It was a sheer miracle, he decided much later, that he happened to be peering down one dark path when she came running along another one behind him. She was calling his name before he turned. She had hurled herself into his arms almost before he had opened them to receive her.
Chapter 13
“OH, my lord!” Arabella cried, her arms flying up around Lord Astor’s neck, her face burying itself against his chest. “Itisyou. Oh, thank God! I have been so very frightened.”
His arms came tightly around her and held her close. “Arabella!” he said. “You are quite safe. I have you now.”
“I was so frightened,” she said, trying to burrow still closer.
Lord Astor looked hastily to either side of them along the path. There was a lull in the crowd of revelers for the moment, but there was a group approaching. He drew his wife off the main path onto the quieter one down which he had been looking when she came running up behind him. He drew her into the shade of a tree so that they would not be observed from the main thoroughfare.
“You are safe now, Arabella,” he murmured soothingly. He opened back his cloak, drew her against him again, and wrapped it around her. She put her arms around his waist and laid a cheek against his chest. She was trembling uncontrollably. “No one is going to harm you. I have you.”.
She pressed herself against him, silent for a while. Her teeth were chattering. Lord Astor cupped the back of her head with one hand and held it against him.
“I was very foolish,” she said. “You will be very cross with me, my lord. I was looking for Frances, you see. She had gone off with Sir John without a chaperone, and I thought they would soon catch up to Lady Harriet and Theodore. But I found out I was wrong and they were still alone together. I thought I had better go along to find them. Mr. Hubbard was unable to accompany me because his legs would not support him. I fear he is grieving for Mrs. Hubbard again. I passed two gentlemen—except that they were not gentlemen at all—and they teased me and said things that made me blush. I was so embarrassed that I did not know where to look. And Frances and Sir John had gone farther than I thought.”
She drew breath at last and lifted her head away from his chest to look up into his shadowed face. Her own was eager and mobile. “I could see another group of gentlemen approaching,” she said, “and I did not know what to do. I could have died of mortification. I dared not turn back because of those other two, but I could not face having to walk past this new group. So I ducked off the path onto that smaller one, and I went a little way along it so that they would not see me when they passed. That was very foolish, was it not?”
“But understandable,” he said soothingly. “I should never have let you come alone, Arabella.”
“When I stopped to listen to make sure they had passed,” she said, her hands on his neckcloth, playing with its intricate folds, “I thought I heard something in the trees beside me. A crackling. I thought it must be a wild animal or a desperate murderer, though I am sure now that it was nothing at all. I started to hurry away from there, but I kept going farther along the path instead of coming back. It was very dark. I suddenly realized what I was doing and stopped, and then I could not move one way or the other. I have never been so terrified in my life.” She buried her face against his neckcloth. She was still trembling.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice tense. “Did anyone hurt you, Arabella?”
“I finally told myself that I had to go back,” she said. “I told myself that I would be safe once I reached the main path, and that once I was close I could scream if necessary. So I just took a breath and ran. I thought my heart was going to burst with beating so hard. And I wanted you more than anything in the world. And then suddenly there you were. I could scarce believe it. I thought you would turn and it would be some stranger. I am so very thankful it was you.” She looked earnestly up into his face again.
“I am glad too,” he said, his fingers smoothing back the soft curls at either side of her face. “You are safe now, Arabella.” He lowered his head and kissed her gently and lingeringly on the lips.
She looked a little dazed when he lifted his head. “But where is Frances?” she asked. “And what are you doing here?”
“Your sister is quite respectably chaperoned,” he said. “She was walking with a group of six a few minutes ago. They were on their way back to Farraday’s box. I came to see that you were safe, Arabella. For your sake I am sorry I was not much sooner.”
She was looking up at him, her face illuminated by the light from a lantern shining on it from the main path. He watched her expression change from bewilderment to awareness. He relaxed his hold on her as she took a half-step backward. His cloak fell back into place around him. Her eyes slipped to his neckcloth.
“I thank you, my lord,” she said, “for coming to my assistance. I was really being very foolish. There was nothing to be afraid of.”
“You must never walk alone in a public place, Arabella,” he said. “I have told you that before.”
He wished he could recall the words as soon as he had spoken them.
“Then my fear was a just punishment for my disobedience,” she said. “I shall try to remember in future, my lord.”
She was going away from him even though she had not moved. And he was reluctant to let her go. He reached out and laid a hand against her cheek. “I should have been here with you,” he said. “I should not have passed on my responsibility to Farraday. I must look after you more carefully in future. And you were quite right to be concerned about your sister’s reputation, Arabella.”
She held her neck rigid, though she did not draw back from his touch.
“Come,” he said, “I will take you back to the others. You will be ready for your supper. Take my arm, Arabella, and stay close.”
She did as she was bidden, though she walked at his side without speaking or looking up at him. It felt as if she had withdrawn a hundred miles.
She had wanted him more than anything in the world, she had said a few minutes before, when she was still so dazed and frightened that she had forgotten that she had no feeling left for him but contempt. She had clung to him and talked to him as fast as her mouth would form the words. And she had responded to his kiss.
She was cold again now, unyielding and unforgiving. But she was hurt inside. And she needed someone to lean on, someone to look after her. He could not just shrug off his responsibility by telling both himself and her that she must accustom herself to the way he chose to live his life.
Lord Astor had the uncomfortable feeling that his life was going to have to change whether he wished it or not.
Frances smiled when she saw Arabella approach Lord Farraday’s box. “There you are, Bella,” she said unnecessarily. “His lordship found you. You had us all worried. Theodore has been searching all the paths close to here. Wherever did you go?”
