“Good,” he said, sitting down heavily and accepting the cup of tea his mother slid across the table without asking. “I thought I might have missed you.”
“You’re coming to Knavesmire then, I take it?” Theo smiled at his friend. “I’m impressed you got out of bed for the occasion.”
“Nonsense.” Ash slurped down half his cup of tea, then smiled blearily at Theo. “I can’t let you cut down the blasted tree all by yourself, can I?”
“Mind you manners,” his mother said sharply. “We hardly need such language at the breakfast table.”
Ash rolled his eyes, but reined himself in for the remainder of the meal.
A scant hour later, they were riding through the crisp morning air, accompanied by two brawny footmen and headed for Knavesmire Wood.
“I’m sorry to have missed your sisters this morning,” Theo said. “Are they usually late risers?”
“Rose is, certainly, though Holly usually joins my parents for breakfast. Perhaps she slept poorly last night.”
More likely she was avoiding Theo, and his mouth twisted at the thought.
“Is your sister—Lady Holly, I mean—generally of good moral habits?”
Ash turned a quizzical look on him. “Good grief, Thorn. Why are you asking? You’re not actually thinking of courting my sister, I hope?”
Blast it, that hadn’t gone the way Theo had hoped. And yet…perhaps such a ruse would provide the cover he needed to ask Ash a few pointed questions about his sister. Theo cleared his throat, and resolved to dive in.
“If I were,” he said, “it stands to reason that I’d like to know the lady’s character. To your knowledge, is Lady Holly possessed of any, er, untoward behaviors?”
“I can’t believe you’re actually asking me such things.” Ash shook his head and then blew a plume of frosty breath into the air. It hung a moment, whitely illuminated by the morning sun, before dissipating.
“Humor me,” Theo said dryly.
His friend, brow furrowed, rode silently for a few minutes, and Theo was wise enough not to press. Or to imply that perhaps Lady Holly was overfond of the gaming tables.
Finally, Ash shook himself and looked over at Theo.
“My sister is, I believe, quite proper in all ways,” he said. “Though she might be unduly stubborn, as I believe I’ve mentioned, she is generally kind and well-meaning.”
“So, she has no propensity toward…” Theo broke off, searching for the words.
“Good gad, Thorn, what are implying? That my sister is a lightskirt?”
“Not at all,” Theo hurried to say. “I’m not impugning the lady’s reputation in the least. I was simply wondering if she had, say, a hidden fondness for strong drink or the like. I’ve heard that—on very rare occasions, mind you—young ladies can sometimes fall into unfortunate behaviors.”
Even as he said the words, he winced. They were coming out all wrong. Yet he couldn’t come straight out and accuse Lady Holly of being an obsessive gambler—especially if he had no idea if it were true. The circumstances of their last meeting were suspicious, and yet, he himself had been in that same unsavory neighborhood, for reasons of his own.
“You are serious about courting her, then?” Ash shook his head.
“I…might be?”
“Well then, never fear—Mama keeps both my sisters on a short string. I can assure you that Holly wouldn’t have any opportunity to get up to mischief, even if she were inclined to. Which, I must say, she’s not. That’s far more Rose’s line. You may court my sister without undue worry, Thorn. Much as it pains me to say so.”
“Thank you.” There was no other response Theo could make. He could hardly argue that Ash was wrong.
“I suppose you’ll be stopping by Hartley House again after the holidays,” Ash said.
“I will?” Theo felt as though he was suddenly riding a horse that had gone wild, careening ahead with the bit in its teeth while he desperately tried to rein it in.
“To do your billing and cooing, I presume. And, of course, to speak with my father.”
Theo swallowed. “I’m not ready to proceed quite so quickly.”
