“What then?” He lifted a brow. “Are you worried about your horses?”
She blinked. “You know of them?”
“All London speaks of them.” He looked at her as calmly as if her precious charges weren’t threatened at all, but simply grazing in a rich and peaceful pasture. “They, too, now stand in my care.”
Melissa swallowed, her heart rising to thicken her throat. Worse, her eyes began to sting. She blinked, but it was too late. His handsome face and the trees behind him went blurry.
Oh, no!
She did not cry.
Well, except for animals.
“Oh, dear…” She dashed at her cheek, embarrassed when she couldn’t stop the tears that leaked from her eyes. “I didn’t think… didn’t expect you to-”
“You thought I’d toss you over my shoulder and run away to Scotland with you and leave your horses behind?”
She swiped again at her cheek. “I don’t know what I thought, but-”
“You needn’t think at all, lass.” He leaned in and ran his thumb beneath first one of her eyes and then the other. “I will arrange for the horses to be shipped to Scotland. There is land aplenty for them at Lyongate.”
“My stepmother threatened to send them to Germany.” She shivered, the notion still terrifying her. “She said they’d be sold at a market there, that the Germans eat horsemeat.”
“They do, but they will not dine on yours.” He brushed back her hair, his words and his touch soothing her. “That, I promise you. They will be safe in Scotland, likely more content than ever before. I’ll have them gone from Cranleigh Manor as soon as possible.”
“They aren’t all there. I’ve already been trying to get them away. Five are at a safe place in Kent, Crickhollow Farm.”
“Then we shall have those five collected from there.” He made it sound so easy. “I will send a man to the farm, or visit the owner myself.”
“I meant to speak with him here.” She sat up straighter, hope filling her for the first time in ages. “He is Mr. Alan Steckles and his home is out on Hampstead Heath. I’d planned to tell Lady Clarice I wished to visit a certain perfumery. It is my favorite and she will think I wished to go there as I often do when we are in London.”
He gave her a slow smile. “So you are fond of perfume as well as aged horses?”
“The shop carries a special scent called Highland Mist that I quite love.” She wasn’t surprised when his smile broadened. “The coachman would not have betrayed me.”
“You trust Farmer Steckles?”
“I do. He has been helping me,” she explained. “He had someone remove the first five horses to Crickhollow. My plan for this trip was to offer him additional money if he’d act faster. I need the others rescued before my stepmother has them taken away.”
“You’ve paid him to keep the horses at his Kent farm?”
She nodded. “It seemed safer than having them at Cranleigh. He agreed. He is a great animal lover.”
“Then he will surely help you without further coin.”
“I did not ask him to gather them all at once.” She worried. “That will take extra men and a deal more trouble. He is a small landowner, not a wealthy man.”
“Where is he then?” He glanced at her. “I shall pay him a call this afternoon.”
Melissa blinked. Amazing how quickly he’d gone from simply dashing to someone willing to step in and help with problems that didn’t at all concern him.
“I am serious, sweet. Where can I find him?”
“His home is Frogbottom Cottage and is-”
“Frogbottom?”
“I told you he loves animals, and all of them.” Melissa smiled, drew her cloak tighter against the freshening wind. “His home is near one of the larger ponds not too far from the Spaniards Inn. I believe the pond was once a sand pit. There are many on the heath. The pond is a haven for frogs.”
