“What do you mean?”
“When my mother was sick, I could tell she wanted to talk, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t form the words. Phillip’s problem wasn’t like that. He could talk. He was just choosing not to. I think he was coping with the things he’d seen at war. I’ve asked him about those things.”
Ewan sucked in his breath. “He told you?”
“A little. Some of it. It seems quite painful for him to remember it.”
They both looked back over to where Phillip was quietly speaking to Alabaster. Then Ewan returned his gaze to Thea. Tears shone in her eyes. “You’re crying,” he said softly.
“Yes.” She wiped the tears away with the backs of her gloved hands. “But not for the reason you think.”
He smiled at that. “What do you think I think?”
“That I’m crying because I can’t have Alabaster.”
“I don’t think that, Thea. But why are you crying?”
“I’m crying because they obviously love each other. If I had known that you had purchased Alabaster for Phillip, I wouldn’t have been so hellbent on getting him back for myself.”
Ewan shook his head. “You couldn’t have known that Thea. Besides, you had Alabaster when he was a foal.”
She nodded. “Phillip explained to me how closely they bonded during the war. He and Alabaster were partners.”
“I knew he meant a great deal to him,” Ewan breathed. “That’s why money was not an object when I bid for him.”
“And my brother ramped up the bidding,” Thea said, shaking her head.
“Ballard had no way to know why I wanted to win the horse so badly. Just as I had no way of knowing how badly you wanted him.”
Thea expelled her breath. “Well, even if I could, I wouldn’t take Alabaster away from Phillip now. He needs him. He needs him more than I do.”
Ewan took a deep breath. “That’s really quite generous of you.” If there was any lingering doubt, Ewan was now convinced. He had completely misjudged Thea. She was nothing like he’d assumed at first.
She waved away both the tears and his praise. “It’s the least I could do after coming here and making such a cake of myself by sneaking around and breaking my leg.”
Ewan chuckled and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Think of it this way, if you hadn’t sneaked around and broken your leg, Phillip might not be speaking now.”
Thea smiled and nodded. “That is a nice way to think of it. Thank you. I shall never regret having broken my leg then.” She glanced over to where Phillip was standing, still speaking softly to the horse.
Thea sighed and rested her arms atop the stall door in front of her. She balanced herself and braced her wrapped leg against the ground. It felt good to stand, even if her leg hurt a bit.
Ewan took a step closer to her. He was less than a pace away from her. He towered above her. She turned to face him and had to tilt her head back to look up into his face. Oh, why did the man have to be so handsome and smell so good?
“In addition to Phillip’s identity, I’m going to need you to keep one more secret, Thea,” Ewan said softly.
She swallowed the lump in her throat that had formed the moment he’d got so close to her. “What’s that?” she asked.
“That I did this.” His mouth swooped down to capture hers.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The moment Ewan’s lips touched hers, Thea’s mind raced. Her first thought, what is he doing, was quickly replaced by her second thought, I hope he doesn’t stop. At first the kiss was soft, inviting, and then he turned to place his body in front of hers, presumably so that Phillip wouldn’t see, and that’s when it turned insistent, urging.
His tongue probed at her lips and she parted them. When she did, his mouth slanted across hers, shaping and molding, urging her to let her tongue play with his.
By the time he pulled his mouth away and stepped back one step, Thea was breathing heavily and shaking with desire. She’d been kissed before by some ham-handed would-be country suitors, but none of those missteps were anything like this kiss.
She stared up at Ewan with wide eyes as if he’d just done something to her she would never forget, because she was certain she wouldn’t.
“I hope you’ll forgive me for that,” he said, clearing his throat, stepping back, and straightening his coat.
At a complete loss for words, all Thea could do was stare at him, her mouth opening and closing as if she was some sort of fish out of water, before Phillip’s voice interrupted whatever she’d been intending to say.
“He’s just as I remember him,” Phillip called.
“He’s been waiting for you,” Ewan managed to call back as if he hadn’t just kissed Thea passionately.
Thea continued to stare at him. How could he speak after that? How could he talk to Phillip as if nothing had even happened? Meanwhile, she was never going to be the same. She was thankful, however, that Ewan was so composed because one of them had to be.
Ewan stepped out from behind the stall and made his way to his friend to discuss the horse while Thea gaped after him. She’d finally been kissed by Lord Clayton … and she already wanted to kiss him again.
Ewan spent the next quarter of an hour telling Phillip the story of how he’d managed to buy not only his former horse, but all of his family’s former possessions at the auction his distant cousin had held in London several weeks ago. Ewan was saving all of it for his friend. Words came out of Ewan’s mouth and he managed to relate an entire cogent tale, but his mind was decidedly elsewhere. Namely on the kiss he’d just shared with Thea.
He shouldn’t have done it. Of course he shouldn’t have. He had no excuse for it, and it made little sense, but he simply couldn’t help himself. After seeing the sincerity of her reaction to Phillip being reunited with the horse that she’d wanted for herself, he’d simply fallen a bit in love with the girl. That’s all there was to it. Oh, he didn’t necessarily believe in love, but he’d been wanting to kiss her for days and lately, he’d got the distinct impression that she wouldn’t be unhappy if he kissed her. There had been only one way to find out and the emotions of the morning had got the best of him.
Only it wasn’t just emotions. He was even now fighting a cockstand the likes of which he hadn’t experienced in quite some time. He felt like an untried school lad, he was so unable to quiet down the rampaging demands of his body after the heat of her kiss. She hadn’t just allowed him to kiss her, she’d kissed him back with all the passion he’d always known was in her.
The problem was … now he wanted her. And that was deuced inconvenient. She wasn’t some widow or opera singer. She was an innocent young woman. A spinster perhaps, but the daughter of a peer, not someone he would trifle with and certainly not someone he could take to his bed. Damn. Damn. Damn. It had been a mistake to kiss her. How would he manage to live under the same roof with her for at least another fortnight if not longer? She’d been at his house for nearly three weeks now and Dr. Blanchard, who visited regularly, had indicated that it might be a total of six weeks before her leg could be moved enough to ride all the way home in a coach.
Ewan had walked away from her. He’d gone to talk to Phillip in order to give her time. He could tell she’d been dazed by the kiss. But he had no way of knowing if she wanted to slap him or kiss him again. He guessed it was the latter. She wasn’t the type of woman who would be shy with a slap.
He needed to return to her. She had a broken leg and he’d left her propped against a stall door like a pitchfork. He turned to look at her. She was staring off into the distance of the stables. Her profile was lovely.
“Shall we go back?” he said to Phillip.
Phillip nodded, gave Alabaster one last pet, and the two men made their way to where Thea was standing. Before Ewan could move to help Thea into her wheelchair, she cleared her throat. “Phillip, would you be so kind as to help me sit?” she asked. “I’m certain Lord Clayton could use a break from me.”
>
On the contrary, Ewan thought, stepping aside to allow Phillip to assist Thea back into her chair. The last thing he wanted was a break from her. In fact, he wanted more of her. Much more.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next day, Thea sat in bed, her leg propped upon pillows, writing another letter to her brother. She had no idea why Anthony had chosen to abandon her, but she intended to send him a scathing reply. She’d already sent off a letter to her uncle in London days ago. In it, she’d briefly sketched out her circumstances—if leaving out the bit about trying to break in Lord Clayton’s stables while dressed as a lad—and asked Uncle Teddy to come fetch her immediately in order to save her reputation. If her uncle didn’t reply, next she’d write to Lady Hophouse, her mother’s closest friend.
Someone had to see the logic in Thea’s argument and come for her. She had to get to get out of here. She’d already stayed far too long. Ewan had kissed her, and she had wanted it, and now she was having visions of marriage and children and oh, the whole thing was so complicated. One didn’t marry someone whom one had met by sneaking around his house and breaking one’s leg. It was preposterous.
She had an awful feeling that she was falling in love with Ewan. And that was something she could not allow to happen. Her mother had been quite clear on the subject when only weeks before her accident, she’d told Thea the story of how her parents had met and married.
Mama had fallen madly in love with Father when she’d met him at a ball in London soon after her come out. She’d been convinced that Father loved her back, but Father had truly only been in love with her money and her family connections, both of which were quite impressive. They’d agreed to marry after only a few weeks of courting, which was quite normal. But it wasn’t until weeks after the wedding that Mama realized that Father had a mistress in London. A mistress that he had no intention of relinquishing. He left Mama in the countryside and returned to his amusements in London as if he’d never taken a bride. He showed up long enough to impregnant his wife and produce his two offspring. Mama did her duty and gave birth, kept the estate, and presided as hostess whenever Father arrived from London with company. She also managed to convince him to have an annual Christmastide ball. It was the one time of year she could be certain he’d be home with her.
Thea’s heart ached for her poor mother who had loved a man who never loved her back. She would never forget her mother’s final words to her. “Never marry a man who doesn’t love you back, Thea. It’s pure torture.” Those words had rung in her ears for the last six years.
In addition to being in mourning when it was time for her come-out, Thea had also been frightened of marriage. How, precisely, did one find a man who loved you back if they kept secrets like having mistresses stashed in London? The whole concept was horrifying. She’d managed to stay away from such subjects as love and marriage all these years and now Lord Clayton was making her wish for things she’d long ago abandoned. It was highly inconvenient, not to mention distressing. And she couldn’t possibly think correctly about it, while she was living under the same roof as the man. All she wanted to do was kiss him again. That wasn’t helpful.
No, she had to get back home as quickly as possible, and if the only way to do that, was to convince one of her relatives or friends to come and get her, so be it. She was on a letter-writing campaign. She turned her attention back to her brother’s letter, re-reading it to ensure she’d made all her most important arguments.
Meanwhile, across the room, Maggie sat in a chair near the window, perusing the morning copy of the Times. Maggie loved to read the gossipy bits of the paper aloud. Thea listened with one ear. She was slightly amused by, but not particularly interested in, the ton’s gossip.
“Lady Haversham is hosting a musicale at her home in Berkeley Square,” Maggie announced.
“What a pity I wasn’t invited,” Thea replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“A musicale might do you good,” Maggie retorted, without glancing up.
Thea smiled to herself. She could just imagine the story that would appear in the paper the day it became known that the former Duke of Harlowe’s brother hadn’t died in the war after all and was taking his place in Society. Maggie would fall off her chair. Of course Thea longed to tell her friend such important news, but she’d promised Ewan that she would keep it a secret and she would. As far as Maggie knew, Phillip was just a house guest and friend of Lord Clayton’s.
“Apparently, Lady Cranberry’s ball was a smash,” Maggie said next. “Despite the fact that the ice sculpture melted precipitously and created a small flood near the dance floor, causing more than one dancer to slip.”
“Did anyone break their leg?” Thea asked absently.
“If anyone did, it’s not mentioned,” Maggie replied with a sigh.
“Good, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Thea replied, glaring at her own currently useless leg. “Though I’ll soon have a wheelchair someone may borrow.”
“Lord Whitmire and Miss Laura Footwinkle are to be married,” Maggie reported next.
“Lord Whitmire is a blowhard,” Thea replied. “And I’ve never heard of Miss Footwinkle.”
“You should at least pretend to care about these things,” Maggie said with a note of scolding in her voice. The maid shook her head.
“Why should I, Mag, when I have you to care for it all for me?” Thea replied with a wide smile. “But if it makes you feel any better, I wish Miss Footwinkle luck. She’ll need it if she has to listen to Lord Whitmire’s dull stories the remainder of her life.”
Shaking her head, the maid made a few more random announcements that Thea was barely paying attention to, until a small, short gasp came from Maggie’s throat.
Thea glanced up. Her friend’s face had turned a ghastly shade of white. A skitter of apprehension traced its way down Thea’s spine. “What is it, Maggie?”
Maggie lifted her gaze from the paper and met Thea’s stare. Maggie’s eyes were filled with trepidation.
“You’re frightening me,” Thea said warily. “Tell me. What is it?”
“I’m afraid you won’t like this,” Maggie replied with an obvious gulp.
“What?” Thea heard the note of rising panic in her own voice. “Bring me the paper.”
Maggie slowly rose from her seat and walked even more slowly toward the bed. When she finally got there, she handed the paper to Thea, opened to the spot she’d been reading. She pointed to some wording near the middle of the page.
Thea’s eyes scanned the area until they alighted on what Maggie had obviously been horrified by.
This author has it from an impeccable authority that under the utmost secrecy, in Devon, Lady Theodora Ballard, daughter of the Earl of Blackstone, has been living under the same roof as Viscount Clayton!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Bloody hell,” Ewan called out as he scanned the Times gossip page. “Humbolt, get in here.”
Humbolt materialized at the door to Ewan’s study moments later. “Yes, my lord.”
“Call for Dr. Blanchard. Tell him he must come immediately. Then send a letter to Lord Blackstone. Tell him the same.”
“Yes, my lord.” Humbolt nodded and hurried away to do what he’d been asked.
Dr. Blanchard arrived first. He was summoned directly to Ewan’s study where Ewan was pacing the floor, his options looking bleaker and bleaker.
“Have you seen the paper this morning?” he asked the doctor.
Dr. Blanchard shifted uncomfortably on his feet and cleared his throat. “I have, my lord.”
“Then you know why I’ve summoned you so quickly.”
The doctor nodded.
“We must know what our options are,” Ewan continued. “Lady Theodora has been here for three weeks. How is her leg? Can she be moved? Has the bone healed enough?”
“I will need to examine her again, of course, my lord. It certainly will be better to move her now than it would have been three weeks ago, but there remain
s a risk.”
Ewan bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. “Very well. Lord Blackstone will be here shortly. We’ll discuss the options with him. I fear we have few.”
“What have you learned?” Thea asked Maggie as soon as the maid came rushing back into Thea’s bedchamber.
Thea had sent Maggie on a mission to discover what she could about Lord Clayton’s whereabouts and whether he’d learned of the story in the Times. It made her exceedingly nervous that no one had mentioned anything to her yet.
“Your father is here,” Maggie reported, wringing her hands. “He just arrived. Mr. Humbolt is showing him to Lord Clayton’s study right now.”
Thea pedaled her wheelchair toward the door. If she’d ever wished there was a time she could stand up and pace, it was now. “Father? Here? Why, that must be because they plan to discuss the entire affair.”
“It looks that way,” Maggie agreed.
Thea pressed her lips together tightly. “Lord Clayton hasn’t sent for me, which means they plan to discuss it without me. That’s unconscionable.”
“Perhaps they don’t want to worry you, Thea.”
“Worry me? It’s my life. First of all, I’m already quite worried. Secondly, it’s my future. My family. My scandal! They cannot possibly believe they should be discussing the fallout without me present.”
Thea pedaled up to the door and stopped. “Open the door, please, Maggie and call for the footmen to carry me downstairs. I refuse to allow those blasted men to meet without me.”
Minutes later, Thea and her chair were downstairs and being pushed by Giles directly toward Ewan’s study. Maggie hadn’t argued with Thea’s decision to interrupt the gentlemen’s meeting. Even Maggie knew not to argue with Thea when she was as determined as she was at the moment. Instead of arguing, Maggie had opened the door immediately and rang for James and Giles who both hurried up to assist.
Save a Horse, Ride a Viscount Page 13
