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.
Patrick blamed himself for Melissa’s disappearance.
I should have gone with her!
Bitter regret curdled his belly and he swallowed down bile as he rode up and down, calling her name. Stenwick appeared out of the blue and shook his head. “She’s not here. We have to go back. Perhaps, Nordam found her.”
“If he did, why didn’t he call for us?”
“I don’t know. But what I do know is, she’s not here. Let us go back to the hall and organize a proper search party. We can cover the whole property more efficiently.”
Patrick acknowledged the truth of Stenwick’s words but he still didn’t want to go back without Melissa. He counted it an awful failure on his part. Stenwick reached out and took hold of his reins, pulling him along and making him move. Patrick traveled with his head hanging down in defeat.
Brynn was standing on the verandah, eyes on the road, waiting anxiously for some sign of the horsemen. Pellets of hail bounced off the floor and pinged against her ankles but she paid them no mind. The Duke of Greyfield would occasionally wander outside to ask if there was any sign of anyone and she would shake her head miserably. Lady Rose and the Duchess sat in the parlor, awaiting news while the rest of the party tried to reassure them as to Melissa’s likely safety.
Brynn was sure that the Duchess was merely putting on a show for sympathy. There was no way she was really worried about Melissa. Brynn suspected that she might be quite relieved if something actually happened to her daughter.
A lone rider emerged from the hailstorm and Brynn hurried forward, an umbrella at the ready, before any of the footmen could move. He had someone wrapped in his greatcoat, laying against his chest and Brynn heaved a sigh of relief.
“Lady Melissa!” she called but the burden did not move. Her heart dropped. Was her mistress well?
Lord Nordam alighted smoothly from his horse, sliding Melissa down with him, her body listless and unmoving.
“What’s the matter with her?” Brynn knew her tone was too shrill for someone of her station but she could not help herself. Melissa looked pale as death, her lips blue and she was generally unresponsive. Two footmen arrived, reaching to relieve the lord of his burden but he ushered them away.
“It’s fine. I’ve got her,” he said leading the way as fast as he could to the house. He made straight for the stairs, glancing briefly back at Brynn. “Where is her room? Get some steaming water, she needs to warm up.”
Brynn rounded on the footmen, “You heard the Lord, get her some hot, steaming water!” she said before hurrying up the stairs to show the Earl where Melissa’s temporary room was. He placed her gently on the bed before turning to Brynn. “Strip her of her remaining clothes and cover her with as many blankets as you can find. Build up the fire. As soon as the water is here, lower her into it and keep her there until her skin is flushed pink and healthy again. You understand me?”
Brynn nodded vigorously.
“I am off to find a physician.” He said with a nod and then marched out of the room. Brynn spared a moment to gawk at him before getting down to the business of shedding Melissa’s clothes. She wrapped her up in all the blankets on the bed before letting in the servants bringing in a large claw foot tub and buckets of hot water. One of the servants hastened to build up the fire without being told, as the others left the room to give them some privacy. As soon as they were alone, Brynn quickly unwrapped her from the blanket and half-carried, half-dragged her over to the tub.
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