by Sophia James
Within a moment he had gentled the horse, and when it had settled enough for Gabriel to move around to the side, he reached up to the terrified rider.
‘You can let go now. I have you.’
Her fingers seemed frozen and he unfolded her fists before taking her waist and sliding her from the horse. Letting her go as soon as she was on the ground, he was glad someone had come forward to hold the reins.
‘You’re safe. I promise.’
‘Th-thank y-you.’ Breathless and shaking, Adelaide found her hair had half fallen from its pins and her hat was missing. The trembling had worsened.
‘I...I never l-liked horses and they d-don’t like me, either. I sh-should have just walked.’
‘And missed an adventure? At least you didn’t let the stallion unseat you. Landing on your bottom in the middle of a busy park might be more cause for consternation.’
At that she smiled and brought up the back of her hand to wipe away the tears. She still felt shocked, but his humour was normalising everything and making her feel less panicked.
Her uncle had reached them now, too, and he grasped her arm in a tight hold.
‘I saw what happened. Are you hurt?’
‘No, I th-think I am f-fine.’ Alec Ashfield’s attention shifted to Gabriel Hughes.
‘Lord Wesley.’ Frosty and cold. ‘Thank you for your help, but I can manage things from here.’
‘Of course, Lord Penbury.’
The chill in the earl’s voice was noticeable as he stepped back, leading his horse away as the gathering crowd allowed him a passage out.
She wanted to cry. She did. She wanted to run after Gabriel Hughes and hold on to his safety and protection. She wanted him to tell her that everything was all right in that particular dry humour of his that made her feel...special.
Lord Berrick took the place vacated by Gabriel Hughes. ‘I would have managed your horse, Miss Ashfield, but Wesley had already jumped into the fray. I did not realise that you were so inexperienced or I would never have suggested such an outing and now I am afraid your dress is ruined and your hat is quite flattened. At least your spectacles are not broken and that is something we can be well thankful for...’
Even her uncle watched Lovelace with a sort of disbelief as he babbled on, stopping only as Bertram hurried across.
‘My God, Wesley is a hero,’ he exclaimed, admiration apparent in every word. ‘If he had not dragged your mount to stillness the way he did, Addie, you would have been thrown from its back, and with an animal that size it’s a long way down.’
‘Quite.’ Her uncle’s voice was as tight as the expression on Lovelace’s face.
‘I hope someone thanked him?’ Bertram continued on, seemingly unaware of the atmosphere. ‘For his shoulder muscles will be sore from the tugging, there is no doubt of that.’
Adelaide smiled. Her cousin was such a dear sometimes despite his gambling and drinking.
‘Perhaps we were not quite as effusive as we might have been,’ her uncle said quietly. ‘I will send a note to Wesley when we get home.’
Home.
The whole episode had left Adelaide exhausted and she was glad when her uncle and cousin took charge of the horses and they headed the short distance towards the town house on Grosvenor Square.
* * *
Once she had bathed and dressed and her stomach had settled Adelaide took her large leather bag from the wardrobe and opened the flap.
She seldom went anywhere without all her oils and salves and tinctures. They grounded her and relaxed her in a way nothing else did, and she liked the weight of the mortar and pestle in her hand.
A healing salve was an easy thing to make. Gathering up an amber bottle of herbs infused in oil, she poured out a generous amount. Arnica for bruising and calendula for the abrasions. The smell of comfrey and duckweed made her breathe in, their properties of knitting the skin together and soothing irritation welcomed.
As her small burner flamed she heated beeswax on a very low temperature and added that to her mix. Lavender was placed in last, the smell pungent and masculine.
Choosing a little container of bright-green glass, she poured the salve into it and did the lid up. Around the side Adelaide twisted a thick tie of string and added a stalk of lavender.
Finished.
Taking a sheet of paper from her armoire, she wrapped it, placing a note inside. She had no idea as to where the earl lived, but, calling in her uncle’s butler, instructed him with the task of seeing that the parcel reached Lord Gabriel Wesley as quickly as it was able.
* * *
The package arrived after a late supper, brought by a minion of the Penbury household who was under strict instructions to place the offering directly into his hands.
‘Miss Ashfield says it will spoil otherwise. She said it would need to be used across the next few days to be at its most potent, my lord.’
‘Very well.’ Gabriel waited till the servant was gone and shut the door behind him. A strong smell of lavender came from the parcel.
Crossing to his desk, he opened the gift and pulled out a small green jar that had been tightly shut, a sprig of the same flower wrapped into the side. A note fluttered from the bottom of the glass, held on by a dob of red wax.
Lord Wesley,
Thank you for your help today in the park. As you were quick to point out I should probably be suffering from bad bruising if you had not saved me.
But it has come to my attention that the same might not be said for you. I sincerely hope that the abrasions on your hand have not been worsened by such a kindness.
This is a healing salve. Place it across your damaged skin once at night and then again in the morning. It would work well on any tender muscles as well. I am sure you will notice the difference.
Yours sincerely
Miss Adelaide Ashfield
Gabriel could not help but smile. His knuckles were barely wounded compared to all the other hurts he had suffered. But she had thought of him and acted upon it; a gesture that was appreciated and unexpected.
Scooping out some of the ointment, he was surprised to feel the coolness of it on his skin. Beneath the scent of lavender other smells lingered, but he did not have the expertise to identify them. Comfrey, he thought. He had smelt that after the fire in some of the salves applied to his leg and would never forget it. He wondered if the mixture would ease the tightness of the scarring on his thighs as well and decided to try it when he went to bed.
He had never really had a gift before, delivered to him and wrapped in flowers and scent. Oh, he had given small trinkets to paramours across the years, but he had not received gifts back and his own family had seldom bothered with Christmas and birthdays.
Too busy trying to simply survive with a father who was often angry. When Geoffrey Hughes had been killed in a tavern brawl in London those left had breathed a sigh of relief.
Thirteen had been an impressionable age to lose a parent and whilst he had become difficult, his sister had changed into a wild thing almost overnight.
No wonder his mother had barely coped before slipping into a melancholy that hadn’t left her.
The wreck of his family had been allayed a few years later by the warm arms of willing lovers and there had been a long line pleased to allow him succour. But no longer.
Bringing his hand to his nose, Gabriel inhaled deeply; the smell of goodness and healing and Adelaide Ashfield was comforting. He wished she had come herself to deliver the gifts.
Chapter Six
After her fright in the park Uncle Alec and Lady Harcourt did not press her into any social engagements the next morning. Indeed, they left the day up to her discretion entirely and when Adelaide expressed an interest in visiting Lackington, Allen and Co. at their Temple of the Muses shop in Finsbury Square, her
uncle readied a carriage to take her.
Today accompanied only by her maid Adelaide felt freer than she had done in weeks. The muscles at the top of her arms hurt a little from her tussle with the horse yesterday, but all in all the trade-off was a good one.
With the sky blue above and the air fresh around her she stopped in front of the facade of the shop and looked up. A flag waved on top of a large dome and in the distance she could hear the sound of bells.
Aunt Jean and Aunt Eloise had often spoken of this place in hushed tones. They had told stories of the number of books for sale here and of the generosity of Lackington’s prices. Adelaide could not wait to see it for herself.
Inside was as prepossessing as it had been without, the rows of books arranged in cyclical order all the way into the ceiling and a good many men and women were browsing what was on offer.
After asking the man at the desk where to find a book on English plant life, she was directed to a less busy part of the building with rows of promising-looking tomes before her.
Milly was delighted when Adelaide assured her it would be most proper for her maid to go on her own search of things to read. She had taught the girl her letters at Northbridge and knew she would enjoy the chance to find her particular favourites.
* * *
Forty minutes later and with a large pile of books in her arms Adelaide went searching for somewhere to sit. Turning a corner promising quiet, she came upon the Earl of Wesley reading at one of the private tables.
He did not look at all pleased to see her, a heavy frown marring his forehead, though it did nothing to diminish his beauty.
‘Miss Ashfield.’
His reading material seemed to consist mainly of shipping routes and maps, but she did notice a few volumes that looked surprisingly like the botanicals she herself had chosen.
Almost furtively he laid a paper down on top of them. She wondered what he could be doing with a tome of medical botany by William Woodville outlining diseases of the body and the newest possible cures.
‘I did not expect to see you here, my lord.’ Her glance dropped to the skin on his knuckles. The wounds appeared to be considerably better than yesterday.
‘Because you imagined the gambling halls to be more to my taste?’ He had regained his humour quickly, but today there was also another emotion that she had not seen there before.
Wariness. It sat upon his face, ambushing the more normal indifference.
‘I hope the salve I sent you was of some use.’
As he glanced down at his hand he spoke slowly. ‘It was. The bruising is almost gone.’
‘That will be the arnica, I expect, and the dash of vinegar. Keep applying the ointment for two more days each morning and night. It is at its most effective fresh, but should keep for at least a few months if you make certain the lid is tight and that it is stored out of the direct sunlight.’
‘You are skilled at what you do, Miss Ashfield.’
‘You believed I would not be?’
‘I am not truly certain what to believe of you. A woman of science and healing. A débutante who is here for the Season and yet eschews the promise of Holy Matrimony. A lady who fails to see any sort of a need for women to excel in painting, dancing or tapestry. But obviously an avid reader of botanicals and the art of medicinal healing. And romance?’ His eyes caught the slender volumes at the bottom of her pile.
But two could play at this game and Adelaide was well up to the task. She squared her jaw. ‘And what of you, my lord? Routes of long-distance shipping lines and maps of the English countryside. And botanicals of much the same ilk as mine. Are you ill?’
Amazingly he coloured and looked away.
‘No.’
A private worry, then, and one he did not wish to speak of? She had so often seen this reaction in patients and as surprising as it was in him she changed the subject completely.
‘Would you be able to find the time to teach me how to ride properly, Lord Wesley?’
His eyes came back to hers, any hint of embarrassment gone. ‘Why?’
‘I dislike feeling...beaten by anything and you give the impression of knowing what you are doing around a horse.’
His frown deepened. ‘Your uncle would allow it? My tuition, I mean.’
‘Why should he not?’
‘I have a certain reputation that generally worries the relatives of young débutantes.’
‘I am not so young.’
He laughed. ‘How old is “not young”?’
‘Twenty-three.’
He laughed again. ‘Believe me when I say that at my age your years look tender.’
‘How old are you?’
‘Thirty-four. A whole decade of experience ahead of yours.’
‘Good.’
‘Pardon?’
‘I might need that if I am to cope here. Experience in handling others seems a requisite that is useful in the society salons of London.’
‘Well, you managed Mr Friar on your own?’
She shook her head. ‘No, it was the ill-placed plant holder at his feet that enabled me to vanquish him.’
‘Luck is often as important as talent, Miss Ashfield, one learns that quickly.’
‘Then I shall claim it was lucky that I met you, my lord; the one man in society with whom I seem to be able to have a reasonable conversation and who holds the same view upon marriage as I do.’
‘Let me choose the horse, then.’
The twist in subject made her smile. He was good at putting people off guard. Unsure of what else to say, she nodded.
‘Meet me in the park tomorrow at two. It won’t be as busy as yesterday was at the later hour.’
‘Very well. I shall pay you, of course, for the hire of the small and docile mount I have confidence you will choose for me and for your time.’
He smiled. ‘How much?’
‘I do not know exactly. What is the going rate?’
‘More conversations just like this one, Miss Ashfield. And the chance to get to know you better.’
‘Why would you want to?’
He smiled. ‘You might be surprised if I answered that honestly.’
For just a moment something passed between them that Adelaide had never felt before, a breathless whirling knowledge of danger and desire. She stepped back, marvelling that, despite her shock, the implacable mask had not changed a whit on his handsome face.
‘Perhaps, Lord Wesley, some time in your company may tarnish my desirability in the wifely stakes here. The spectacles do not quite seem to be accomplishing their given task.’
The round curse he used made her turn with her armful of books and head back into the safety that the large numbers of men and women reading provided in the main room.
Damn it. Why did Gabriel Hughes have to be so beautiful? She would have liked it better if his face had been flawed and if she did not see the shadow of vulnerability that he hid so well beneath bravado and indifference. It was a friend she needed here, a confidant who was easy and biddable, one whom she could mould to any form she wanted. But the enigmatic Earl of Wesley was complex, difficult and unknowable, the small scar that ran beneath his ear on the right side only honing his beauty. He was...misleading. Yes, that was the word she wanted. Charm and danger both twisted together in a clever and menacing way. He was also interesting. Not wishing to dissect this thought for another second, she hurried to find her maid.
* * *
Miss Adelaide Ashfield was always running away, always scurrying in the other direction after sending him into a spin with some new and unexpected comment.
She wished to be tarnished? By him? Pain sliced through humour and regret chased hard on the heels of them both. He had not touched her but, oh, how he had wanted to, to feel the smooth softness
of skin and the elegance of the line where her throat met the flesh sloping down to her breasts. He stopped still and closed his eyes. Waiting. Hoping. The whisper of her words, the fire in her eyes, her sharp tongue and the girlish romances buried amongst a weighty pile of scientific endeavour.
Contradictions.
Questions.
And nothing at all from his desiccated and useless member. Raising his left hand to his face, he breathed in deeply.
Lavender, arnica, comfrey and vinegar. A surprising combination. There were other things as well that he had no notion of.
‘Hell,’ he said to himself, Miss Adelaide Ashfield was the human embodiment of her salve. A healer. Brave. Unusual. Captivating. No wonder she had Lovelace and his ilk lapping at her heels.
He should cry off from the riding lessons, he knew he should. If he had any goodness in him he would simply walk out of her life and let her get on with the task of being an innocent and unwilling débutante in London society. He had nothing to offer her, after all. More than nothing, he qualified, his body as burnt out as his custodial mansion.
Yet as one side of his mind dwelled upon the negative the other was already planning where and when he could organise their first riding lesson.
With irritation he felt the trembling he was now so often afflicted with. He didn’t want her to know what a wreck he was, that was the problem, because in her eyes he saw reflected a version of himself that was still...honourable.
‘Hell. Hell. Hell.’
With intent he moved the large map from above the botanical he had chosen on diseases of the body and settled down to peruse the index and look for his own particular malady and its stated cure.
* * *
Adelaide brushed out her hair before the mirror. What did Gabriel Hughes see when he saw her? she wondered. She was not beautiful in the way some other women here were, with their blond curls and alabaster skin. She was not dainty or feminine or curvy.
