This was a test he did not dare fail. The prize was too great.
“Brydie tells me you wish to court Kate.” Damien didn’t waste time in small talk as they passed the dismantled clock to traverse the marble stairs to the next floor. “Kate’s like a sister to me. She’s only been a widow for a year.”
“And she might have better prospects,” Fletch finished for him. He acknowledged his limitations. Instinct and lust might be the same, for all he knew, but he was willing to take his chances. He might as well make his claim first. “I think Kate is more than smart enough to judge for herself.”
“Good answer. But that farm is Arthur’s inheritance. You’re not a farmer. I hate seeing it go to waste.” In the upper corridor, Damien led the way past empty guest rooms to the attic stairs.
“Again, that’s up to Arthur and Kate. But if they want it farmed, I can manage tenants. I was a major,” Fletch added dryly. “I own half the inn and hope to return to clock repair, although I understand staying here limits my income.”
Taking the narrow stairs first, Damien shrugged. “It’s not as if clients are lined up outside my door. We’re gambling with our futures. But children are enough to drive any man to drink. You need to take time to learn your limits.”
Fletch winced at the point scored. “If I let a room at the farm. I’ll learn my limits.” He hoped. So far, Kate’s household had calmed his need for drink.
They arrived at the schoolroom door, where Rob had heard their approach and greeted them with a worried expression.
“Arthur’s downstairs,” Fletch told him. “Fetch your sister. We’ll make Rafe feed us at the pub to celebrate.”
As the children delightedly raced downstairs, Fletch shoved his good hand into his pocket and followed at a more sedate pace. “Kate plans to celebrate both their birthdays tomorrow, so she need only bake a single cake. She’s sewed new clothes as gifts. But today is Rob’s special day. Would you and Brydie join us at the pub in celebrating that, as well as Arthur’s return?”
Damien slapped him on the back again. “Excellent idea. Does Rafe expect us?”
“We had a word or two earlier. Soldiers learn to strategize.” Taking that as approval, Fletch took the stairs down two at a time.
He hadn’t planned on kidnappings and killers and courtrooms, but children needed attention. He might add toymaking to his list of future tasks.
Forty-four
Kate
Thrilled at Arthur’s unexpected visit, delighted by Fletch’s impromptu party, Kate forgot these past days of terror in the joy of the present. If this past week had taught her anything, it was to appreciate special moments when they happened. She could return to fretting tomorrow.
Arthur was beyond pleased when Damien and Fletch treated him like a man and bought him a half pint to go with one of Rafe’s famed steak-and-kidney pies. He dug in as if he’d been half starved at school, but swigged the dark ale as if he’d been brought up to it instead of watered cider. He was growing beyond her limitations.
Happy to have her brother home and delighted with any excuse not to do homework, Lynly played with the inn’s cat and wolfhound, adorning them with ribbons from Kate’s sewing basket.
Rob seemed satisfied to be with the men and food, but this was his thirteenth birthday. This moment needed to be about him. Kate wished she had more to offer.
When Fletch disappeared, she tried not to fret. He knew she’d left Rob’s birthday gift at home, not having expected this party. Surely, he wouldn’t take the trouble to ride. . .
He returned before she could finish that thought, carrying his soldier automaton.
Kate thought Rob might expire with rapture when Fletch set the rare toy in front of him.
“Did you ask him to do that?” Brydie asked in a tone of hushed awe, watching the gentlemen, as well as the children, rushing to examine the mechanical drummer.
Kate shook her head. “I’d meant to, but I couldn’t pay him, and I didn’t want him to feel obligated. I fear those figurines mean a lot to him.”
As the party exclaimed excitedly over the exotic mechanism, Kate experienced a wave of love and happiness she’d probably not known since she’d held her babes in her arms for the first time. Fletch had planned this, just to make Rob happy. And maybe to please her, just a little.
Fletch glanced up at her then. The joy she found in his dark eyes nearly made her giddy. If she were to steer her own future, she needed to start here, with that no-longer-wounded look.
While the others played with the marching, drumming toy soldier, she caught Fletch’s good arm, and led him into the empty lobby. “Thank you,” she whispered, before standing on her toes and pressing a kiss to his bristly cheek. He smelled slightly of the bay soap she’d left by his washbasin, but his underlying scent was all masculine.
As she’d hoped and feared, he caught her waist with his unbandaged right arm and bent to kiss her far more thoroughly than she’d ever been kissed. She had thought she’d be afraid when his masculine size and strength pressed her close, but this was Fletch. He’d never made her feel less than safe. And this loving embrace—she lacked words. Was this how Fletch felt when he couldn’t speak? Overwhelmed?
“I want more than gratitude,” he warned, when he reluctantly set her back.
“So do I,” she admitted. “But I lack the experience you expect.”
