“No need, my dear. Do not trouble yourself any more on our account,” Mrs. Ludlow says. “The vicar has already offered himself.”
“Yes,” Alfred says. “I am happy to provide for our new friend Splotches.”
A gunshot sounds in the woods nearby, and I jump. It is very near.
“Ah, yes,” Mrs. Ludlow says. “A few hunters are out. Jack Liddell and some others.”
I can’t help it—I glance towards Alfred. He takes a step towards me.
I look away.Ridiculous.
Jack Liddell wouldn’t dare. And he doesn’t even know I am here.
Another volley of gunshots sound, louder this time. I grit my teeth.
“Splotches! No!”
A long squeal rents the yard.
I whirl around. The little pig runs under the fence and into the forest.
The sight of its little tail disappearing into the brush fills me with despair.
“Oh, blast,” I say, running to the gate. “I will get it.”
“Miss de Lacey,” Alfred says, his voice iron. “I must insist that you stay here. I will go after the animal.”
“My pig! Splotches!” Victoria cries.
I have already dashed into the woods. I can see where the long grass sways from the piglet’s movement. I lunge?—
“Annabelle!”
Two strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me back.
“Damn you,” I howl. “I almost had it. Quick, it is getting away!”
Alfred still holds me fast.
“Do not take another step into those woods,” he says, his breath hot at my ear. “It’s not safe.”
I try to wrest myself away from him, but it is no use.
“I am not afraid of Jack Liddell. Let me go. Someone will see.”
“No one can see us. And I wouldn’t care if they did. I am not about to have you risk your life.”
“You are not a reasonable man.”
“I fear, Annabelle, that when it comes to you, I am indeed no such thing.”
A shiver of pleasure runs through me at these words. I shake my head. Absurd!
Shouts ring through the woods. Then footfalls, loud and crashing. They are chasing an animal, it seems, and they are coming this way?—
“Down,” Alfred whispers in my ear. Roughly, he pushes me below a bank of ivy on the forest floor. We are between two felled tree trunks, in a narrow space where we cannot be seen by passersby.
I am lying on my side, pushed up against Alfred. My breasts touch his chest and my legs tangle with his. His arms are around me. Excepting our clothes, we are as intimately situated as we were the other night on my bed.
