"Ya ready guv'ner?" the driver he'd hired to bring him from London broke into his thoughts.
"Aye, I'm ready." Taking hold of the center post, Zach swung back up into the coach. Earlier feelings of uneasiness about this trip came back to him as he closed the door and the coach lurched down the road.
Tobias had warned him against coming here. "Finish the business with Barrington when he returns," he'd argued. "Don't go!"
It was almost if his old friend feared his going to the Barrington estate. And perhaps Tobias was right. After all, it wasn't necessary to meet Barrington at Fair View to conclude their business. That could be handled when he returned to London. But like the intangible feeling that had stolen over him at the top of the hill, something lured him there. And, if he were truly honest with himself, he knew it was more than that. It was Elyse Winslow.
Two nights ago, when he'd taken her back to Lord Vale's London residence, something had happened between them. He could no more explain it than he could explain the events that had destroyed his father's life in England, or Nicholas Tennant's connection to Lady Felicia Barrington.
Of all the women he'd known, Elyse was the one he could never, would never, have. And yet, in spite of the fact that she was forbidden to him, or maybe because of it, he'd gone to her that night.
If he believed in the possibility of a man being possessed by the devil, he would have believed she'd taken hold of his soul.
It was almost the same with his need to come to Fair View. Not waiting for the driver as the coach rolled to a stop, Zach thrust the door open with sudden impatience to see it.
His gaze wandered across the imposing Tudor facade of stone and wood. Late morning sunlight shimmered off the gleaming span of windows. He stood motionless for the longest time, just staring, the muscles across his chest tight and painful.
"Are you all right, sir?" the driver asked as he stepped down from atop the coach.
Zach forced himself to draw a deep breath. His smile was brief.
"Yes, of course. See to the horses and find a place for yourself with the other groomsmen. I'll be returning to London day after tomorrow," he instructed the man.
The driver nodded and pulled his bags from the boot of the coach as a servant came down the front steps of the manor. Carrying Zach's two cases, Barrington's man led the way to the front entrance. It was then that he saw her.
She was walking quickly across the sloping greensward from the stables. He knew her even though her head was down and she was dressed in a man's riding costume. The sun just caught the gleam of sable hair she'd pulled back.
Perhaps he had come here to prove something, to prove that after the night they'd shared she meant nothing to him. But as he watched her, he felt the familiar tightening of desire, and longing, and knew the only person he was fooling was himself.
"Sir?" The reminder came from the servant who carried his bags.
"Yes, of course," Zach responded vaguely, unable to shake off the feeling that he knew this house.
He was shown to his room and informed that the other guests, and Lord Barrington, would be returning later from the morning ride. He smiled faintly at that. So, it seemed that Elyse had chosen not to ride with the others.
He wanted to see more of the house. Pausing at the top landing, he watched Elyse as she crossed the main entry hall.
She hesitated momentarily and then turned toward the large floor-to-ceiling double doors that opened onto what appeared to be the great hall.
Zach knew many of these old country manors dated back several hundred years. Fair View was no exception. He was silently impressed by the interior as he followed Elyse.
The manor house was large and sprawling. Several times, Elyse had lost her way and had doubled back trying to find the staircase to the second-floor rooms.
Instead of a formal parlor, Fair View had a great room that had once served as the main hall, formal dining room, and receiving room.
According to what her grandmother had told her, over the years the rooms had taken on the functions of formal dining room and reception hall. But the great hall, as it was still called, still served many purposes, including holidays and special celebrations.
It was filled with overstuffed furnishings: chairs, and settees, and elaborately woven tapestries, with a massive chandelier in which countless tiny candles were mounted. A portrait of a Barrington ancestor in a hunting scene from another era covered an adjacent wall. But by far the most imposing sight was the one that seemed to draw her.
Zach watched as she went to the wall of glass and stood before the massive stained-glass panels and stared at the images there—two roses, one red, one white entwined. He watched as she reached out and traced the images.
'The red rose is for passion. The white rose is for my promise that I will love you forever.'
Elyse suddenly stopped, then turned.
"You," she whispered. Somehow, she knew that he would be there, in spite of that message from London.
"Do you make it a habit to go around sneaking up on people?" She bit the words off sharply, trying to bring her emotions under control at suddenly finding him there, especially after... she pushed the thought back.
