In spite of steely resolve, Harriet could feel her face burn with heat which she was sure spread down her neck as well. “There was nothing else I could think to do. He hit his head on the cobblestones so hard, he was unconscious for a bit, and…”
“And you’d like me to talk to him, determine if he’s trustworthy?”
“Yes, exactly.” She hoped her sigh of relief had not been overly loud. “With Nicholas at such an impressionable age, I don’t want him to develop an unwarranted loyalty there.”
“Your son is a fine lad. He has an eye for quality of character. Sometimes children and dogs are the best judges of men.” He finished the rest of his tea and set down the cup and saucer decisively. “Let’s meet your Nana’s knight in shining armor.”
Richard had imploredthe footman who had supplied the nightshirt to see if he could smuggle some ham or bacon from the kitchen and had just polished off the last bites when there was a light tap at the door. He’d been feeling a bit lordly all morning what with holding court in the duke’s bedroom. He gave a broad grin and uttered a deep “Come.” Maybe this time he’d see the delectable, fiery, red-haired Milady Amazon again.
His grin widened when the sensual archer opened the door, but she had company. The man standing behind her was giving Richard a critical once-over. However, there was something in the man’s face that stirred memories.
His visitor recognized Lieutenant Bourne first. He walked directly to his bedside and shook his hand, hard, with his bear-sized paw. Everything about Captain William Thorne was bigger than life.
“Pon my word - Richard Bourne. You’re an officer now?” The man looked around the room, as if searching for a uniform jacket.
“I’m afraid my uniform seems to have disappeared. It’s First Lieutenant Bourne now, aboard theBlack Condorwith Marine Captain George Neville and our Post Captain Arnaud Bellingham. My sergeant and I have been recruiting in Falmouth this week.”
“Where to now? Not many battles left to fight.”
“We’re off to rejoin the West African Preventative Squadron out of Freetown.”
“Damn. That’s a hard business.” Thorne slapped a glove against his thigh.
“Yes, it is, but it’s important.” Richard hated having to explain his loyalty to the Squadron to men like the captain who understood just how dangerous the duty was.
The marchioness had been standing back, watching the exchange between the two men, a bewildering look on her face.
The captain just then seemed to remember she was still there, and his original mission. “Beg pardon, Lady Blandford. This is a fine member of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. He was with me and Lord Exmouth at Algiers back in ‘sixteen. You have nothing to fear while he’s under your roof. I’d vouch for him any time. Lord Exmouth had the Admiralty promote all the lads who survived the fighting.”
Harriet wincedat the obvious respect and friendship between the two men. She’d hoped for an excuse to banish those broad shoulders and laughing blue eyes from her snug little household where she’d been keeping the outside world at bay for years.
But he couldn’t stay long in any event, could he? His ship would be gone as soon as they took on enough recruits to fill out their crew. She’d been alone too long, and she’d lied to herself about how she no longer needed male companionship. Even when she busied herself in other parts of the lodge, the force of his presence seeped through the walls of her cousin’s chambers like an elusive, smoky scent of life, adventure and hardened man. She found herself manufacturing excuses to check on him. She couldn’t stay away. She was in trouble.
Harriet nearly ran over her grandmother in her mad flight from the invalid’s chamber. She was going to have Cook fix a special luncheon for the two men so they could share old times.
“Now there’s a real man in the duke’s chamber for a change, don’t you think?” Nana had crept out from a side hallway, causing Harriet to stumble before catching her balance.
“There are more important things to think about than a man in the lodge.”
Her grandmother’s green eyes widened. “Like what?”
“Oooooh. You go out and drag home an innocent man like that one and leave me to clean up your mess.”
Now Nana’s eyes narrowed. “Touchy, are we this morning? Bothers you too, does he?”
“What bothers me?”
“Knowing all of that man is just on the other side of that door.” Her grandmother pointed down the hallway toward the ducal bedroom.
“Is that all you ever think about? That, and causing mayhem all over Falmouth?”
Her grandmother’s vivid green eyes, so like her own, clouded with unshed tears.
“Oh, Nana, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
The older woman placed two fingers against Harriet’s lips.
“I’m not as queer in the attic as I seem. I just miss the theatre, the costumes, the sets, the other actors.” She pushed past Harriet and headed at a trot down the hallway.
