***
Jem woke with a start. The house had been completely silent. He listened again, wondering what might have woken him. The valet slept in a small room adjoining Jem’s, but the only sound was the man’s slow breathing.
Then a creak sounded in the hallway outside his door, followed by light footsteps. Jem sat upright in the bed. It was early morning, even for the servants, and who among them would be sneaking around?
Curious, Jem quickly dressed and pulled on his boots. He tiptoed to the door and eased it open, listening. It sounded like the footsteps were on the stairs, going slowly in the dark, so he went that way too.
When he reached the top of the landing, he saw the front door open and a dark figure slip out. Who was sneaking out at this hour of the morning? The shadow closed the door, and Jem hurried down the stairs as quietly as he could. He paused at the entrance and pulled back a little curtain from the window by the door.
The full moon gave a feminine shape to the shadow, so she must be wearing some kind of formfitting clothing. He hurried over to the door and gently turned the knob. It had been a long time since he’d had to sneak out of a house.
By the time he’d made his clandestine escape, he was afraid he had missed her. Then a shadow moved near an archway that led into the garden.Gotcha.
Jem jogged lightly, grateful that his shoes were quiet on the soft grass. The figure ahead no longer seemed concerned about discovery because she opened the shutters of a lantern to light her way and strode toward a large flat expanse of lawn where Nellie would hold her picnic on Saturday.
He knew that stride. Reese had been complaining when they rode that morning that she needed more exercise than she was getting on a horse. It was no surprise that she would head for an open place, probably to do some of her martial arts and kickboxing.
Kaitlyn had once talked him into trying out a kickboxing class together, and he had been impressed with the intensity of the ladies in it. It’d been too much for his sister. She had said she would rather do something less physically demanding for her exercise.
When Reese began stretching, he debated leaving, but he didn’t want to. If he stayed, he’d need to announce himself, or she’d be angry that he’d watched her without her knowing about it.
Jem coughed, and she whirled around to face him, taking on a martial arts defensive stance.
“Sorry.” He held up his hands. “It’s just me. Jem. I didn’t mean to startle you, but I wanted to let you know I was here.”
“What are you doing out here?” She straightened. “Spying on me?”
“No, I’m not spying on you.” He put his hands in his pockets and strolled toward her. “I heard somebody sneaking out of the house and decided to find out who it was.”
“Well?” She crossed her arms.
“Well, what?” Jem stopped, waiting for her answer. He really hoped she wouldn’t send him away.
“I don’t like an audience, so if you’re going to stay, you’ll have to work out too.”
“Okay.” Any reason to spend more time with her.
Reese pointed to his boots. “You better take those off, or you might trip.”
Jem did as she instructed and went to work on removing his boots. He hadn’t had to take them off by himself before, and the excellent fit made it hard.
“You need some help there?” she finally asked, a touch of humor in her voice.
“I guess I should have brought my valet.”
Reese burst out laughing. “Oh, Jem. They’re turning you into one of those helpless, spoiled rich guys.” She signaled for him to lift his leg. He took a couple of steps back so he could lean against a tree and lifted a leg. With some effort from both of them, she got it off. They repeated the process with the other boot.
The ground was damp, but it wasn’t too bad.
“Let’s do this then.” She went into what he guessed were her kickboxing moves. First, she did some punches to the sides, then she shifted to a squat-like movement that resembled a deep curtsy. No wonder she did them so well.
He stared, his mouth open, as she brought her knees up to her chest in a circular motion several times before dropping to her hands and walking them until she was in position to do a full pushup. She did a few of those and then jumped to her feet again, moving into power lunges.
Reese jumped to her feet, her breathing heavy. “I’m guessing you’ve never done kickboxing.”
“Just once.”
“I’ll show you. Face me. You’ll do the mirror image of my moves. I’ll try to explain as I go along.”
