode into the stable, where Star was tethered in a large pen at the far end, rather than in one of the stalls. The heels of Lady Perfect’s boots rang on the cobbled floor as she followed behind.
‘Wait outside,’ he said, hoping she would not chatter and distract him while he worked.
He stripped off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and entered the pen, where he was joined by Pritchard, the head man, and an older groom called Malky, who went to the mare’s head to hold her. Zach stripped the blanket from her back and brushed away the wisps of straw, listening to the low murmur of Malky’s voice as he kept Star calm and replied to Lady Perfect’s question about what was wrong with her.
First, Zach felt gently along either side of the mare’s spine, probing the tension of her muscles. He tried hard to keep his full attention on the mare, but found it wandering all too often to Lady Perfect who—to his surprise—now stood quietly on the spot he had indicated, doing nothing to distract him... It was his own visceral awareness of her presence to blame for that. He began to gently massage the knotted muscles either side of her spine.
A shadow fell across him and he looked around. It was the Duke, his countenance even more forbidding than before. Zach returned his attention to his task.
‘Leo!’ Cecily spoke in a hushed voice behind him. ‘Thea’s horse is lame, but they can’t find out which leg it is. Bleeding and purging have failed to help and so they have asked Mr Gray to try and help her.’
Zach watched Star’s ears closely for signs of pain. ‘There is no heat in her legs or hooves,’ he said, sparing a glance at the Duke, who stepped closer, his interest unmistakable. ‘The pain appears to be in her back—it is making her tense and she naturally restricts her stride to protect herself.’
‘Thea will be very grateful if you can help her, Absalom,’ Daniel said. ‘Star is her favourite...the horse she rode when she and Vernon set out to search for me.’
Zach listened to the murmured conversation with half an ear as he continued to massage Star. Then he took a carrot and a knife from his pocket. He cut a chunk and crouched by her foreleg, holding the carrot beneath Star’s nose, just out of her reach. As she followed the carrot, Zach lowered his hand, bringing it back between her forelegs. When he judged she had stretched sufficiently, he rewarded her with the carrot.
He straightened. ‘If it is done slowly and steadily, it will help to stretch her back,’ he said to Malky, who nodded. ‘Lead her out, then. I’d like to see her walk.’
The onlookers moved aside as Malky led Star from the pen and out of a rear door in the barn that led straight out on to the stretch of grass between the stable and the lake. Admiration glowed in Cecily’s mossy eyes as Zach passed her, sparking a flame of awareness and need deep in his gut. Then he caught the Duke’s eye and that smothered the flame more effectively than a shovelful of earth would extinguish his campfire. She was Lady Perfect. Sister of a duke. And the warning in his Grace’s silvery eyes promised dire retrib
ution if Zach forgot his place.
He concentrated on keeping the churn of anger and resentment deep inside, letting nothing of his feelings show. There was no point in provoking such a man when his own conscience told him there was no future for him and Lady Perfect, no matter how fascinated he was by this prim and proper lady. No matter how she called to his soul.
‘That’ll do.’ After five minutes, Zach motioned to Malky to return Star to the stable. ‘Walk her in hand several times a day, just five minutes at a time to begin with. I’ll bring down some belladonna salve for her and massage her again this afternoon. And I’ll look in on her again before I go up to the house for dinner tonight.’
As he spoke, he happened to glance at the Duke, whose lips thinned at Zach’s words. His clear disapproval prompted an urge to tweak the man’s tail, despite Zach’s earlier resolve not to provoke such a powerful man needlessly.
‘I will update you on her progress when I see you tonight, my lady.’
He smiled directly at Cecily, noting both the flare of her eyes and her flicker of unease. He felt, rather than saw, the Duke’s irritation.
‘It is time we returned to the house.’ The Duke took Cecily’s arm and began walking. ‘I am sure Thea will be eager to hear how her horse fares.’
Cecily accompanied her brother without protest. Daniel let out a low whistle.
‘That is a high-risk strategy, my friend.’
Zach raised his brows and Daniel grinned.
‘No point in playing the innocent with me, but do take care. You might not realise it, but Cheriton is one of the most powerful men in the country. Cross him at your peril.’
‘If he is as powerful as you say, he can have no fear of a humble Romany.’
‘Humble?’ Daniel laughed. ‘I could describe you in many ways, Absalom, but humble ain’t one of ’em. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re every bit as high-born as most of the nobs I’ve encountered. Not Cheriton and his family, of course. They’re a breed apart.’
His words—although spoken in jest—jabbed deep at Zach. If only Daniel knew... He schooled his expression as he saw his friend’s eyes sharpen.
Lady Cecily and the Mysterious Mr. Gray Page 5
