“No.”She hesitated.How on earth was she to get the food up to Jonathan?What’s more, how was he to come down the ladder in broad daylight and fetch his horses?Then she had an idea.
“My father wants you to take his horse to the village farrier.He said he was limping slightly on the way back from Eutin.”
“I didn’t notice any limp, Fräulein.”
She used her most withering stare upon the lad.Surprisingly, it worked.
“Yes, Fräulein,” he said meekly.“I’ll take him there directly.”
Within minutes, the young man had vacated the stable with her father’s best steed.And she scampered up the ladder with the pail dangling from her elbow.
Jonathan was sitting up.He’d made an attempt to smooth his hair, perhaps with his fingers, although straw still clung to it.
“I’ve brought you food,” she said, setting the pail in front of him.“There’s a bottle of small beer there, too, to quench your thirst.I’m sorry I could not bring you a cup of coffee.”
That made him grin, the sight of which stole her breath.“I am beyond grateful.”
“You’re welcome to it.Eat quickly for we ought to fetch your horses without delay.I’ll meet you outside the front gate.I sent Jacob away on an errand.We must try to return before he does, so he doesn’t see who brings in the horses.”
Jonathan, already lifting the cloth to uncover the contents of the pail, froze.“We?What do you meanwe?”
“Obviously, I must be the one to bring them into the stable if he has returned from the farrier.Besides, you might get lost in the forest.I know the shortest route to the creek.”
He made a wry face.“I’m a mapmaker.I believe I shall be able to find —”
“You are wasting time,” she said, beginning her descent.“Eat, and I’ll meet you in the lane in ten minutes.”
Chapter Ten
Jonathan escaped the stable with no one the wiser and slipped through the front gate, out into the lane.At first, he didn’t see Lise and wondered if he’d arrived before her.Then she appeared like a sunbeam against the deep shadows of the trees behind her.
Her riding habit of pale-yellow nankeen glowed in the August light.Its short jacket cinched in under her breasts and sported epaulets and braiding half way up the sleeves, which he detested.The influence of the military, to his way of thinking, most certainly did not belong on the soft feminine form.
From underneath her jacket, the gown fell way to her ankles, except the train.For the long walk, she’d fastened it to the back of her habit’s high-waisted seam, not by feminine magic as he’d once guessed in Hyde Park, but by loop and buttons.
Not that he was going to examine her back side to verify his supposition!
As he approached, he noticed two splashes of vivid green, one being her kid-leather gloves and the other being her laced half-boots, sensible enough for the trek.Upon her flaxen hair was a straw bonnet, and her ensemble was finished with a white-and-yellow neckcloth tied jauntily in a loose knot.
He sighed, fully accepting that he was smitten.
Lise moved toward him with the easy grace of someone who was as completely at home in the countryside as she’d been in the ballroom.
“We’ll cut through the grove,” she said over her shoulder.“It’s faster than following the lane, and we’re less likely to be seen.”
Nodding, he fell into step beside her, adjusting the pistol tucked into his waistband.The weight of it was both reassuring and troubling.He’d never imagined the need to go armed to retrieve his own horses.Moreover, he’d never imagined accompanying a betrothed woman whose brother’s life depended on her making a proper marriage.
Worse, Jonathan felt compelled to convince Lise to stop the wedding anyway.
No part of his assignment had been simply a surveying expedition.
They emerged from the copse into a meadow.The morning sun slanted across it, turning the dew-covered grass into a carpet of diamonds.Under different circumstances, Jonathan would have found the landscape beautiful, worthy of detailed notation in his journals.As it was, every sense was heightened, alert for danger.The French were looking for him.If they found him here, with Lise, the consequences would be dire, not only for him but for her entire family.
They walked in silence, because what was there to say?Any talk would inevitably turn to their last discussion in her parents’ garden.No good would come of it.He’d start talking about marrying for love and annoy her enough to slap him.
But finally, he could no longer stand being in her company without hearing her sweet voice.
“How much farther?”he asked, keeping his own tone low despite the apparent emptiness of the fields around them.
