“To what end?”
“To insure a happy marriage, what else?” He grinned.
Though Harewood continued to stare at him in confusion, he strode toward the door. “Now, if you’d make sure no one is in the corridor between here and the servant stairs, I will be on my way.”
“You’re the one dressed like you’re about to muck out the stalls. I should be givingyouorders. Better lose that attitude, man.” Harewood strode forward and opened the door then looked one way and the other before motioning him forward. “Or I’ll have you fired.”
Bowing his head, he barely kept from grinning. “Yes, sir.” Without lifting his head, he brushed by Harewood and headed for the back stairs. His focus now was on getting out of the house unseen by servants and his hosts alike. At least today, he needn’t worry about Lady Frederica, or rather Garmoyle. The ladies of the house had gone to the village to make final purchases for their costumes.
Making the ground floor without incident, he stepped outside with barely enough time to duck behind a bush as two footmen rounded the corner, heading into the house. His heart pounding with the excitement of his mission, he sprinted from the house to the stables. Getting Leonardo out could be tricky, but luck was on his side. The stablemaster directed the grooms in bringing out the horses for some exercise. Since they were occupied at one end, he saddled Leonardo and threw two horse blankets over the saddle. He waited until the stablemaster went into the harness room before walking Leonardo out into the cold sunshine.
Wrapping the blankets around himself, he mounted Leonardo and trotted him out until he neared the forest not far from the westside of Sunnydale Manor. They slipped in between the trees, walking over the brown leaves that littered the forest floor, the sun shining between the bare branches. Unfortunately, it meant anyone behind at the Enderlys could see him. As soon as he broke through to the other side, he raced across the field down toward the forest that lay on the east side of Thornwood. The slight hill would hide him from anyone riding at Sunnydale.
Entering the woods, he dismounted and tied Leonardo to a tree before throwing one of the blankets over him. Though the sun shone in a sky absent of any clouds, the temperature was far colder than the last time he visited Bedford. As he made his way through the trees to the last major obstacle of his journey, he hoped the chill kept the gardeners inside. He stopped at the edge of the wood and studied the landscape. Not a soul was in sight. Did that mean Lady Amelia wouldn’t be in her Grecian studio either? He scanned the building. With the sun shining, he couldn’t determine if there was any light inside, the windows reflecting the landscape back at him.
He’d come this far, so there was no reason to turn back and every reason to continue. Taking a deep breath, he raced across the open field before reaching the tall shrubs not far from the studio. Scanning the area one more time, he stealthily sidled up to the door and knocked. He waited, his breath causing small puffs in the air as his heart raced. Just as he was about to knock again, the door opened and Lady Amelia stood there in an apron, mouth open in surprise, with a smudge of lavender pastel on her nose.
Jubilation filled him at his success, and he quickly stepped inside and closed the door, barely keeping from reaching for her. “I’m here.” He grinned as he removed the blanket with a flourish and hung it on the hook next to him. When he turned back, he found her mouth closed, her arms crossed, and her brows lowered. “Are you not pleased to see me?”
She turned on her heel. “You were supposed to be here two days ago. To say you are tardy would be an understatement.”
He strode around a table to position himself in front of her. “True, but my delay was not of my doing.” He held out his arms. “If I had my way, I would have been here by dawn the next day and every day between then and now.”
She remained stiff and unyielding. “You obviously think this endeavor is a frivolous whim and seek only to indulge me.” She uncrossed her arms and lifted one palm up toward a half-finished canvas. “It is far from that. If you cannot give this the consideration needed, then how can I be assured you would fulfill your responsibilities as a husband?”
Her accusation found its mark, and he sobered instantly. “Lady Amelia, I admire your talent and do not take my obligation to you lightly, either as your subject d’art or as your betrothed and future husband.”
The challenge in her eyes as she raised her right eyebrow induced him to explain far more than he’d planned. “I could not have come any earlier without causing danger to your reputation. And as you stipulated that we pretend no familiar relationship, I was forced to remain at Sunnydale until it was safe to sneak away.”
“Are you saying that you were unable to simply tell the Enderlys that you wished to go for a ride or into the village or to visit a blacksmith?”
He wanted to smirk at how alike they thought as he had used each one of those excuses to get away as well as two others. “I did indeed attempt each one of those, but with so many people staying at Sunnydale, someone always insisted in accompanying me.”
“Always?” The doubt in her voice was reflected in the tilt of her head.
He would have to tell her. “Yes, always. Unfortunately, the person who has been the hardest to avoid is the one person I had hoped to never meet again.”
She leaned her hip on the stool next to her. “And who might that be?”
“Lady Frederica, I mean Garmoyle.” He ran his hand through his hair as he turned away from her, not wanting to see her reaction until he explained his true feelings about the situation. “Lady Garmoyle, before her marriage and widowhood, once had aimed to marry me by whatever means possible. She maneuvered me into a situation in her family’s garden that would make it impossible for me to avoid it.”
“You are being rather vague.”
At the lack of censure in Amelia’s tone, he finally faced her. Her gaze though steady, only appeared curious. That in itself made the story far easier to tell. “She arranged for us to be alone and attempted to kiss me. I was shocked and stepped back. I admit in my naivete, I did not handle it well. She then accused me of playing with her heart and told me she would tell her father that I had taken liberties with her person.”
“And thereby you would be forced to marry her, her goal from the start.”
“Yes.” He remained silent as she thought over what he said.
“But you are not married to her, so how did you avoid such a miserable existence.” Her lips quirked up as if she tried to hold back a smile.
That alone released the tension in his abdomen. “Harewood.”
Her eyes widened. “Was he spying on you, or did he know something about the lady she’d prefer not be known?”
His relief turned to caution at the devious path her thoughts had taken. “As it happened, Harewood had overheard her telling a friend that she expected a request for her hand from me that very night. Since Harewood was well aware that I had minimal interest in Lady Frederica, he did not trust her motives when she suggested we take a stroll in the gardens.” He grimaced. “Harewood has an uncanny ability to foresee outcomes of circumstances before they happen. He decided to take Lady Frederica’s mother for a stroll and follow us, unbeknownst to us, and they witnessed the entire event. Just as Lady Frederica declared she’d tell her father, Harewood stepped onto the path with the lady’s shocked mother, surprising us both. Her mother declared that she would do no such thing.”
“Oh, I do so wish I could have seen that.” Amelia’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Whatever did she do?”
