Reid breathed a sigh of relief at having a few days to ensure her well-being, but he knew she would not be content away from home for too long.
“I do still have obligations I need to meet,” she added after a moment. “Every Thursday I go into the village and provide care to anyone who may need it. I’d like to keep that commitment tomorrow. May I please borrow a mount for the day?”
“Of course, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to accompany you.”
“I assure you I’ll be fine, my lord. You don’t need to take care of me,” she said with a hint of annoyance. He knew he needed to back off. She was used to caring for herself and was not overly receptive to his protective instincts.
“I know you can,” Reid said, “but I have people I need to see in town. I’ll simply ride with you and then leave you to your own pursuits.”
“Very well, I’ll see you in the morning.” With that as her final word, Lady Elise stood and made her way towards the door. He was mesmerized watching her walk away, the firelight casting gold and red accents in her long chestnut braid. She paused when she reached the door and looking back, she said, “Thank you for today . . . I wasn’t in a state to handle everything on my own. It means a lot to me that you treated them with such care when I was unable to.” Though she was now mainly in shadow, Reid saw the sheen of tears welling in her eyes as they glinted in the flickers of firelight. Finishing her thanks, she rushed out the door, leaving him with an emptiness in his chest as he was reminded of the tragedy that brought them together.
Reid could not recall the number of young men, many barely older than boys, whom he had seen laying broken and lifeless on the battlefield. He feared he had become numb to such atrocities, but he was reassured by the deep pain he felt thinking about Nora and Jed. They treated him with kindness when he needed it most in his young life. Seeing Lady Elise’s grief made his own more tangible, like something he could hold onto. Feeling things he had not been able to in a long time, a mix of relief and anxiety was the result, and he wasn’t sure what to do about either. He only knew he felt better when she was around, and that was a dangerous thought.
CHAPTER10
Elise met the next morning with a feeling of overwhelming exhaustion. Though she had slept well at first due to the draining emotions of the day, since waking in the middle of the night she had slept only fitfully. Encountering Weston in the library during the small hours of the morning had not aided in her quest to settle her mind, and she had just been drifting off again as the sun began to rise.
Still not quite sure why she had agreed with Weston’s insistence to stay at Cliff House for the time being, Elise rationalized she was simply too weary to think about trying to take care of things on her own at the dower house. A larger part may also have been the need to not feel so alone. And while she did not wish to be around the guests who were expected, Elise found a comfort in being near Lord Weston that was best to not examine. Thankfully she had today’s village clinic to distract her from the gloom hanging over the estate. Rising, she noticed a breakfast tray had been left on the table across the room along with some of her belongings from the dower house. Quickly eating what she could manage to choke down and gratefully drinking the tea, she turned her attention to dressing for the day. Once ready, she made her way into the large house to find Lord Weston.
Descending the main stairs, Elise noticed Weston and an older woman exiting the breakfast parlor. Seeing her, Weston gave a warm and genuine smile, while his mother gave a small, forced one.
“Lady Elise,” Weston said in greeting. “May I introduce you to my mother, Lady Catherine, the Countess of Weston.”
She gave a small bow and looking back up, she could see the countess assessing her. Elise looked her over in turn, curious about her neighbor of three years whom she had never formally met, and knew only in passing from living on the estate. The countess was an elegant woman whose beauty had not faded with the years. Dressed impeccably in an ornate mourning gown, she seemed almost regal. Fitting, as she was clearly the empress of her own domain within Cliff House.
“I am sorry for your loss, Lady Elise,” the countess said. “They were a lovely couple who worked for us for many years.” She paused, glowering at Elise. “We were sad to lose such dedicated staff members.” Incensed that the woman would bring up something that seemed so petty in light of their loss, Elise chose to take the higher ground and show the woman she could not affect her.
“Thank you, my lady,” she replied after taking a deep breath to even out her temper. “I feel their loss greatly, they had become like surrogate parents to me.” Feeling tears welling up once again, Elise fought them off, unwilling to show weakness. Looking toward Weston, she inquired, “Will you be ready to set out soon, my lord?”
“Where are you going?” the countess asked, looking at her son. “We need to prepare for our guests, they will be arriving in only a few days’ time.”
“You are perfectly capable of handling everything around the house, mother,” Weston assured her. “You don’t need my input. Besides, Heather will be arriving today and will be a much better sounding board for you.”
“Yes, your sister will be a blessing, but where are you off to with her?” The woman obviously did not want him in Elise’s company and was stubbornly trying to hold her son’s attention.
“I am accompanying Lady Elise into the village. She has work to do there, and I need to meet with some of the shopkeepers to assess local needs.” He had much more patience in dealing with his mother than Elise would have, but she could hear a tinge of frustration in his tone at being questioned on his whereabouts like he was still a young boy rather than lord of the manor. The countess pursed her lips but said nothing more.
“It was lovely to meet you, my lady. If you will excuse me, I’ll meet you in the stables, my lord.” With a curtsy, Elise turned and made her way to find the horses, with whom she would feel much more comfortable.
Twenty minutes later found Elise and Weston riding towards the dower house to gather up the items she would need for her clinic in the village. Arriving at the dower house, they were confronted with the overwhelming silence of an empty home. There was no Jed out in the garden tending the plants and no lovely smells wafting from Nora’s kitchen. Sliding off her horse, Elise tried to hide her reaction from the earl, feeling vulnerable and not wishing to be observed in her grief once again. Dashing the tears before they had a chance to flow down her cheeks, she made her way into the house.
“What do you need to take with you, and how can I help?” Weston asked.
“I’ll pull the medical things I need, but would you please gather the produce around the kitchen? We grow much more than the three of us—” she stopped abruptly, choking off more tears as she realized there was no more ‘three of them’. Weston must have sensed her embarrassment because he picked up a box and began packing up the produce that had been harvested that week. She was grateful he was giving her the space she needed to keep herself together. Being back in the house, it felt like she was holding onto her composure by a thread. If he had been overly sympathetic to her, she would have broken down all over again.
Elise busied herself gathering the herbal medicines she and Nora had created, along with basic supplies. Spotting the bandages, she remembered she needed to remove the stitches in Weston’s arm as it had been about ten days since his tumble. “My lord, why don’t you sit and I can remove your stitches before we go?” she called over to him.
He placed the boxes of food by the door and removed his jacket before sitting down at the table. Elise watched as he rolled up his sleeve, allowing her access to the stitches. The sight of his exposed forearm caused her to swallow involuntarily, and she couldn’t comprehend what it was that made a forearm so appealing. She had seen the very same arm more than once over the last ten days while treating it, but it still made her pulse race every time she observed the muscles dancing under his skin. The dark hair scattered across his skin served as a reminder of Weston’s masculinity, and the stark white shirt linen contrasted against the tone of his skin in an appealing way.
Pulling her eyes away from the sight, Elise sat down next to him and picked up the object of her fascination. His arm was warm to her touch, and she felt a shock of energy course through her at the skin-to-skin contact. She didn’t like how unsettled she seemed to feel around the man. It wasn’t an unpleasant or painful sensation, just foreign, and she wasn’t sure she enjoyed the fluttery feeling it produced in her stomach. Forcing herself to focus on the cut, she was pleased to see it had healed nicely. She removed the stiches and washed the area before applying a cream to the angry red line that still ran down the tender skin on the inside of his arm.
“It looks well healed,” Elise assured him. “I’ll give you some of this cream to apply to the scar, and the redness will fade over time.”
“It’s hardly my first scar and likely not the last.” This was said quietly, but Elise heard it with perfect clarity, as his voice came from close to her ear. She sat up quickly as he spoke, startled by his proximity. While she worked, her head had been bent over his arm. Raising it now, she saw he had also bent over in order to see what she was doing, leaving his head mere inches from her own. Now eye to eye, he said, “I’m not concerned with how it will look, so you can save your creams for another. However,” he added with a smirk, “I am rather enjoying the sensation of you applying it, so I will indulge your pampering for as long as you’d like in this moment.”
Mesmerized by his deep brown eyes, Elise held his gaze as she continued to gently massage the cream into the skin, working the tension out of his muscles. Her breath quickened the longer she looked at him, and she found herself thinking how easy it would be to close the brief distance between them. She noticed him look down at her lips and wondered if he was thinking the same thing, but the break in the eye contact shook her from the moment, and she pulled back before completely forgetting herself.
“We should go,” Elise said briskly, standing up and gathering the materials. Weston nodded, righting his appearance before loading the horses with the supplies they would bring into town.
