Dearest brother, I implore you this one last time. Please do not consign me to such a despicable fate. It has been months since I last heard from you and the deepest despondency has become rooted in my heart. I am so very alone.
~from the correspondence of Piper Brudenall, January 1893
When Connor returned to the stable yard an hour later, all the grooms, stable hands, and trainers stopped what they were doing to watch him. For the first time, he couldn’t discern an ounce of judgment or suspicion from the lot. Even young Bram, shifting from foot to foot, granted him a respectful salute.
Bloody lot of good their respect did now after Piper might have been hurt.
Dismounting, he found Albert among them—at least it seemed his sweetheart had the sense to return to Meadowcroft with her mistress—and handed him his horse’s reins. “See to him wi’ an extra helping of oats. He didn’t appreciate that villain’s dripping blood on his shanks.”
“Aye, sir.”
“And ye’ll be telling me where the lass lives now.” It was not a question. Connor had about enough of asking those to last the rest of his life. They would stymie his pursuit no longer.
“I can tell you where she is now, sir,” Albert responded, loyal to the end.
“So help me…”
“She’s in the tack room,” the groom rushed to add, pointing to the far end of the stable. “Waiting for you. Apologies. She insisted.”
And God help any of them if they argued with the stubborn lass. Even if it was for her own good.
Running his hands through his hair, he gave it a hard tug to vent his frustration before he laid it out upon her. No doubt she’d had a good scare and would be atremble with persistent fear. She’d be needing comfort, a shoulder to cry on. Connor strode into the stables and down the adjacent aisle toward the tack room at a swift pace. On the other hand, it might be beneficial if she got a modicum of common sense drilled into her.
He threw open the door with a lecture on his lips. “What on earth were ye thinking, going about in town when ye suspect someone is searching for ye?”
A sharppingbounced off the wall next to him and Connor ogled the iron bit rocking at his feet.
“What the hell?”
A dull pain shot through his shoulder. This time he caught a stirrup before it fell. He stared from it to Piper incredulously as she hefted another, ready to hurl it his way.
“How could you leave me there?” she yelled. “Just pass me off as if you don’t have a care?”
“I did what was best in the moment, lass,” he told her. “To ensure yer safety.”
Her jaw clenched and hands shifted as if preparing to launch the stirrup at him. “Despite the measures I’ve taken to ensuremy ownsafety, Mr. MacKintosh, that have rendered me unworthy in your eyes,” she bit out, “I am not a helpless female. I have more courage and…what was it? Pluck, than you give me credit for!”
Through her spit and anger, he could see the tension in her, the tight lines of her mouth and the redness in her eyes. With a temperamental sister such as his, he was well versed in the signs of worry translated to fury.
“Aye, lass,” he agreed, “I ken ye do. That and more. Ye’re as braw a lass as I’ve ever seen.”
Dropping the stirrup, he opened his arms wide and she ran to him. Aye, he knew how to diffuse the anger, too. This time it was different, however. It wasn’t a sister in his arms, it was a woman. A woman who’d already proven her ability to shake him to the core.
As apprehension had not long ago.
“Ye mad, idiotic lass,” he whispered into her tangled hair, this time giving in to the urge to hold her tight. To offer comfort and take succor for himself. Who knew what might have happened if he hadn’t second-guessed his initial inclination to wait to confront her when she reappeared? Blast it, he was the one in need of comfort and confirmation that she was unscathed and secure. “What were ye thinking going into the village like that?”
“It’s never presented a problem before,” she murmured into his neck. “I’ve been to town a dozen times like that and never had reason to fear.”
Och, but she’d have reason to fear if she knew how the soft press of her breasts affected him. As his worries leeched away, Connor became all too aware of her. Long and lean, a perfect fit along the length of him. Arousal stirred despite his efforts to tamp it down.
She tilted her head back to peer at him. Her eyes fell and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth, gnawing on it. “You don’t think that perhaps he was after Jane for some other reason, do you?”
There was a hint of hope in the question that he hated to douse. “I was able to determine his true reason in coming to Aylesbury.”
“Me.”
“Aye.”
