Rather . . . it was thewayshe played.
Given her external serenity and fierce intelligence, he would have assumed her to be a measured player. The kind to thoughtfully weigh each move and consider its ramifications.
Instead, Lottie dashed into the game. Recklessly. Fearlessly.
Her pawns stormed and her knights laid siege. Her bishops conspired while her queen slashed and plundered.
Her strategy of play could be summarized asbreathless defiance.
He had vastly underestimated her.
As usual, Lottie’s external harmony led one to assume that her inner life was similarly peaceful.
But like the mole on her cheek, her small outer imperfections were wee emblems of the riot of living inside her head.
And, in the end, wasn’t that the answer to his question—
Whyhad she kissed him?
She had kissed him because Lady Charlotte, despite her demure princess-like appearance, was herself a dragon.
And perhaps in that breathless moment when her lips touched his, she had unleashed the fire to live her life as boldly as she checkmated his king.
15
Alex awoke the next day to sore muscles in his arms and chest from using his crutches. He clearly needed to strengthen his upper body.
Letters arrived. The day and time were now set for Alex to meet with Mr. S. Smith outside Chippenham. As the date was still a week off, Alex was cautiously optimistic that his leg and body would be up to the strain of the coach ride.
In the meantime, being mobile again meant Alex could more actively explore Frome Abbey and its lands. He wasn’t quite up to traveling out to survey the estate himself, but he could at least track Mr. Warden down on his own two legs.
Consequently, the steward continued to be grudgingly helpful. Alex supposed Mr. Warden relayed every one of their interactions back to Lord Frank, not that there was anything untoward about that. Alex couldn’t fault Lord Frank for being watchful.
But Mr. Warden was fiercely loyal to the man who had hired him. This was problematic on multiple levels. The steward wished to show his employer in a positive light; therefore, any of Lord Frank’s bungled errors would be swept under the rug. Moreover, Mr. Warden wanted to appear competent and knowledgeable himself, so any mismanagement on his part would also be well-hidden.
Alex came to the conclusion that he needed to be methodical about his perusal and go through every aspect of the marquisate’s finances and management with a fine-tooth comb.
After all, he had the time.
Consequently, he set aside two hours every morning to review the estate ledgers and make his own tallies of the figures. He also asked for the reports and correspondence sent by other managers and understewards. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was a beginning.
Of course, skimming through page after page of estate reports and figures brought back a host of memories of his youth—his father, Ian, and McPherson Farms.
As was Alex’s wont when such memories assailed him, he busied his hands to still his mind.
Lottie fell intoan easy friendship with Cousin Alex.
The topic of their kiss did not come up again, and for that, she was simultaneously grateful and frustrated.
For his part, Alex quickly became adept at maneuvering with his crutches. He traversed stairs with ease and even began to make brief forays into the gravel-lined paths winding through the abbey’s formal gardens. The wiry physical strength and stamina of his body was truly astonishing.
She learned inadvertently from the butler that Alex spent an hour every morning working through a series of ‘Greek’ exercises with a pair of dumb-bells Dr. Smithson had sent up. Alex said the exercises were intended to maintain strength in the upper body and other limbs while his leg healed.
From the housekeeper, Lottie heard Alex had spent two afternoons seeing to the medical needs of the estate staff, speaking with each one personally in a small room beside the butler’s pantry.
In short—Cousin Alex was a whirling dervish of energy.
Keeping track of him felt a little bit like trying to corral Freddie when he had been a toddler. Her nephew had been prone to disappear the second eyes were not upon him.
