The chill of dread that gripped the nape of her neck shocked her.A proposal was the prize she’d been working toward!It was her family’s way back to London society and a bright new future!She was supposed to want nothing more than to hear those four little words: “Will you marry me?”
Instead, the moment broke when Lord Stonehaven bent his head and busied himself with her footwear.Gemma took the opportunity to catch her breath.She meant also to give herself a stern talking to, but when her eyes instinctively lifted, looking for Hal’s smirking countenance, she faltered.
He was gone, disappeared into the crowd.She searched for him in vain, almost against her will—but he had vanished as though he’d never been there.
And the disappointment Gemma felt, the crushing weight of sorrow and regret and dashed hopes, the way she missed his presence like a part of herself had been cut off and spirited away…all of that forced her to admit the truth, if only to herself.
She wanted to hear those four little words…but not from Lord Stonehaven.
* * *
Hal faded more deeply into the shadows of the horse’s stall, his hands slowing in their grooming and smoothing over Beeswax’s chestnut hide.
Someone was coming.
Beeswax heard the footsteps as well and shuffled to put her head over the half-door of her stall to see if whoever it was had brought her any treats.
Hal tossed aside the curry comb he’d been using.She didn’t need it anyway, she was plenty clean enough for hauling logs tomorrow to build up the fence that penned in Mr.Alton’s sheep.Hal was in here, grooming this draft horse, because he couldn’t bear to be in there, watching Gemma smile at another man.
And he hadn’t gone home because…Hal cursed softly and hung his head.He was a right mess if he couldn’t force himself to head home without one last glimpse of Gemma.
Maybe that’s who was coming, he suddenly thought, a bolt of desire shooting through him.Anticipation of seeing Gemma’s lovely face brought him to attention, like a hunting dog poised to course.
So it was something of an embarrassing disappointment when the figure the entered the barn holding a lit candle was not Gemma—but instead, her newest suitor.
William Brighton, Earl of Stonehaven.
Whom no one in their right mind could consider unsuitable.
The thought formed as a snarl in the deep part of Hal’s chest, a rumbling sound that surprised him as much as it apparently did the earl.Who jumped about a foot in the air and swung round swiftly enough to make his candle sputter.
“Who—who’s there?”
Caught on the prongs of a dilemma, Hal hesitated only a moment before pushing past Beeswax to let himself out of her stall and confront the earl.“What are you doing out here?”
The belligerence of his tone was not exactly in keeping with the moment, but Hal couldn’t help it.Indeed, some part of him hoped that Lord Stonehaven would take immediate offense and throw the first punch, because that would give Hal the excuse he needed to let out all the ugly welter of jealousy and hurt currently coiling his muscles into knots.
You can’t hit this one, he remembered as some vestige of rational thought reasserted itself.If you drive off this earl, she really might never forgive you.
In any case, Lord Perfect was too perfectly reasonable and genteel to stoop to Hal’s level of caveman aggression.
With a cautious smile, the earl said, “Oh, I’m only here to check that my horses are well and that my coachman and footmen have good places to sleep.”
Fighting the urge to respect the earl’s care, Hal scowled.“What did you think, we’d bed them down with the hogs?Turn the horses out to pasture with no feed?”
“Not at all,” Lord Perfect hastened to assure him, his kind features tightening with distress that he had given such offense.“I’m certain this is a top-tier establishment in every possible respect.It is only my own silly custom, to see to my people and be assured of their well-being.”
Damn it to hell, Hal though savagely.He actuallyisperfect.
There was a taste like cold iron at the back of Hal’s throat.For the first time since he’d embarked on his campaign of obstruction, he was forced to stop and consider what would happen if Gemma and her scheming managed to attract a man who was actually worthy of her.
The frustrated savage part of Hal’s psyche still growled out a constant subvocalMINE, but on a higher, more rational level, Hal had to admit that Lord Perfect—Lord Stonehaven, rather, was exactly what Gemma needed.
If Hal was any sort of gentleman, he would step aside gracefully and let the better man win.
Thoughts a chaotic jumble, Hal muttered something like “Goodnight, then,” and grabbed his shabby, patched jacked from the hook beside Beeswax’s stall.But before he could leave, the earl’s quiet voice split the silence.
“I say, while I have a moment alone with you…would you care to explain why a duke is passing himself off as a barman in a local coaching inn?”
