He stared down at her hand on his arm, as if memorizing the feel of it. “I have nothing of theirs with me,” he said quietly. “Should we ride to the lodge and fetch something?”
“No. Not yet.” Grace whistled for the dogs, waved them in the direction she wished them to go, then gave Pegasus his head. They barreled across the meadow to the ravine. As a child, whenever she ran away to get Chance and Serendipity in trouble forlosingher, she had always gone there. It was the perfect place for a child to hide, what with the overgrown gullies and washed-out holes in the embankments that the wayward stream carved into the land. She prayed the children had merely run off and were safe. If they had, when she found them, she would give them a stern tongue lashing, but only after she had hugged them so tightly it made them squeak. They simply had to be safe. She couldn’t bear it if they weren’t.
As they neared the overgrown patch of land, her worry for Connor and Sissy increased. The dogs had yet to signal the scent of anything out of the ordinary. Heads down and tails in the air, they trotted along, giving no excited barks or yips to tell her they had found something they wanted her to see.
“I am going down there.” She swung down from the saddle and reached up for Gastric.
“Let me help with him,” Wolfebourne said. “It is the least I can do.” He unbuckled the straps that kept the dog from leaping out and harming himself during a ride. “Come along, old man. I need your help more than you can imagine.”
Gastric wiggled with excitement, his entire back end wagging along with his tail.
“I shall ride alongside the ravine, then take to higher ground and study the area from there,” Serendipity told them, before giving Grace a sad smile. “That was how we always found you. Whistle sharply if you find them. I shall do the same.” Then she turned her horse and ambled away, her focus locked on thetangle of overgrowth walling off the jagged tunnel the stream had cut through the land.
“I thought she came along to protect your reputation?” Wolfebourne asked, watching her ride away.
“Seri knows our focus is the children.” Grace crouched and went nose to nose with Gastric. “Remember our friends from the other day, sweet boy? Not the cat or the dog but the boy and the girl? Find them, my precious. I know you can do it.”
Gastric emitted a soft woof, licked the end of her nose, then disappeared into the tall grasses.
“You truly believe he understood you?”
“Animals understand far more than you realize.” She wouldn’t add that she understood them much better than she understood people. “How long have your brother and sister been gone? When was the last time you saw them?”
“At breakfast.” He plodded along beside her, ripping aside vines so the rough land wouldn’t grab hold of their feet and twist their ankles. He halted and stared downward, seeming trapped in his own personal hell.
She gently touched his arm, wishing she could promise him everything would be all right. “Your Grace?”
He jerked as if he had forgotten she was there. “Wolfe. Please call me Wolfe.”
His dark eyes reminded her of polished onyx or the blackest jet beads. But it wasn’t their shade that made her catch her breath—it was the loneliness and pleading for help and understanding that deepened their richness.
She swallowed hard and tried to manage a reassuring smile. “Wolfe”—she loved the way his namefeltwhen she said it—“what happened at breakfast? It seemed like you remembered something there for a moment.”
“Lady Margaret and her motherstronglyimplied that a summer wedding would be just the thing.” He scowled at theembankment as they slowly made their way deeper into the gully. “They even mentioned stopping by to see the vicar so the banns could be started as early as this Sunday.” He yanked at a tangle of woodbine and ripped them out of the way. “Then Lady Longmorten suggested a special license to avoid having to wait any longer—and when she said it, she smiled directly at the twins, daring them to challenge her.”
Grace couldn’t imagine Connor or Sissy taking that well or failing to share their objections about the marriage. “Was there a terrible row, or did they simply run away and leave the room?”
Wolfe snorted a bitter laugh. “Connor informed me of his deep disappointment in me if I went ahead with the marriage to Lady Margaret, and that it would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the only intelligent son our father had sired. Sissy agreed with him, and also warned I would not only be miserable but that marrying Lady Margaret would make me die sooner rather than later because unhappy people do not live as long as those who are satisfied and joyful.”
“My goodness.” Grace bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. “Such wisdom for ones so young—and how did your fiancée and future mother-in-law react?”
“Lady Margaret called them wicked little beasts, and Lady Longmorten informed me I had not only failed to discipline them properly but should have stripped them of any familial connections and named them the insolent little bastards they truly were long ago.”
Rage swept through Grace, making her turn from a crack in the embankment that was large enough to hide a child. “Tell me you threw them out and told that vile pair never to return.”
“They and their things are headed for the Binnocksbourne Inn as we speak. Unfortunately, during my robust conversation with the ladies, Connor and Sissy slipped away.”
“How much of yourrobustconversation did they overhear?” Grace couldn’t imagine the twins running away if they knew their brother had disinvited the houseguests and ordered them to move to the inn. “They were aware you sided with them. Yes?”
His shoulders slumped. “I fear they may have left while I foolishly attempted to be polite and logical with my guests.” He slowly lifted his gaze. “What if they believe I did notchoosethem? If anything happens—”
“Stop this instant. You must not talk like that.” Grace maneuvered back from a deep, washed-out fissure, caught her toe in the vines, and stumbled into his arms.
He held her there, willingly trapped by his embrace and desperation. “They are all I have, Grace…if I may call you Grace.”
“Yes…of course. And they are not all you have. You have my…friendship.” She allowed herself the momentary thrill of resting her hands on his hard, muscular chest, then inwardly shook herself and reluctantly stepped back. The urgency to find the children pressed her to put distance between them, even though her selfish wish was to remain in his arms. “Come. We have Connor and Sissy to find.”
A deep, loud, mournful baying farther down the stream echoed back to them. It was joined by a series of excited yips and barks that vibrated through the meadow.
