by Aileen Fish
Damn it. He wasn’t the superstitious sort and his grandmother was never known to have the “gift” of foresight. “You mustn’t let it upset you. We’re going off on a hunt, so we’re bound to kill a few game birds.”
She cast him a pensive frown. “No, these were men I saw around you.”
He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ve dealt with jealous husbands before and survived. You must have eaten a bad kipper for breakfast.”
“I had eggs.” Her frown deepened.
He shook his head and drew away. “Watch out for those runny eggs. Farewell, Eloise.”
***
The sky had turned from cloudless blue to ominous gray, Gabriel realized as he strode down the steps of his grandmother’s townhouse a short while later. A groom rushed forward, leading Goliath. He thanked the lad and mounted.
“Wind’s picking up, old boy,” he said, patting the stallion’s neck and glancing up at the approaching wall of gray clouds. “But I don’t think it will rain. Sun will come out again within the hour, I’ll wager.” He’d just turned onto Chipping Way when he heard shouts coming from next door. Hell in a handbasket. The Farthingale residence.
He looked up when a young, female voice cried out, “Up there!”
He glanced among the leafless branches of the towering oak which stood in the Farthingale’s front garden and saw little Harry making his way up to the very top. “Harry!”
Eloise had just sensed death.
It wasn’t going to be that little boy’s death.
He drew up Goliath, leaped the stone fence, and rushed toward the tree. The twins and several children and their nannies were gathered under it, most of the children crying.
“Daisy’s climbed up after him,” Lily said as he reached her side.
He flung off his jacket and tossed it to the ground.
It damn well wasn’t going to be Daisy’s death either.
He saw that she was already halfway up the tree, her gown hiked up to her knees and her shoes off, leaving her only in her stocking feet. He swung onto the first branch and continued upward, quickly reaching Daisy, who was now having difficulty making her way up the smaller branches because her stockings were catching on the tree bark. “I’ll get him. Climb down, Daisy. It isn’t safe up here.”
She smiled in surprise. “What are you doing here? I mean on Chipping Way, not in this tree.”
“Visiting Eloise. I was riding home when I heard the children’s shouts.” He put his arm around her waist, preparing to ease past her. A damp wind rustled through the branches and carried the apple-sweet scent of Daisy on its steady gusts. “Let me get Harry.”
“No, these smaller branches will break under your weight.” She refused to let him pass, so they momentarily remained pressed against each other, each stubbornly determined to take the lead and wait for the other to give in. “Let me do it,” she insisted.
He would have been happy to spend the rest of the afternoon in this position, Daisy’s soft body molding to his hard muscle, but Harry was in danger and this was no time for argument. Daisy was right. Those slender branches would crack under his weight. What if they couldn’t hold her weight either? “I’ll stay close as I can to catch you if you lose your footing.”
“But—”
“I’m not about to let you or Harry fall. We’ll work together. Let me hold you while you try to reach the boy.”
“Work together?” She cast him another of her soft, Daisy smiles. “I like the idea. In truth, I’m glad you’re here. I’m never scared when you’re beside me.”
He didn’t know what to say, so he kissed her on the nose. “Start climbing.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t have admitted that to you. Lady Forsythia’s rules specifically forbid a young lady from revealing her feelings to the rake in question.” She stepped up to a higher branch so that her breasts were aligned with his mouth. He had only to tip his head forward and— “I suppose I shouldn’t have admitted that I love you, either. I’ve decided not to take it back. I’m not sorry that I love you, Gabriel.”
She climbed higher still so that the junction of her thighs was now aligned with his mouth. He refused to consider the possibilities. Then she accidentally knocked him in the teeth with her knee, a punishment he heartily deserved because he was thinking of all he would do if he ever got her naked with his head between her thighs.
Lord, he couldn’t help himself.
He wasn’t a eunuch, nor was he dead as mutton.
“Gabriel, I’m sorry! Did I hurt you? I’m not quite as steady as I hoped to be. I’m worried about Harry. What if he falls?”
“He won’t,” Gabriel said with an authority he did not feel. Harry was so young, hardly more than a baby. How could his little hands clasp those branches?
Daisy continued to chatter.
Gabriel realized it was her way of relieving her own fears. She began to rattle on about Lady Forsythia’s book again. “So if a young lady is not permitted to express her true feelings, then how is the rake to know that she likes him? You see, Lady Forsythia’s rules really make no sense.”
He muttered something in agreement and placed his hands on Daisy’s waist to lift her higher still. She stopped talking when she reached those perilously thin branches, now busy concentrating on saving the boy.
“Harry,” she called out, her voice deceptively calm as she edged closer, “wait right there. Don’t move.”
The boy began to cry. “Too far!”
“I know. Take my hand, little muffin. Hold on to me.” Her voice trembled and Gabriel knew that she was struggling to hold back tears. He also knew that she’d never allow herself to cry until the danger had passed, until Harry was safely on the ground.
“No!” the boy wailed and scooted higher. “Too far! Too far!”
Gabriel hoisted Daisy onto his shoulders, providing a sturdier foothold than those offered by the delicate branches. Indeed, those thin upper branches were barely capable of holding Harry’s weight.
He hoped the boy wouldn’t make a sudden move.
Daisy tried once more to coax the boy down. “Hold still and look at me, Harry. I’m almost there.”
“Want to go higher!”
“It isn’t safe, muffin. Don’t move. Just look at me. Shall I sing you a song?” She reached out, but he was ever so slightly out of her grasp. “What song would you like to hear?”
“No... want Papa!”
“Your Papa had a favorite song. Take my hand and I’ll sing it for you,” she said, glancing downward and suddenly losing her footing. She let out a soft cry as she slipped off Gabriel’s shoulders.
“Daisy!” He caught her as she was about to tumble out of the tree, and with his own heart now pounding wildly, he drew her close and swallowed her in his arms. He felt the savage beat of her own heart as she clung to him. “Don’t ever do that again.”
She let out a short, tremulous laugh. “I’ll try not to.” She took several calming breaths. “I almost had him. Lift me up. I’ll get him this time.”
He glanced at Harry, saw that the boy was afraid and desperately clinging to the thin branches. “There’s no time to lose,” he said with a nod. “Be careful, Daisy.”
Her hands were cold and shaking as they clasped his. “I will. I promise.”
She balanced her weight on his shoulders when he lifted her above him, and grabbed one of the sturdier branches. Once her hold was secure, she reached out to Harry and cried out in elation when she managed to catch his hand. “I have him!”
But as she circled her arm around the boy to draw him closer, the boy began to struggle and squirm. “No! No! Want Papa!”
“Gabriel! He’s slipping! I can’t hold him!”
“Harry, stop that at once!” he commanded in a booming tone of authority that he hoped would work as well on children as it did on disciplined soldiers. To his surprise—and immense relief—Harry did as ordered.
However, unlike trained soldiers, the boy was undisciplined an
d his obedience would only last a moment. Fortunately, Daisy moved quickly to secure Harry in her grasp. “You’re brilliant,” she said in a whisper, handing the boy safely into his outstretched arms.
He tucked the boy in one arm and helped her onto the sturdy branch upon which he stood. “Tell me that again once we’re safely on the ground.”
She cast him the sweetest smile and kissed him on the cheek. “Sorry, my lips slipped.”
He returned her kiss with a thorough one of his own, pressing his lips against her slightly open mouth and not ending it until Harry began to slap his nose. Only then did he ease back with a grin. “Sorry, mine too.”
Daisy’s face was a delightful shade of crimson.
He heard the twins giggling and cheering down below and heard a chorus of gasps from the nannies, who were no doubt shocked by his behavior. He expected they were relieved as well. After all, those nannies were charged with the care of the children. “Can you make it down on your own, Daisy?”
She nodded, smiling at him again.
He struggled to ignore the ache she roused in his heart. How many of Lady Forsythia’s rules had she broken in the last five minutes? Never climb a tree. Never risk your life to save a child stuck in a tree. Never kiss a rakehell in a tree.
Never kiss a rakehell under any circumstances.
He held her back a moment to kiss her again. The hell with rules. “Not sorry for this kiss. My lips didn’t slip. I meant to do it. You were the brilliant one.”
She rested her head against his chest and laughed. “We’d better get off this tree before we give our audience more of a show than anyone bargained for.”
Gabriel climbed down first, the boy now clinging tightly to his neck. Once on the ground, Harry continued to cling to his shoulders and began to sob against his shirt. “I want my Papa. Papa! Up there! Up there!” He tearfully pointed toward heaven.
Gabriel hugged the boy, hoping to soothe him, but it was to no avail. “Harry, you can’t reach him by climbing a tree. It’s too dangerous. Your papa would never want you to get hurt, but he knows how important it is for you to see him. Do you wish to see him?”
The boy’s eyes rounded in astonishment... and hope. For that reason, Gabriel had to be very careful about what he said next. “There’s a place, one place that’s very special to your papa. It isn’t far from here. I’ll take you there if your mama will give me permission.”
The boy nodded.
“And when you’re in this special place, you’ll find him looking back at you. And if you want to hear him, all you have to do is close your eyes and listen very carefully. Do you think you can do that?”
The boy nodded again.
“Because if you close your eyes and listen, you’ll be able to hear your papa right here.” He pointed to the boy’s heart and tapped it gently.
Harry shut his eyes tight, then pounded on Gabriel’s heart before opening his tear-filled eyes and smiling.
“There’s a good lad.”
The small crowd around him had turned silent as he spoke to Harry, but when the boy smiled at Gabriel and began to giggle, Dillie stepped forward and offered to take him from Gabriel’s arms. Harry wouldn’t let go. “No! Very thpecial! Want to go!”
“Go where?” Lily asked.
“Thpecial,” Harry said.
Dillie stepped back with a sigh. “He’s stuck to you like a barnacle to the keel of a frigate. No one’s prying him out of your arms.”
He glanced up to see how Daisy was doing and saw that she was still struggling with her gown entangled in the branches. Fortunately, she had made her way onto the lower branches so she was in no real danger even if she slipped. “You girls will have to help your sister down.”
They laughed.
“She doesn’t need our help,” Dillie said.
He frowned and was about to insist when Daisy swung down from the tree, landing as gracefully as a gentle swan gliding onto a crystal lake.
She knelt to put on her slippers, then rose and smoothed out her gown.
“Well done,” he was about to say, but was drowned out by a string of hysterical female shrieks.
“Daisy! This is all your fault!” Julia cried, leading an assortment of female relatives in a cavalry charge out of the house. The Farthingale men followed close behind.
Gabriel recognized Julia, and Daisy’s uncle George, and her parents, but he hadn’t been introduced to the other Farthingales and had no idea whom most of them were. No matter, they had no right to be scowling at Daisy.
Julia spoke up first, her angry gaze trained on Daisy. “I warned you about putting dangerous ideas into Harry’s head.”
“Foolish ideas,” another elderly women muttered and others agreed.
“He’s just a child and could have died falling out of that tree,” Julia declared with a theatrical wave of her scented handkerchief.
Gabriel’s heart tightened. Damn them all. Daisy was the only one who understood Harry’s anguish, the only one who’d tried to fix the problem. She deserved their praise and commendations, not a public scolding.
He moved protectively to her side.
She gazed at him, startled. “My family won’t hurt me.”
Perhaps not physically, but their words could be as wounding. He saw the pain reflected in her beautiful eyes whenever she looked at her parents and met with their disappointed gazes.
“Gabriel’s right,” Lily said as she and the children gathered to her side. “It’s time we all took a stand on Harry’s behalf. He’s been neglected far too long.”
“Yes, far too long,” Dillie said, curling her hands into fists.
Daisy sighed. “Honestly, you’d think we were about to battle Huns.”
“Sometimes this family can be worse than Huns,” Lily muttered.
Julia reached for her son to tug him out of Gabriel’s arms, but the boy refused to be drawn out. “No! Want Papa! Papa!”
“He isn’t your papa,” Julia insisted, reaching for him again.
“No! Take me to Papa! Papa!” He pointed to his heart.
Julia began to cry.
“This is your fault, Daisy. He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you,” Daisy’s mother said, holding back her own sniffles as she comforted Julia, but not before she shot Gabriel a glower.
Gabriel was used to such glares. Indeed, he’d endured far worse and would endure far more dangerous encounters within the next few months.
“Be thankful Lord Dayne was here,” Daisy said, turning to point at the towering oak.
“Harry only climbed the tree because you told him Harrison was up in heaven,” Julia hotly retorted.
“And you told him nothing,” Lily answered in Daisy’s defense. “The boy was terrified, confused, and crying out for answers. We all ignored him, except Daisy. You should be thanking her.”
“Thanking her? When her inattention allowed him to climb up there in the first place,” one of the family members, a man the others referred to as Rupert, accused.
Gabriel struggled to contain his anger.
“It isn’t Daisy’s fault,” young Charles said. “Harry was napping with Aunt Julia.”
Julia took a step back. “What if he was? I had the door closed. I... I must have fallen asleep, but someone had to have let him out.”
“Indeed,” Daisy’s mother said. “He couldn’t have turned the knob all by himself. He isn’t tall enough.”
“I know how he did it!” Charles bounded into the house and ran back out moments later with an object in his hand. “He used this!”
Julia gasped. “What are you doing with my footstool?”
Daisy’s father let out a weary sigh. “Now we know how he got out of Julia’s room, but how did he make his way out of the house?”
Dillie stepped forward. “I might not have properly closed the front door. Lily and I, with the nannies, of course, took the other children out to play. We were running in and out of the house and...”
“The point is not to cast
blame, but to attend to Harry’s problem,” Daisy said as Dillie’s voice trailed. “Lord Dayne has a solution. I think you ought to listen to his idea.”
“Thpecial place,” Harry said, as though understanding the nature of the conversation and adding his opinion. “Want to go now.”
Julia frowned. “What does that rakehell know about children? His talent is in breaking up families.”
Daisy stepped forward with her fists clenched. “Julia! That’s uncalled for.”
“Indeed,” Daisy’s father said. “I think this... er, special place has merit. Would you care to tell us your idea, Lord Dayne?”
Daisy’s mother appeared horrified. “John! You can’t take his side! Hasn’t Julia suffered enough?”
“This isn’t about her suffering, Sophie,” he said, his manner gentle as he spoke to his wife. “It’s about Harry’s. I think we’ve ignored the boy long enough. Go on, Lord Dayne. We’re listening.”
***
Daisy had never visited Uncle Harrison’s regimental headquarters before, though her father and Uncle George had often spoken of the place with pride. Gabriel also seemed familiar with the headquarters, which surprised her at first, but upon reflection she decided nothing about Gabriel surprised her.
“Will you look at this place,” Lily said, enthralled as they entered the massive stone building near St. James’s Palace.
Daisy, little Harry, and the twins had accompanied Gabriel and their Uncle George.
Julia refused to join them for fear of reviving too many painful memories.
To Daisy, entering the barracks was like entering a fortified castle complete with heavy iron gates and sentries standing on alert. Soldiers drilled in the courtyard, the metal of their sabers and belt buckles gleaming in the sun.
Daisy wrapped her cloak about Harry’s little shoulders, for there was a slight chill to the air despite the sunshine. She hurried inside, keeping the boy securely in her arms. He appeared to be content but curious.
While Gabriel and her uncle spoke briefly with the commander, she and her sisters stood in the entry hall, passing time by peering out the windows and watching the soldiers as they continued their drill. Harry also looked on, fascinated by the display of military precision.
