A Warriner to Protect Her

by Virginia Heath

  She might have argued then, as she was prone to when she heartily disagreed with something, and perhaps given some credence to the idea that their two worlds could merge if they both wanted them to. But of course she hadn’t. Only a tiny part of him had expected her to—a part which he hadn’t even realised existed until he had categorically listed for her all the reasons why there was nothing except lust between them. Even as he said the words he knew them to be false. What he felt for Letty was more than just desire. He genuinely admired her tenacity and her sunny disposition. Her indomitable spirit. The woman never let anything beat her, whether that be kidnappers or roasted chickens. And since the very first moment he had found her frozen and terrified in the road, a part of his jaded, wary, Warriner heart would always be hers. Yearned to be hers. Maybe those rash feelings were due to his customary and ever-present sense of responsibility—but if that was entirely the case, why, when he had held her chilled body in his arms that night, had her presence in them felt so very...right?

  If only she had been a random, ordinary girl of no consequence instead of The Tea Heiress. Then maybe he would have stood a chance and taken a gamble. It didn’t help knowing, thanks to hours of rifling through Jacob’s collection of newspapers when nobody was looking, that when the newsmen wrote the words Tea Heiress they were always put in italics, as if she were so special, so above everyone else, that only a select few in society were on a par with her. Now he knew her, he realised they were right. Letty was an incomparable...and so very far out of his reach as to be laughable.

  Unfortunately, that same tiny part of him which had held out for the miracle earlier was now disproportionately grieving the inevitable loss of her in his life, even though he never really stood a chance of her remaining in it. He had also read about her life in those same newspapers and it was a life he could never hope to give her. The finest clothes, balls, jewels and a prominent and revered place in society. The moment Jack had reminded her of her wealthy Duke, she’d nodded and smiled and immediately switched her thoughts to getting home to Mayfair. Which had been his intention. Because any hope of a future between them was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? So he should be happy he had been the sensible one.

  But he wasn’t.

  ‘We need all the ropes we can carry.’ His three brothers were assembled in the kitchen, the lanterns already lit. ‘The river has burst its banks. If one of us has to venture into it, then we’ll be tethered to something first. If we drive the sheep to the west pasture, they will be safe. Jamie—check on the horses, then the cows. See that none of them have injured themselves.’

  His brother’s face clouded with barely suppressed fury. ‘I am not a blasted invalid, Jack. I’ll help you three with the sheep first. The horses and damned cows can wait!’

  ‘I’ll see to the horses and cows.’ Jack spun around to see Letty marching towards him in a greatcoat that swamped her and wearing an expression of complete and total defiance. Jamie nodded and handed her a lantern, clearly delighted not to be relegated to lighter duties because of his injuries.

  ‘Go back to bed, Letty! It’s dangerous out there.’ And Jack could already feel the beginnings of a knot of worry at the thought of her out in that storm. The last time she had been exposed to bad weather she had almost died. ‘This is no place for a woman like you.’

  She marched fearlessly in front of him and stuck out her chin, not the slightest bit intimidated by the angry way he loomed over her. ‘I am not some silly, spoiled, empty-headed fool.’ Her finger prodded him firmly in the chest. ‘And whilst your brothers might well listen to your orders, you are not my master Jack Warriner. Or my husband. And you never will be. So don’t expect me to obey you. I am helping. Deal with it.’ She spun on her heel and stomped stubbornly towards the back door. Without a backward glance, she flung it open and flounced into the raging tempest.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Fourteen days and approximately twenty-two hours of misery left...

  The tiny hailstones burned her face as they blew about in the wind, but Letty ignored them. Jack’s idea that she should stay in bed when there were potentially distressed animals on the estate was ludicrous. It was not as if she had actually been sleeping. Try as she might, sleep had proved to be elusive after he had knocked her down a peg or two earlier. More than a peg or two, if she were being honest with herself. In actual fact, Letty felt as if her legs had been brutally cut out from under her. Now the hurt she had felt at his words had curdled and marinated into anger. How dare he suggest she was not up to the task of being a Nottinghamshire farmer’s wife! Since she had been ripped from Mayfair, she had attacked task after task and emerged victorious.

  Jack’s pithy assessment of her lifestyle grated. Superficial conversation for the privileged. Balls, soirées, jewels, fancy clothes. All external trimmings which had absolutely nothing to do with who she really was inside. Just like everyone else of her acquaintance, the thick-skulled eldest Warriner could not see further than skin deep. Letty was more than all that and, if Jack couldn’t see it, then, quite frankly he didn’t deserve her either. And she was not some feeble, delicate ornament incapable of knowing her own mind!

  She slammed into the cow barn first. Aside from the noisy mooing one would expect from cattle in the midst of a thunderstorm, everything appeared all right. To be sure, Letty held her lantern aloft and checked each beast as best she could for signs of injury or undue distress. Finding nothing, she distributed some fresh hay and water before securing the barn door carefully closed and battling her way across the yard to the other barn where the horses were kept.

  The closer she got, the clearer Letty could hear the door to the barn swinging noisily against the hinges. The wind must have dislodged it and the bashing sound would only serve to spook the horses. She dashed inside and was not even slightly surprised to hear the sounds of agitated animals in the pitch-black enclosure. Again, as she had in the cow shed, she raised the lantern to check on each one and began soothing the mounts by stroking their muzzles and whispering words of reassurance. It took a few moments to realise the end stall, Satan’s stall, was open.

  Letty went to it, peered inside and, finding it empty, used the glow of the lantern to search the rest of the cavernous building for signs of Jamie’s temperamental horse. But it was nowhere. Outside, in the storm, with thunder, hail and explosive lightning, she seriously feared for the animal’s safety. This was really not the night for the horse to go wandering around loose.

  Making sure the rest of the animals were secured, Letty grabbed a set of leather reins hanging on the far wall. If she could locate Satan, she would need to put him in a halter in order to bring him back safely. She bent to pick up the lantern again, then plunged into the dark field beyond the barn, hoping against hope it would be miraculously easy to find a jet-black horse in the oppressive darkness.

  * * *

  After twenty minutes of searching, she caught sight of the men in the field beyond. With their similar heights and appearances, it was difficult to discern who was who from a distance. However, the closer she got, it became obvious which one was Jack. It stood to reason that he would be the one who put himself in the most peril. Currently, he was thigh deep in the raging water, holding a wriggling sheep in his arms and wading back. Behind him, the river gushed violently, tossing the occasional broken tree branch effortlessly up into the air before sucking it mercilessly under the water. Surely, he didn’t put the life of his sheep above the safety of his own?

  Without thinking, she broke into a run to drag him away from the danger. When she got nearer, Letty noticed he had thick rope knotted around his waist and shoulders. The other end of the rope was tied to Jamie and wound around the trunk of a sturdy tree. Jamie spotted her first and waved. She could just about hear his voice over the gale as he pointed.

  ‘Help Joe and Jacob move the sheep!’

  For a second, she hesitated, as the ne
ed to reassure herself of Jack’s safety warred with her desire to help, but when she saw him deposit the sheep carefully on solid ground and glare back at her menacingly, the decision was easy to make. She knew exactly what he would say. Go inside, Letty. As if she were wholly useless. This field, in the midst of this storm, was no place for a silly, decorative society princess. Letty turned to search for the two youngest Warriners and saw them just to the west. She headed directly towards them until something else, something big, frightened and horse-shaped appeared in her peripheral vision.

  * * *

  It took Jack far longer than necessary to reach his brother. The ground was like a bog, sucking on the soles of his boots and hampering every stride. When he reached him, Jack didn’t mince his words.

  ‘Go after Letty and send her indoors!’ He had no idea what Jamie had thought he was doing to send her to help the others, but a raging storm was the very last place on earth he wanted her to be. Not after the last time.

  ‘Don’t be daft, Jack. Letty is perfectly capable of rounding up some sheep.’

  Jack folded his arms belligerently in the stance he knew his younger brothers called his Do-As-I-Command posture. ‘I don’t want her rounding up sheep. I want her out of harm’s way. She’s not built for this sort of work. Any fool can see how delicate she is!’

  ‘Letty? Delicate? That girl is as strong as an ox. She can move furniture on her own, remember? And clean several years’ worth of grime in minutes.’

  Jack winced. He hated the fact that Letty still cleaned for them. When he had initially told her to earn her keep, he had never actually intended for her to do anything, it was merely a tactic to put her in her place that one time. Very well, she had done a splendid job that first time and one which had made him feel bad for underestimating her, but he had certainly not wanted her to continue to do it. Yet every day, his house improved as a result of her labours and every day he felt guiltier and guiltier she had to demean herself like that. His mother had never lifted a finger. Would never have dreamed of lifting a finger. And now Letty was demeaning herself here, too, being pelted with rain and hail, getting soaked to her lovely skin and covered in muck. ‘I want her inside!’ he roared.

  Jamie nudged him and pointed back towards the river bank. ‘There’s another one.’

  The stupid sheep stared back at him in a blind panic, its hooves slipping as it struggled to maintain its footing on the steep bank already under several inches of water. With a groan, Jack ensured the rope about his middle was tight and trudged back towards the water.

  Being a sheep, and therefore in possession of absolutely no sense, the animal fought against being rescued. Jack was breathless by the time he had wrestled it free and his leg muscles were screaming from the exertion. His passage back towards firmer land was painfully slow and, as he traipsed towards his brother, he automatically scanned the horizon to check on Letty. He soon spied Joe and close by him Jacob, but there was no sign of the petite, stubborn vixen who didn’t do as she was told. Perhaps she had found the going hard and given up already? He certainly hoped she had.

  Relieved, he turned back towards Jamie, only to see his brother’s eyes widen ominously. Jack followed his gaze off into the distance and made out the small square of light from a lantern on the ground. Thunder began to rumble, then an enormous fork of lightning crackled overhead, illuminating the field and silhouetting Letty. She was walking, hands outstretched, towards a rearing, kicking Satan. Jack experienced a moment of sheer, gut-wrenching terror.

  ‘Letty, stop!’

  The gale took his warning and blew it back in his face and the pasture was plunged into darkness again. Both Jack and Jamie hastily tugged at the rope that bound them together, clawing at the sopping knots with chilled fingers until they gave.

  ‘That horse will kill her if she goes near it.’

  His brother’s stark words echoed Jack’s own fears. Letty might well have a soft spot for horses, but Satan had earned his evil name fair and square. Once he was untied, he stumbled towards her, calling for her to put a stop to her madness. Either she did not hear or she did not listen, leaving him powerless to do anything but watch the awful drama unfolding before his eyes.

  She lunged and caught the horse around the neck, hugging him and, from his position too far away, it looked as if she was talking the beast. It fought against her hold at first, then miraculously stilled. He watched her retrieve a halter from her shoulder and slip it over the animal’s enormous head, all the while soothing him with her palms and voice. Within moments, the horse was obediently following her as she tugged gently on the reins, but not back towards the barn, towards the low stone wall which separated this pasture from the next. It was only when she clambered to stand atop the wall that Jack realised what she intended to do and fresh panic surged through him, forcing his tired legs to pump the ground to reach her before she effectively committed suicide.

  But without a saddle, and while another rumble of thunder sounded ominously overhead, she climbed on to Satan’s back, her golden head bent low over his so that he could hear her. The huge horse reared then, causing Jack’s heart to skip a beat, yet she held her seat magnificently, holding the reins with one hand while the other smoothed down the stallion’s mane. Satan’s jerky motions calmed slowly, and as if nothing at all was the matter, he finally came to stand obediently beneath her.

  They stood like that for several moments while Jack stood frozen to the spot, too scared to move in case he spooked the horse and signed her death warrant. But to his horror, Letty gathered the reins tighter, and before Jack knew what was happening, she set off swiftly. Fearlessly. Heading towards the scattered sheep, leaving Jack powerless to stop her.

  He stood breathless and gaped at the spectacle. Despite the howling wind and violent storm, Letty had full control of the enormous beast. As another tremendous crack of lightning set the sky ablaze, she galloped to the rear of the furthest sheep and began to herd them towards the open gate of the west pasture, using Satan like a mighty, disciplined sheepdog, which she rode instead of whistled at. By the time Jamie caught up with him, all the pair of them could do was stand and watch as she made short work of finishing what the men had started and failed to achieve.

  ‘I see exactly what you mean,’ Jamie drawled as the last sheep disappeared into the adjoining field, ‘Your Letty is a delicate one.’

  ‘For the last time, she’s not my Letty,’ he said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Yes, she is. The girl is mad for you. It’s beyond me why you are so hell-bent on resisting her.’

  Jack felt his throat constrict at the memories. ‘You know why, Jamie. This place is not suitable for a gently bred woman.’

  Jamie turned slowly and stared. ‘Because of what happened to our mother?’

  Jack did not want his brother to see how much the painful recollections hurt and how much his feeble attempts at easing her burdens had failed, so he stared out towards the raging river rather than meet his eye. ‘She came from London, too. You saw what living here did to her.’

  ‘Our mother was delicate—that I do agree with. But in spirit, Jack, not body. Every memory I have of the woman is of her complaining about her lot in life, blaming our father, or us, for her situation rather than doing something about it all.’

  ‘She was miserable because of our father’s selfishness. I won’t do that to Letty.’

  ‘No, Jack. Our mother was just miserable! Did it ever occur to you that she had a hand in what happened to her, too? Our father had a terrible reputation long before he met her, yet she allowed him to seduce her. People don’t change. Did she think he would? She was one of the most selfish people I have ever known. All she ever cared about was herself. How unhappy with her lot she was. How difficult her life was. She wasn’t a mother, Jack. As a parent, she was no better than our useless father. Thank God we all had you, else I don’t doubt we’d
have turned out little better than feral.’

  In the distance, they heard the whoops of joy as Joe finally closed the gate on the last of the sheep. Letty held Satan on the spot, effortlessly using only the lightest touch on the reins while Jacob appeared to be congratulating her. She threw her head back and laughed, enjoying her moment of triumph, then her gaze locked on to his across the field and neither the distance nor the darkness could not diminish the defiant pride which radiated off her as she sat astride Jamie’s unmanageable horse.

  He could just imagine her thoughts. You underestimated me, farm boy, and I proved you wrong. She kept proving him wrong. So much so, he was starting to doubt his own firmly held beliefs.

  ‘Letty wasn’t born for this sort of life.’ Just because she could round up frightened, scattered sheep in the rain didn’t mean that she should. In her world, such degradation would be unheard of.

  ‘You’re probably right, Big Brother.’ Jamie spun on his heel and began to limp towards the celebration. ‘The girl managed to thwart a gang of kidnappers and escape from a moving carriage unaided. She should have frozen to death or died of fever afterwards, but within a few days she was up and about. And, of course, she is so delicate that she doesn’t balk at the challenge of single-handedly cleaning a mansion and she can tame a crazed, temperamental horse by riding it bareback in a thunderstorm. The more I think upon it, Jack, the more she resembles our mother in her weak character. Being leg-shackled to an imbecile like you might be the one thing that breaks her.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Eleven interminable days to get through...

  It had been an uncomfortable few days. In a reversal of roles, it was Letty who now avoided Jack. The bitter sting of his rejection still hurt and she was counting down the hours until she could leave so that she would be spared the trauma of seeing him again. Each time she looked at him, his well-meant words flooded back and alternately upset her or spiked her temper. To make matters worse, Letty was certain she kept catching him staring at her, a slightly perplexed expression on his handsome face, almost as if she were some peculiar specimen he was studying through a microscope and one which he could never hope to understand. It was most unnerving.