In the end he didn’t have to go far. He saw her slim figure walking down the road, and they met before he even reached the curve.
“Miss Weston!” Dash it, he didn’t have any business feeling so relieved at seeing her.
“Mr Merivale.” Did he imagine it, or did an odd look cross her face when she saw him? “I just walked a bit over there —” She made a vague motion with her hand. “It is so pretty there, over the meadow, and I lost all track of time. Is anything amiss?”
“Yes. No. Everything is fine. I was just thinking, a thunderstorm. You know.”
Her eyes went to the blue sky. “It doesn’t look like it will storm any time soon.”
“Not now, but there is a cloud forming over there.” He pointed to the tiny cloud above. “Wouldn’t want you caught in a storm again.” He cleared his throat. “All that thunder.”
“But that looks harmless.”
“Deceptive, Miss Weston. Deceptive. The tiny harmless thing could develop into a thunderstorm of tremendous proportion within minutes.” He was garbling nonsense.Pull yourself together, Philip.
“Ah. If you say so.” She pulled off her straw bonnet and fanned herself. His heart started to hammer in a way it shouldn’t. Dash it if he didn’t stare at her, smitten — like a lovelorn schoolboy.
“Confound it.” He had no business thinking thoughts like this!
Startled, she drew away. “Excuse me?”
“I beg your pardon. Zounds. I have maggots in my brain.” He shook his head as if that would help clear him of those unsettling thoughts. “I haven’t been able to concentrate all day. It’s one of those days.”
“What are you working on?” She seemed genuinely interested.
His spirits lifted. “It’s an invention of a kind that will certainly revolutionise the world, Miss Weston. Come, I will show you the prototype.”
Philip led her to the shed and pulled a cloth off a big, bulky device. “What do you think it is?”
She tilted her head sideways and frowned. “It has two wheels so it must be a vehicle. They are held together by this wooden lattice, and it has something that looks like a seat. And this handlebar is where you put your hands? Is someone meant to sit on it and steer it?”
“You are brilliant, Miss Weston. Watch.” He pulled the vehicle between his legs, held the handles and pushed it along the ground with his feet. “It would be even better if it could have a mechanical means of propelling itself forward — I am working on that — but as a start, this is quite something, wouldn’t you say?”
“It’s amazing.” Miss Weston gaped at him. “I have never seen anything like it! It will make horses superfluous one day.”
“You understand the gist of it! As a means of transportation without horsepower, yes. Do you want to try it?”
She looked like she very much wanted to, but then pointed to her skirts. “If you could devise one that women can use? The skirts will be in the way and entangle themselves with the wheels.”
He scratched his head. “Fair point. It ought to be possible to design something with a lower bar … but then the axis …”
Again, there was this odd look on her face. “Mr Merivale?”
“Hmm?”
“Can I ask you something?”
Philip beamed at her. “Anything, my dear. Anything.” As far as he was concerned, she could ask the sun of him and he’d get it down for her. After he’d invented a device to get it down.
She took a deep breath. “Why didn’t you tell me that you are the Earl of Threthewick?”
He felt like she’d thrown a bucket with ice water over him. “What?”
She pressed a hand to her throat. “You are the Earl of Threthewick.”
“How do you know that?”
She evaded his eyes. “The other day someone delivered a missive for the Earl of Threthewick. I assumed it had been sent to the wrong address. I set the letter aside. Then I saw you read it.”
