“Too far, Brynn. I am more than my relationship with other people. I would like to capture this stag on my own account.” Melissa said with a snarl, although in Brynn’s humble opinion, it was a bit of an overreaction. “And you would do well, dear Brynn, to have more respect when you speak of my mother. Moreover, you should never assume that I am trying in any way to prove myself to her. I have nothing to prove. She must accept who I am–her daughter–and if she does not like it, she can surely go to…”
Before Melissa could further curse her mother’s name, there was a snap in the forest. They both stiffened and turned their heads toward the sound hoping to find the source, but the forest was far too thick for them to detect any signs of life save for the warbling birds and the rustling insects. Melissa’s breath caught tight in her chest as she searched for movement.
There was another snap.
Melissa and Brynn tensed, waiting. Melissa had her rifle at the ready. So, they were both very surprised to see the Duke of Cheshmill step into the clearing.
“Your Grace...” Melissa said.
“Forgive me. I seem to have misplaced my horse. I was wondering if you would spare your lady’s maid to escort me back to the house.”
Brynn and Melissa exchanged glances. It was a most unusual request for the Duke to make.
“What happened?” Melissa asked.
“We came across a fox and my horse shied. Threw me and then took off. She's a new horse. Barely broken in. I should not have tried to ride her. I would walk back but I fear I twisted my ankle.”
“Weren’t you with the others?” Melissa did not know why she was asking so many questions but she was uneasy.
“No. I had left them behind, in pursuit of you as you had pulled far ahead of everyone.”
Melissa’s face colored with embarrassment. She knew that taking off like that, separating from the main hunting party was frowned upon. She had just been so angry.
She turned to her lady’s maid. “Brynn, would you please escort His Grace back to the house?”
“What about you My Lady? You should come with us.”
Melissa shook her head slowly, “I shall continue with the hunt. Don’t worry, I’ll join the others and not hunt alone.”
Brynn just continued to watch her, a worried frown marring her forehead.
“They are over by the creek if you want to make your way there,” the Duke broke into their staring contest, startling them both.
“Yes, all right, I shall make my way there. Brynn, come join us once you are finished.”
Brynn nodded, looking a little relieved. “I’ll do that.”
The Duke limped slowly to Brynn’s horse and got on it behind the lady’s maid. With one last glance at Melissa, she turned her horse back to the Hall. Melissa watched them go before making her way down to the creek.
* * *
Patrick felt bad for laughing at Melissa, especially after the reckless way she’d taken off. He had wanted to follow her at once but his father urged him to stay with their guests.
“I’ll go and find her myself,” His Grace nodded to the other gentlemen, “this is why ladies don’t hunt...”
His last comment elicited an indulgent smile from Greyfield, as did Lord Addison who had joined them that morning, and even Nordam nodded in acknowledgment. Only Stenwick remained impassive. Patrick could see why Melissa had gotten so angry. It could not be fun to always have your abilities called into question because of your sex. He watched his father ride off after Melissa, wishing him Godspeed and hoping he would not say something to further upset her.
“Well, shall we get on with this hunt then?” he called to his companions. The wind was picking up and he had to raise his voice to be heard.
Stenwick spurred his horse on and the others followed. Drops of rain began to fall on their faces. The conditions were not ideal and likely, the hounds would lose the scent of the stag. However, there was still time for the weather to clear up and so they kept going.
They followed the sound of the barking dogs, deeper into the forest. The hounds had yet to pick up a scent, and so the party remained in companionable silence for at least a quarter-hour. Patrick let his horse fall behind slightly. Soon his blond friend sidled up to him.
“Honestly, Patrick. You look like you've been invited to afternoon tea and then offered a fig roll. Stop sulking.”
Patrick sighed. “I'm not sulking. I'm pining.”
“Same difference.”
“No, pining has romantic connotations. Sulking is for petulant children.”
“See? You are sulking. I can practically hear you internally writing poetry, Bergon. It's already pissing me off.”
Patrick sighed again. People did it a lot in novels; it was a clear indication he was a gentleman in love. “I'm being pensive. It's a very attractive quality in a gentleman, I'll have you know.”
“We'll see how attractive it is when you brood so hard you fall off your horse,” Stenwick mumbled. Patrick ignored him. “See here, I apologize on your father’s behalf for that remark that sent your amour running, but all this moping about is not helping. Aren’t you meant to be keeping it all a big secret? Chin up, soon it will be over and you’ll be living out all your romantic fantasies on a boat in the high seas.”
Patrick’s eyes brightened; his grip on the reins tightened.
“But mind yourself, for now; you can't go back to your little sweetheart. It would ruin her reputation, Patrick. Please remember that in the eyes of everyone here you are engaged to her sister. I know you’re new to this, so just stay close to me and I shall do all the work, agreed?”
Patrick felt he should have been offended that the other gentleman thought him so inept that he could not conceal his feelings for Melissa in the company of others. Instead, he merely found himself happy that he and by extension Melissa had such protective friends. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Stenwick,” he moved to turn his horse, but stopped momentarily, as if he couldn’t leave it unsaid.
“I adore her, Stenwick. It would be an insult to her to call it love yet… There’s still so much more of her for me to fall in love with. But… I will. If she’ll have me.”
Stenwick looked slightly taken aback but recovered quickly. “I see all that brooding hasn’t improved your eloquence any,” he smiled, “but if you mean it, you have my approval. Not that it matters one whit against hers, though!”
Patrick grinned back, spurring his horse to catch up with the rest of the party. He would play his role as the dutiful son. Nobody would have any reason to suspect anything untoward.
As the rain began to come down in earnest, he spared a thought for Melissa, out there with no one but his father. He slowed, wondering if he should go after them. She would not be comfortable with his father. Then he remembered that her lady’s maid had taken off with her.
“She’ll be all right.” He said to himself as he caught up with the rest of the party.
Chapter 29
Lost and Found
In the clearing by the creek, Melissa could feel her eyes slipping shut as she waited for the hunting party. They must have been delayed because the Duke had said they would be here by now.
Waiting was tiring.
It was not her fault that she'd had to wake early for the hunt. After a very upsetting night trying to pretend everything was normal for Brynn. She wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders as she alighted from the horse to sit under a chestnut tree.
The horse immediately set about grazing, its coat shivering to dislodge the gnats trying to take hold. Melissa leaned her head back, as her eyes got heavier, sighing in impatience and wondering vaguely why she could not even hear the hounds.
It wouldn't bother anyone, surely, if her breathing evened and pulled her to sleep for a minute.
Or an hour.
Above the sleeping lady, clouds smothered the sky.
* * *
“Looks like the hounds have found a scent!” Lord Addison observed.
“Well finally,” Stenwick snorted with amused derision, “We’ll be caught in a downpour soon. Those so-called hounds should perhaps be demoted to house pets if this is how long it takes them to find a stag in a wood.”
The rest of the party glanced up at the angry clouds rolling in overhead. “Ought we to turn back instead? Lady Melissa and your father shall surely get soaked.”
“I expect my father has turned back toward the hall by now–otherwise they would surely have joined us.” Patrick tried to sound reassuring but he was worried too. The Duke of Greyfield sighed, shaking his head dubiously as if he had the same worries as Patrick. He almost suggested that they head out to find them.
“No gentleman worth his title would leave her out in the elements like that. We should turn back if the weather’s going to sour.” The Duke said before Patrick could say another word.
Lord Addison piped up. “It doesn’t look like it’ll rain for a little while longer. We might have time to follow this scent if we’re quick.”
“We can cut through the bracken.” Stenwick suggested.
“Besides, the path we were on circles back,” Lord Addison added, “I believe we’re already on our way back to the road.”
The Duke cut in, “So it’s decided. We follow the scent.”
With that, he whistled to the dogs, who took off with much of the party in tow. Patrick followed after a moment, the lot of them charging through the bushes and stirring vegetation into the air.
It began to hail a few minutes later causing them to abandon all pretense of hunting and gallop at full speed toward the Hall. Patrick’s mind was still on Melissa, hoping she was safely ensconced in the parlor with a cup of hot cocoa and some honey cakes keeping her company. The icy hail peppered his shoulders and Patrick turned up the collar of his coat in an attempt to stop them from slithering onto his neck and melting down his chest.
They rolled into the compound a few minutes later. Patrick alighted from his horse even before it had come to a complete stop, all resolutions to keep his distance from Melissa forgotten in his anxiety to ensure she was all right. Brynn came hurrying toward him, her eyes wide and his heart dropped.
“Is Melissa with you…My Lord?” Brynn tacked the last part in at the last minute as if she had just remembered who she was talking to.
“She was with you, I thought,” he said grabbing her arm in his urgency.
Brynn was already shaking her head. “We left…we left her,” she began to hyperventilate, bending double as her breath came too fast, “She’s…where is she?” she grabbed his lapel, pale blue eyes staring bleakly into his.
The Earl of Nordam came up to them. “Is there a problem?”
Patrick frowned his eyes on a panicking Brynn. “Pull yourself together girl. Now, where did you leave her?”
“Th-there was a co-copse of tr-trees. I c-came back with the Duke, she was supposed to g-go to the creek where the r-rest of y-you were.”
Patrick’s frown deepened. “The creek?” he shook his head, “We didn’t go near the creek. It tends to spill over when it rains. The whole ground there is wet and slippery.”
“We-well, that’s where your father told her to go. And that’s where she went. Di-did you n-not see her?” Brynn gradually got her breathing under control but her face was deathly pale.
Patrick shook his head slowly, already turning back toward his horse. “I shall go and look.”
“I’ll come with you.” The Earl of Nordam offered.
Patrick nodded gratefully. “Thank you. The creek is long and runs quite a way. There may be a good bit to search.”
Stenwick came riding in, and saw that Patrick was climbing back onto his horse, and so was Nordam. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Lady Melissa. She’s not back yet and she was down by the creek.”
Stenwick looked up at the hailstones coming down. “And you mean to go and get her?”
“Of course.” Patrick pressed his thighs against the horse to spur it into movement.
Stenwick sighed tiredly, “I suppose I shall have to come too.”
“You don’t have to,” Patrick’s voice was sharper than he intended but he was too anxious to be patient.
Stenwick met his eyes. “I know I don’t. But how am I to rest while Lady Melissa is out there alone, in this weather?”
The Duke of Greyfield came galloping into the yard and Brynn blanched. Patrick shrugged apologetically at her. “Explain to him what has happened, we need to go.” With that, he spurred his horse into a gallop, going as fast as he could in the wet, muddy conditions.
He did not look back, just rode straight toward the body of water. He could hear the steady clip-clop of the horse behind him, belonging to Nordam and was grateful for the company. But he knew that they would find her faster if they separated.
“You head that way, and I will head this way,” he told the Earl who nodded and immediately turned his horse. He knew that once Stenwick caught up with them, he would conduct his own search. He prayed they found her quickly, the stinging cold could not be good for her.
* * *
The creek was indeed long and winding, and Nordam wondered if they would find the lady in time. He did not understand why she had continued to wait for them once the hail began to fall. Surely she would have known to make her way to the house? It was passing strange.
He was surprised at the grain of worry that nudged against his belly. He had only met Lady Melissa briefly but he found himself hoping fervently for her wellbeing and good health. A flash of brown caught his eye, in the middle of the creek and he spurred his horse forward.
The creek curved away from him a few meters ahead and then went into a fork. As he rounded the bend he gasped, seeing that what he had been hoping was a stray piece of cloth was actually the lady’s riding habit, billowing around her as she lay face down and still in the water. Without a second thought, he had slid off his horse and was running toward her, calling her name, even though he knew she would not answer.
He splashed into the water at a run and grabbed her booted ankles, pulling her to him. He carried her carefully out of the freezing creek, noting the blue cast of her ice-cold skin with trepidation. Hoping against hope that the cold was due to being in the water and not because she had been dead a while he turned her over, patting her back to dislodge any water from her throat and lungs that he could.
“Come on, come on, please…” he murmured as he rubbed her back, noting how her wet clothes clung to her, probably adding to her lowered temperature. He patted her back a little harder until she gave a little cough and vomited dirty water onto the mud.
“Thank heavens,” he leaned back with a sigh of relief and then immediately leaned forward again as she started to shiver. He knew he had to warm her quickly but he hesitated to divest her of her clothes. Propriety had not provided guidelines for such a situation. He looked around, wondering if he should call for help but there was really nothing the Marquess or his friend the Earl could do except provide a further source of embarrassment to the lady should she come to learn of her exposure.
With grim resolve he turned her around, removed her jacket and began to unbutton her chemisette, trying at the same time to avert his eyes. He loosened her skirts and then pulled it off her, and then began to take his coat off. He froze, his eyes on her ribs where a butterfly birthmark was clearly displayed…the twin to the one on his own ribs.
“No,” he whispered, face paling.
Melissa shivered violently and he redoubled his efforts to get his coat off and wrap her gently up in it. He gathered the lady in his arms, swaying her back and forth as if she was a baby. He murmured nonsense words under his breath, trying to be soothing. She was still shivering and so he began to rub her arms up and down. He noted the sharpness of her cheekbones, her Cupid ’s bow mouth, the brown of her hair…he did not understand how he hadn’t seen it before. Her dusky complexion inherited from his Spanish ancestors, the hazel eyes that were the twin of his mother’s.
“I need to talk to Thalia.” He murmured even as he rocked her, trying to think how to get her to the house without further injury. He did not know why she had been in the water–if it was an accident or she had been pushed. He had heard the rumblings about the Alford sisters fighting over a single gentleman and his mind was jumping from possibility to probability at high speed.
“Is this why he wanted me here? Did he intend to expose you?” Nicholas struggled to his feet, whistling sharply for his horse. Thankfully it was a well-behaved beast which answered his call at once. As gently as he could, he placed Melissa across the saddle and then got on behind her. He gathered her close again, making sure his coat covered her adequately and began to ride as fast as he could back to the house.
Bewitching the Forbidden Duke: A Steamy Regency Romance Page 25
